Troubleshooting

Airbnb calendar not syncing with Vrbo?

Listing Watchdog · Updated July 4, 2026

Nine times out of ten it is one of two things: the iCal link between the two calendars only runs one direction, or an import that used to work has silently broken. Re-creating the link usually fixes it in five minutes. The harder truth is that even a working link syncs only every few hours and can break again without telling you, so the real fix is to check that your calendars actually match, not just that a link exists.

The 60-second answer

1Check you set up two links, not one. Airbnb into Vrbo and Vrbo into Airbnb. One link only syncs one way.
2If a link exists but nothing updates, delete it, copy a fresh export URL from the source channel, and paste it back in. Export URLs change when platforms update, which quietly kills the old link.
3Give it time: an imported booking can take up to a few hours to appear. Then compare the two calendars to confirm they now match.

Why Airbnb and Vrbo calendars fall out of sync

Airbnb and Vrbo keep availability in step through iCal, a plain calendar feed each platform can export and import. It works, but it has three properties that cause exactly this problem:

It is one-directional. Importing Airbnb’s feed into Vrbo tells Vrbo about Airbnb bookings. It does nothing in the other direction. A Vrbo booking will still leave those nights open on Airbnb unless you also import Vrbo’s feed into Airbnb. Two calendars, two links.
It is not real time. Airbnb refreshes imported calendars roughly every 3 hours, and Vrbo faster at about every 30 minutes. The slower side is the one that leaves you exposed, so a same-day booking can double-book you inside that window before Airbnb catches up.
It fails quietly. When an export URL changes, a link is removed by accident, or a manual block never makes it into the feed, nothing warns you. The calendar just drifts, and you find out when two guests show up for the same night.

The fix, step by step

You are creating two one-way links so bookings flow both ways.

On Airbnb, open the listing calendar, find Availability settings, and copy the calendar export link (an address ending in .ics).
On Vrbo, open the calendar, choose to import a calendar, paste the Airbnb export link, and save.
Now do the reverse: copy Vrbo’s export link and import it into Airbnb. This is the step most hosts miss.
Wait a few hours (or use each platform’s manual refresh), then confirm the two calendars show the same booked nights. If a link ever stops working, delete it and re-add a fresh export URL.

Free check

Do your calendars actually match right now?

Paste the export URL from each channel for one property. This compares them and flags every night booked on one but still open on another, the gaps that turn into double bookings. No signup, and it never touches guest details.

Why the fix does not stay fixed

Re-linking the calendars solves today’s problem. It does nothing about the next silent break, and iCal breaks quietly by design. The only way to stay ahead of it is to keep comparing the calendars on a schedule, which is what continuous monitoring does: it re-checks every channel around the clock and messages you the minute a gap opens or a feed goes dark, in the window the channels are still blind.

Questions hosts ask

How often does Airbnb sync with Vrbo?

Not in real time. Airbnb refreshes imported iCal calendars roughly every 3 hours, and Vrbo pulls faster, about every 30 minutes. The slower side sets your exposure, so a booking can sit for up to a few hours before Airbnb imports it. That gap is when double bookings happen.

Does an iCal calendar link sync both ways?

No. Each iCal link is one-directional: it carries dates from the calendar you exported into the calendar you imported it to. To keep Airbnb and Vrbo in sync you need two links, Airbnb into Vrbo and Vrbo into Airbnb. Setting up only one is the single most common cause of this problem.

Why does Vrbo show dates as booked that are still open on Airbnb?

A reservation came in on Vrbo (or another channel Vrbo imports) and Airbnb has not imported that block yet, either because the sync has not run in the last few hours or because the reverse import from Vrbo into Airbnb is missing or broke.

How do I know if my calendar sync silently broke?

Compare the calendars against each other. If a night is booked on one channel but open on another, the sync is not doing its job for those dates. The free checker on this page does exactly that comparison across all your channels in about 30 seconds.

Listing more than two channels? Run the full cross-channel check across Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com at once.