2 way Google Calendar synch?
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I write here only to clarify this possible synchronization with Google that they claim to have and it is not.
I imagine that VikWp will be able to explain better what its “synchronization” consists of, but for me the only thing it does is upload the new Ical reservations (as long as the dates are available).
If there is a cancellation/modification and it is modified in the Ical calendar, the VikWP system does not update the availability following those dates as occupied. And of course, in the case of entering a new reservation, as those dates are still occupied, VikWp will not enter it in your calendar either.`
Words from VikWP Team itself through multiple e-mails exchanged:
Moreover, we will never be able to remove reservations via iCal, because the cancellation needs to be made manually through Vik Booking. Our Channel Manager is not Google Calendar, it’s a system that centralises all reservations, and the automatic deletion of a booking can only be performed when an explicit request is sent by the channel through API (Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia etc..). Erasing reservations that are no longer inside an iCal calendar could lead to serious issues due to the fact the synchronization may not be up to date. As we informed you, this is how our system has always worked with iCal channels, all our clients are used to work like this, and the 99.9% of any CM software works in the same exact way as ours.
It’s useless to keep saying you were fooled by the description of our service, the point is that you opted for a cheaper solution that simply cannot work in the way you want it because Google Calendar is not an OTA, and in fact, they do not follow the OpenTravel Standards. Their calendar event IDs are sometimes 69 chars long whereas the Accommodation Industry regulated by the OpenTravel associations says the maximum size for an event UUID has to be 64 bit. Isn’t this sufficient for you to understand that your work-around cannot work? Anyway, we are going to accept this refund request, but our service is not different from the description, and PayPal knows that.
Moreover, the iCal protocol does not support booking cancellations. There is no command inside an iCal calendar to cancel a reservation that was previously imported, and if we were to always parse the imported calendars like Google or an external platform, then this could lead to several issues. Your website with Vik Booking has the goal of centralising all reservations, and so only booking modifications are supported as long as your iCal calendar provider keeps the same “event UUID” for each reservation, which rarely happens when you are using such open calendar platforms that were not design to synchronize reservations.
On top of that, you could be syncing via iCal room-types with multiple units, not only apartments with single units, and that’s also why our Channel Manager has never processed booking cancellations.
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