How often does Airbnb sync iCal calendars?
Airbnb does not publish an exact refresh interval for imported iCal calendars. Host reports and independent testing commonly describe a lag of a few hours, not minutes, between an external calendar changing and Airbnb reflecting it. Treat this as a real gap to plan around, not a rounding error.
Why there's no fixed number
Airbnb, like every major OTA, treats its refresh cadence as an internal implementation detail that can change without notice. What is consistent across host reports is the order of magnitude: hours, not seconds, and not on a schedule you can rely on or trigger manually.
Free iCal sync refreshes on each platform's own schedule, typically every few hours, not instantly. Real-time sync closes this window to seconds.
What this means for you
If you sell on Airbnb plus one other platform via iCal, a booking on the other platform can sit unreflected on Airbnb for a few hours. In that window, a second guest could book the same dates on Airbnb. The risk scales with how many channels you run and how short your booking lead times are.
Check if this is already costing you a night right now, or fix it going forward with real-time sync.
Can I force Airbnb to refresh my iCal sync immediately?
Airbnb does not offer a manual "sync now" trigger for iCal-imported calendars; you wait for its refresh cycle. A channel manager with a direct API connection, by contrast, syncs immediately when a change happens.
Is this the same for exporting from Airbnb?
The lag applies to the platform pulling in the calendar, not the platform exporting it. Airbnb's own calendar updates immediately when a booking happens on Airbnb itself; the delay is in how fast other platforms pull that update in.
How do I know if this lag has already caused a problem?
Paste your Airbnb export link and another platform's export link into the free iCal conflict checker to see if any dates are currently booked on both right now.