Introducing Manual Bookings: One Calendar for Everything

Built by a Host, for Hosts

I built SynciCal because I needed it — managing multiple Airbnb properties and wanting everything in Google Calendar without paying for bloated property management software or waiting 24 hours for Google's built-in sync.

Once the 15-minute Airbnb sync was working, the next problem was obvious: direct bookings and maintenance didn't appear anywhere near my Airbnb reservations. A friend books for the weekend? Block the dates manually. Plumber coming Tuesday? Separate calendar, separate mental load. No way to catch an overlap with an incoming Airbnb reservation until it was too late.

So I built manual bookings into SynciCal — same tool, same management portal, same Google Calendar. Direct reservations, date blocks, maintenance events, and anything else now lives right alongside the Airbnb data from the iCal feed.

Included at no extra cost — manual bookings, overlap detection, email confirmations, everything. No premium tier, no feature gating. Same $4/month.

One Calendar to Rule Them All

Manual bookings lets you add direct reservations, date blocks, maintenance events, and anything else to the same Google Calendar that receives your Airbnb sync. Everything lives in one place, and SynciCal handles the overlap detection for you.

Here's what you can add through your management portal:

• Bookings — direct guest reservations with check-in and check-out times
• Blocks — dates you want to hold for personal use, renovations, or holidays
• Maintenance — plumber visits, cleaning schedules, garden work
• Other — inspections, photo shoots, personal notes

Every event syncs to your Google Calendar automatically, so your cleaners, co-hosts, and anyone you share the calendar with sees the full picture.

Never Double-Book Again

The feature hosts are most excited about: automatic overlap detection.

When you add a new booking or block, SynciCal checks it against every existing reservation — including your synced Airbnb bookings — and flags any conflicts immediately. The same check runs after every 15-minute Airbnb sync, so if a new Airbnb reservation clashes with one of your manual bookings, you'll know quickly.

Overlap detection is turnover-friendly too: a guest checking out on Friday doesn't conflict with a new guest checking in the same day.

Privacy by Design

We built manual bookings with the same data minimisation principles that guide everything at SynciCal. Manual booking data — including notes — is written directly to your Google Calendar. We don’t store it on our servers. Your calendar is the single source of truth.

Your Google Calendar events stay forever — they’re yours, not ours.

Get Started in Minutes

If you're already a SynciCal customer, manual bookings are available right now in your management portal — the same link you use to manage your listings and sync settings.

New to SynciCal? Here's how to get started:

1. Follow our 5-minute setup guide to create a Google Calendar and find your Airbnb iCal link
2. Sign up for a free trial — your Airbnb bookings will start syncing within 15 minutes
3. Open your management portal and start adding manual bookings

For the full feature breakdown — event types, overlap detection rules, email confirmations, and more — see the Manual Bookings reference page.