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Channel manager

A channel manager is the software that keeps a single calendar and a single price grid for all your sales channels, such as Airbnb, Booking.com and Expedia, and syncs them automatically.

A channel manager pushes your availability, prices and restrictions, such as minimum stay, to each platform, then pulls in every booking, change or cancellation to close the same night everywhere else straight away. Once connected, it is the source of truth: you change everything from one place.

API or iCal

It all depends on the connection. With an API, the platform notifies the booking within seconds and also carries prices, restrictions, booking details and, for Airbnb and Booking.com, messages and reviews. A plain iCal link carries only busy dates, with a delay of several hours: it leaves a window for a double booking.

For a riad or a guesthouse, the channel manager has to work room by room: each room has its own calendar, rate and capacity. The RentDari channel manager connects by API to Airbnb, Booking.com and Expedia, accepts iCal for other channels and handles riads room by room; it is included in every plan, including the Free plan for one home or room. Our channel manager guide for Morocco walks through the setup.

More terms from the glossary

The whole glossary

  • Double booking (overbooking)

    A double booking, or overbooking, happens when the same night at the same property is sold twice, usually on two platforms whose calendars do not sync in time.

  • iCal

    iCal is a calendar format (.ics) that booking platforms publish and read from each other to share busy dates, without prices or guest data.

  • Individual accommodation form

    The individual accommodation form (“bulletin individuel d'hébergement”) is the form every guest of a tourist accommodation fills in and signs on arrival under article 37 of law 80-14; it is the official name of the police form.