Why calendar sync alone isn't enough
Calendar (iCal) links are how booking sites tell each other which nights are taken. They're free and every major site offers them, but they carry dates only. A new Booking.com reservation used to arrive in InnRow as a locked, unnamed stay, and someone had to open the extranet and copy the guest's name, price and commission across. With three or four sites, that's a job every day.
How it works
- Forward or connect, once. Either set one Gmail or Outlook rule that forwards booking e-mails to your private InnRow address, or connect your mailbox. Gmail, Outlook and Microsoft 365, Yahoo, Zoho, iCloud, AOL, GMX, Rediffmail and your own domain all work.
- A site sells a night. Its calendar locks the room in InnRow, and its confirmation e-mail lands in your inbox.
- InnRow reads the e-mail and fills in the guest's name, phone, price, commission and booking number within about 15 minutes. If the e-mail arrives before the calendar does, the stay is booked straight away and the calendar entry is linked to it.
- Changes and cancellations become alerts with the details, so nothing is cancelled behind your back.
Only booking e-mails are read. InnRow looks at e-mails from booking sites and nothing else in your inbox.
Every booking site
Airbnb, Booking.com, Agoda, Expedia, Vrbo, Hotels.com, Trip.com, MakeMyTrip, Goibibo, Cleartrip, Yatra, EaseMyTrip, ixigo, OYO, Hostelworld, Tripadvisor, Traveloka, tiket.com, HRS, Despegar, Rakuten, HomeToGo, Hopper, and any other site or travel agent whose e-mail has a booking number and dates.
Booking.com, Airbnb and Agoda cover most of the world. Traveloka and tiket.com matter in Indonesia and South-East Asia; Despegar in Latin America; Rakuten in Japan; Hostelworld for hostels; MakeMyTrip, Goibibo, Cleartrip, Yatra, EaseMyTrip, ixigo and OYO in India.
Airbnb details straight from the calendar
Airbnb's calendar now shows each stay's reservation code, an Open in Airbnb button and the last 4 digits of the guest's phone. Dates you closed on a site show as plain closed dates, not as bookings waiting for a guest.
Know who's coming before they arrive
- New booking from a site: an e-mail with the room, the dates and one tap to add the guest. Several at once arrive as one e-mail.
- A reminder 3 days and 1 day before arrival, only if a booking still has no guest.
- Each site in its own colour, so you see at a glance where a booking came from.
- Your monthly report shows how many bookings InnRow filled in by itself. See reports.
Phone notifications
New booking requests, new bookings from sites, calendar warnings, the morning "today needs you", guests arriving without details, payments received and milestones can tap you on the shoulder on Android (the InnRow app and Chrome), on a computer, and on iPhone once InnRow is on the Home Screen. Each person chooses e-mail, phone or both, for each notification. Notifications stay quiet at night, except a double-booking risk. See the phone app.
Questions people ask
Can InnRow get the guest's name from Booking.com automatically?
Yes. Booking.com's calendar link carries dates only, so InnRow reads Booking.com's confirmation e-mail, forwarded to your InnRow address or from your connected mailbox, and fills in the guest's name, phone, price, commission and booking number.
Which e-mail services work?
Gmail, Outlook and Microsoft 365, Yahoo, Zoho, iCloud, AOL, GMX, Rediffmail and e-mail on your own domain. You can also simply forward booking e-mails with one rule.
Does InnRow read my other e-mails?
No. It reads e-mails from booking sites only.
What happens when a guest changes or cancels?
The change or cancellation arrives as an alert with the details, so you can update the stay or free the room.
Is this a channel manager?
No. InnRow still shares availability through calendar links, and prices stay in each site's extranet. Booking e-mails add the guest and money details that calendar links don't carry.