How can I enable inbound/outbound calendars / iCals on my listing?

Question

Answer 1

First, activate the calendar functionality on your listing.

Important: your booking system or calendar must offer a calendar feed of bookings for us to turn on this feature. A calendar feed is a web link starting with http or https.

1. Visit the allocation tab in your manager portal

2. Click the button "Add external calendar feed" at the top right of the page. Pitchup will email you automatically to confirm your listing has been enabled.

3. Click the arrow underneath each campsite type on the left

4. Click "Create campsite/accommodation unit" to create the correct number of physical units (currently there may be none, even though the counts for each site type may be visible).

Please note: This is the total number of units and can be more than the vacancies you have, or the allocation you want to make to Pitchup.com. Adding the calendar feeds will prevent bookings on a unit it has been added to, and there is a setting to exclude a specific unit from Pitchup.com bookings altogether.

5. Once you have created the units, click the name of the unit to open a pop-up window

A) How to add inbound calendar feeds (from your booking system to Pitchup)

6. If you already have future Pitchup bookings, ensure they are on the unit that matches the calendar feed being used, by dragging them up or down using the mouse. If you need to change the dates or site type of a Pitchup booking, use the flagging system.

7. Paste the calendar feed link (beginning https or http) into the pop-up. Add more links just below, in the 'Additional calendar feeds' box, making sure to add one per line. Be careful to use the link corresponding to the right unit - you also have the option to specify a name/number for each unit at the top of the same pop-up. Watch the video tutorial.

8. Now click the Update button. The pop-up window will close.

9. Click the "Reset allocation" button for each site type to set "Allocation left to sell" to the number of units left over, taking into account units available to book and any external bookings for each unit's calendar feed.

B) How to obtain outbound calendar feeds (from Pitchup to your booking system)

10. Copy the calendar feed link (beginning with https) from the pop-up and paste it into the relevant section of your booking system, and click the Update button to close the window.

Note: you will normally only need the first calendar link ("Calendar feed of all Pitchup.com bookings for this unit"). The second link ("Feed of all bookings") contains any external bookings you have added manually, including any external bookings imported via an inbound calendar above.

Hints on maintaining allocation when working with individual units

Using the reset allocation button, rather than setting allocation manually, ensures allocation is limited to the number of units.

If, instead of using the reset allocation button, you set allocation to be more than the number of available units, the system will create a new unit in order to accept the booking on that day. A new unit does not inherit another unit's calendar.

If you wish to restore allocation due to cancelation of a Pitchup booking, you can use the mouse to 'drag' the canceled booking to any units marked unavailable for Pitchup bookings. Then use the reset allocation button to make the original unit available again during the canceled stay.