Bidirectional sync with Google Calendar

The synchronization between ¡HolaOlas! and Google Calendar is bidirectional.

This means data flows in both directions:

• ¡HolaOlas! → Google Calendar : Your bookings automatically become events in your calendar
• Google Calendar → ¡HolaOlas! : Bookings made elsewhere (Booking, Airbnb) are detected to avoid double bookings

👉 Google Calendar becomes your central hub for availability management.

When a booking is created, modified, or cancelled in ¡HolaOlas!, an event is automatically synchronized in your Google Calendar.

What synchronizes automatically:

• ✅ Creation : Each new confirmed booking creates an event in the "¡HolaOlas! – Reservations" calendar
• ✅ Modification : If you modify a booking (date, time, number of participants), the Google Calendar event is updated automatically
• ✅ Cancellation : If a booking is cancelled or refunded, the event is deleted from the calendar

Synchronized information:

• Experience title
• Start date and time
• End date and time
• Number of participants
• Customer information
• Link to the booking in ¡HolaOlas!

All of this happens automatically, without any action on your part.

¡HolaOlas! reads your Google Calendar to check availability and avoid double bookings.

How it works:

• ✅ ¡HolaOlas! Calendar : The "¡HolaOlas! – Reservations" calendar is automatically checked during each booking request
• ✅ External calendars : If you import iCal calendars (Booking, Airbnb, etc.) into Google Calendar, ¡HolaOlas! reads them too
• ✅ Real-time check : Before confirming a booking, ¡HolaOlas! checks if the time slot is free in all your calendars

Benefits:

• 🚫 Avoids double bookings : If you're already booked on Booking or Airbnb, the time slot is automatically blocked in ¡HolaOlas!
• 🔄 Multi-platform sync : All your bookings (¡HolaOlas!, Booking, Airbnb) are centralized in Google Calendar
• ⚡ Automatic check : No need to manually check if a time slot is free

👉 Google Calendar becomes the source of truth for your availability.

Scenario 1: Booking via ¡HolaOlas!

1. A customer books an excursion on your ¡HolaOlas! page

2. The booking is confirmed and paid

3. ✅ Automatically : An event appears in your Google Calendar

4. ✅ Automatically : If you've exported your ¡HolaOlas! calendar to Booking/Airbnb, the time slot is blocked there too

Scenario 2: Booking via Booking

1. A customer books directly on Booking.com

2. Booking creates an event in its iCal calendar

3. You import this iCal calendar into Google Calendar

4. ✅ Automatically : ¡HolaOlas! detects this booking during availability checks

5. ✅ Automatically : The time slot is blocked in ¡HolaOlas! to avoid a double booking

Result:

No matter where the booking is made (¡HolaOlas!, Booking, Airbnb), everything is synchronized and visible in Google Calendar.

To activate bidirectional synchronization, you need to:

1. Connect Google Calendar to ¡HolaOlas!

• Go to Settings → Google Calendar
• Click "Connect Google Calendar"
• Authorize access to your Google Calendar
• A dedicated "¡HolaOlas! – Reservations" calendar is created automatically

2. Import external calendars (optional but recommended)

• If you use Booking, Airbnb, or other platforms:

1. Copy the iCal link from the external platform

2. Open Google Calendar → Settings → Add calendar → From URL

3. Paste the iCal link

• ¡HolaOlas! will automatically read these calendars during availability checks

3. Export your ¡HolaOlas! calendar (optional)

• To automatically block your ¡HolaOlas! bookings on Booking/Airbnb:

1. Open the "¡HolaOlas! – Reservations" calendar in Google Calendar

2. Calendar settings → Integrate calendar → Copy the private iCal link

3. Paste this link into Booking, Airbnb, or any other platform

👉 Once configured, everything works automatically in both directions.

Instant synchronization:

• ✅ ¡HolaOlas! bookings → Google Calendar are instant
• ⚠️ iCal synchronization (Booking, Airbnb) can take a few hours (technical limitation of iCal calendars)

Source of truth:

• Google Calendar is the source of truth for availability
• If a booking exists in Google Calendar (even imported from elsewhere), ¡HolaOlas! respects it

Security:

• The iCal link for your ¡HolaOlas! calendar is private and read-only
• It is not indexed by search engines
• You can revoke it at any time

Degraded mode:

• If Google Calendar is not connected, ¡HolaOlas! works normally
• But external availability checks will not be available

Bidirectional synchronization means that:

• ✅ ¡HolaOlas! → Google Calendar : Your bookings become events automatically
• ✅ Google Calendar → ¡HolaOlas! : External bookings are detected to avoid double bookings
• ✅ Everything is centralized in Google Calendar
• ✅ Everything is automatic once configured

👉 It's the best way to manage your bookings across multiple platforms without risking double bookings.