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Prep time and the iCal feed

Two quieter features keep the calendar honest with the outside world: a prep buffer that makes back-to-backs realistic, and a per-unit iCal feed any external calendar can subscribe to.

Screen /calendar · Roles: all operational seats (view) · Admin manages the feed URL on the listing page

A unit can carry prep days: a buffer of up to 14 days after every checkout before it can host again (a deep clean, a turnover gap). The calendar treats the buffer as real:

  • It paints as a dotted teal underlay in the unit’s bottom lane after each checkout, and the unit’s label notes it - for example, “· 2d prep”.
  • Availability checks widen by the same buffer, so a new stay simply cannot be sold into it. Back-to-back checkouts merge into one continuous buffer.
  • The buffer is derived from the stays themselves, never stored separately - move a booking and its buffer moves with it. Nothing to clean up.

Every unit has an iCal export URL for subscribing an external calendar (Google Calendar, another tool’s import) to its busyness. Find it on the listing’s page under Channel sync: copy the URL, or rotate it.

What the feed carries - and deliberately doesn’t:

  • Busy events for bookings (Reserved), live holds (Pending hold), full-day blocks (Blocked, with the reason), and the prep buffer (Turnover buffer).
  • No guest names, ever - an iCal URL gets pasted into third-party dashboards, so summaries stay generic.
  • Recent history plus the future; hour-scoped block windows never export, because they don’t withdraw the night.