When Daybook raises its hand about your calendars

Why this mattersYour booking sites copy each other's calendars every few hours, and nobody tells you when a copy fails. Daybook reads every calendar you've given it every five minutes and spots when calendar blocking may have failed. It can't block or cancel anything on Airbnb, Vrbo or Booking.com itself, so each line below says what has happened and what to do on the site.

A double booking

Two stays hold the same night at one place. It comes first in Needs you, with a red dot, titled for example Double booking at Brook Cottage, 14 to 16 May. A red Double booking detected banner also sits above your calendar.

1. Read who and where. Tap the line. It names both guests, the site each booked on and the nights they share.
2. Decide which stay keeps the place. The line says how to move or cancel the other: on its own site, and message that guest there; or, for a guest who booked with you, contact them yourself.
3. Open the site. Tap See both stays, then Block on Airbnb →, Block on Vrbo → or Block on Booking.com →.
4. Block those nights on every site, so it can't happen again.
5. There is no tick. The line goes when the calendars stop showing two stays on the same nights.

Airbnb still shows the nights open

A booking came in on Vrbo, Booking.com or your agency, or you made one in Daybook, and Airbnb's calendar still shows those nights as bookable.

1. At first, Daybook just watches. Sites usually copy within a few hours, so the booking sits under Watching.
2. After four hours it raises its hand. Needs you shows, for example, Airbnb still shows 9 to 12 Oct open at Brook Cottage, and the top of your board says A booking isn’t blocked on Airbnb yet. Block it there, or see Today.
3. Tap the line. It says where the booking came from and which nights to block. The checkout day stays open, because the next guest can arrive that afternoon.
4. Tap Open Airbnb and block those nights on Airbnb's calendar.
5. Come back and tap I’ve checked Airbnb ✓. The line moves to Watching and stops counting.
6. Daybook says when it's done. When Airbnb shows the nights blocked, Since you last looked says Airbnb has the Fri 9 Oct to Mon 12 Oct booking now.

Why this mattersDaybook only judges open nights from Airbnb's calendar. Airbnb's calendar link lists the nights it copied from your other sites, so Daybook can see whether a booking reached it. Vrbo's calendar link leaves out the dates Vrbo imported, so a night can look open there when it isn't, and Booking.com's doesn't show them either. That is why Setup asks you once to confirm each of those sites imports Daybook's calendar (Done, Vrbo imports it ✓).

A calendar Daybook couldn't read

A booking site didn't answer, or a link stopped working. Often a site has reset its calendar link.

1. Read the answer. In amber: Nothing needs you that Daybook can see., then It couldn’t check your calendars since 3:05pm, so this is the last good picture. On a day someone arrives, it says Daybook couldn’t check your calendars since… after the arrival. Your bookings stay on the board as Daybook last saw them.
2. Find which place. The top of your board says couldn't reach Brook Cottage. Tap it to see each calendar marked reading fine ✓ or we can’t read this calendar.
3. Paste the link again. Tap Settings, then the place. Copy that site's calendar link from the site again, paste it into its box, and tap Save changes. Under the link it says Calendar checked ✓.
4. Reopen Daybook after five minutes. The amber line goes when every calendar reads again.
5. If the answer says I can't tell you. I haven't checked for 50 minutes., Daybook itself has stopped checking. There is nothing for you to fix; it says so until it is checking again.

Other lines you may see

• Airbnb doesn’t seem to be copying your Vrbo calendar at Brook Cottage: none of your Vrbo bookings has reached Airbnb. Tap Open Settings for Daybook's calendar link, and check Airbnb's Import calendar.
• Your block for 3 to 5 Nov at Brook Cottage covered a booking that cancelled: tap Remove the block to open those nights again.
• A site still blocking nights for a booking that cancelled: tap Open Airbnb (or the site named) and open them there.