How to Add Your Airbnb Calendar to Your Website

Adding your Airbnb listing or availability calendar to your vacation rental website can be a simple way to encourage your website visitors to book.

In this post, we’re going over the different options you have to integrate your Airbnb listing with your website—including how to embed an Airbnb calendar on a website.

How to Embed Your Airbnb Listing (doesn’t include a calendar)

Airbnb makes it easy to embed your listing on your website.

Unfortunately, embedded Airbnb listings don’t include a calendar. But if you’re just looking for an easy way to include your Airbnb listing on your website, you can follow these simple steps.

Here’s how to embed your Airbnb listing:

1. Go to Listings and select the one you want to share
2. Click Preview listing and then click Share
3. Go to Embed and click Copy HTML
4. Paste the listing HTML code into your website

You can also choose to hide the reviews, and create “no follow links” (not recommended unless you have a specific reason). See the Airbnb instructions.

Here’s an example of an embedded Airbnb listing:

As you can see, there’s no availability calendar.

How to Add Your Airbnb Calendar to Your Website

To include an Airbnb calendar on your website, you’ll need to use a third-party solution.

There are 2 main ways to add your Airbnb calendar to your website:

• Option 1: Embed an Airbnb calendar widget
• Option 2: Add direct bookings to your website

We recommend option 2 (direct bookings) because it enables you to remove booking fees, gain some independence from OTAs like Airbnb, and because it’s very easy to set up. Check out our in-depth post on how to build your own direct booking website.

Option 1: Embed an Airbnb Calendar Widget

There are a handful of different vacation rental calendar widgets available. VR Calendar Sync, Accommodation Calendar, and Rental Calendars Direct (powered by Lodgix) are a few widgets you might consider using. They all offer free versions you can use.

The instructions below are for the VR Calendar Sync WordPress plugin. If you don’t have a WordPress website, you can follow these instructions for non-WordPress websites (like Wix or Squarespace).

Here’s how to embed your Airbnb calendar on your website:

1. Download the VR Calendar Sync plugin
2. Click ‘Add New’ to create a new calendar
3. Paste the iCal link to your Airbnb listing
4. Click ‘Save’ and then click ‘Sync’
5. Copy the Shortcode and paste it in any page

For step 3, here’s where to find your Airbnb iCal link:

1. Go to your dashboard > Listings and select a listing
2. Go to Pricing and availability > Calendar sync
3. Click Export Calendar
4. Copy the Airbnb calendar link/URL

You now have a synced Airbnb calendar on your website. You can go to ‘Settings’ to change how often your calendar syncs (hourly, daily, etc.). Besides Airbnb, you can also add a Vrbo calendar, Booking.com calendar, or any other iCal vacation rental calendar.

This video gives an overview of the VR Calendar Sync plugin, and instructions for how to add it to your website.

Here are a few examples of websites using the VR Calendar Sync plugin to display an Airbnb calendar.

If you want to try out the Accommodation Calendar widget by Rental Bell instead, then here’s a link to video instructions showing how to add your Airbnb calendar to a Wix website.

Option 2: Add Direct Bookings to Your Website

If you’re going to the trouble of creating a website for your rental property, you might as well be reaping the full benefits of doing your own marketing.

Rather than simply displaying your Airbnb listing or calendar, you can accept direct bookings and payments right on your own website.

And if you already have a website set up, taking direct bookings can be as easy as adding a “Book Now” button or link to your automatically generated booking pages.

Check out our in-depth post with everything you need to know about how to add direct bookings to your website.

Here are a few reasons we recommend taking direct bookings:

• Remove booking fees – Lower your prices by 5-15% or keep the extra fees for yourself.
• Gain independence from OTAs – Platforms like Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com are an excellent way to get exposure, but you don’t have to be completely dependent on them for bookings.
• Market to your past guests – With direct bookings, you can start marketing directly to your past guests via email marketing, to get more repeat guests.
• Establish trust and credibility – Having a direct booking website makes you look more established, which encourages bookings.
• It’s easy to set up – There are several good vacation rental website builders, and it’s never been easier to create and manage your own direct booking website.

Compare vacation rental software options with our spreadsheet.

View spreadsheet

If you’re interested in direct bookings, check out our other resources for help with your vacation rental website:

• How to Build a Direct Booking Website
• Best Vacation Rental Website Builders
• 20+ Lodgify Direct Booking Website Examples

And if you’re interested in a custom direct booking website for your vacation rental, contact us for a quote!

Written by The Floorspace Team

This article was written as a collaborative effort by multiple members of the Floorspace team. We're a group of internet marketers and designers, with a wide range of experience marketing and managing short-term rentals.