From this tutorial, you will learn how to create a connection between the Google Calendar and JetBooking plugin using the URL address in the iCal format. This connection will allow transferring bookings made in Google Сalendar to the list of bookings on your website automatically.
If you have several platforms and allow your clients to book the items in the Google Calendar, you need to synchronize it with the data on the website. If the booked dates appear on the website – it allows you to avoid issues. Transferring the bookings manually would have taken too much time, so it has to be done automatically. JetBooking functionality allows you that.
1 Step— Enable the iCal synchronization
Open your WP dashboard and go to Bookings > Settings > Advanced tab. Turn the Enable iCal synchronization toggle on and set the Calendar sync interval and Calendar sync start.
The new submenu option called Calendars will appear in the Bookings menu section. Here you will see the posts of the Custom Post Type, connected to the Booking.
2 Step— Create a new Google Calendar
Open the Google Calendar app, click the “Add other calendars” button and choose the “Create new calendar” option.
Name the calendar, give it a description if needed, and choose the Time zone. Afterward, click the “Create calendar” button.
Go back to the general view, unfold the My Calendars section, find the created one and choose the “Settings and sharing” option in the three-dots menu.
In the Access permissions block, tick the Make available to public checkbox.
Scroll down to the Integrate calendar section. You will need the Public address in iCal format, so copy it.
Go back to the calendar and create a few bookings to test the synchronization.
3 Step— Synchronize the calendars
Go back to your website’s dashboard and open Bookings > Calendars. Find the item for which you have created the Google Calendar and click the “Edit Calendars” and “New URL” buttons.
Paste the public address you copied to the bar and press the “Save” button. After that, click the “Sync” button on the right side. You will see the following notification.
If you open the Bookings > Bookings list, you will see that they appeared in the list.
And now, let’s check the single page of the item. As you can see, the dates booked in the Google Calendar became unavailable for other users.
NOTE. Be aware that for every item of the Content Post Type you connected with JetBooking you will need a separate Google Calendar.That’s it. By now, your Google Calendar and the JetBooking plugin are synchronized. Good luck creating a successful rent website!