Dear Customer,


Airbnb recently sent an email to hosts explaining the Calendar (iCal) is changing. But what does that mean? Basically, Airbnb are removing the majority of guest information (including guest names and phone numbers) that are essential to create keys using homeit automatically.


“As part of Airbnb’s ongoing efforts to minimise exposure of guest information, exported iCal events will no longer display reservation details. These changes will take effect on 1 December 2019.”


What information does the Airbnb iCal contain, currently:


  • Guest name

  • Reservation code

  • Listing name

  • Check in and Check out dates

  • No. of nights

  • Guest phone number

  • Airbnb guest email address


This means that we, homeit, can create keys with all the information above automatically, primarily, the guest name and the phone number. For your guests, whenever they register in our Guest APP, they’ll see their codes automatically created by you, the host.


Unfortunately, due to these changes announced by Airbnb, starting from December 1st, this method to create keys will stop working.


What’s changing to Airbnb iCals?


According to Airbnb:


“The iCal calendar sync description for reservations will display only the last 4 digits of the guest’s phone number, along with a link to the reservation details page. The guest name and reservation code will be removed from the event titles, and the calendar sync will export listing calendar information for future dates only.”



How do these changes affect your homeit services and what are we doing to help you?


Before December 1st, 2019: 


  • You will be able to use the integration with the Airbnb iCal normally. You can still create your keys automatically through the Calendar menu.

  • We recommend: to create all your keys automatically for stays already confirmed until November 30th. Hence, you will be able to save time creating these keys manually in the future.


From December 1st, onwards:


  • Unfortunately, we are forced to stop this method to create keys. You will have to create your access codes manually for your guests and stays.

  • Host Dashboard Changes: With this change we will also delete the menu Calendar from our dashboard, since it will lose it’s main function.


The Good News!


homeit  keeps being a reference in the smart lock market and that’s why we are already creating a solution for all our clients that will allow not only to overcome this situation as well as introducing new automations and premium features in our system. This new platform will be released in February 2020!




This solution includes many changes on your Host Dashboard such as:


  • New interface, that allows you to manage all your property accesses in a simpler and more efficient way!

  • New method to create keys: You will be able to create keys for your property much faster and use it not only with Airbnb, but also with Booking.com, Expedia, etc.

  • New premium features, designed to automate even more operations on your vacation rentals.


Please contact us at support@homeit.io if you have any doubts. We are available to answer all of your questions.


Thank you very much.