The Calendar and Bookings Synchronization is a new feature created with one goal in mind: to allow you to synchronize the Withlocals bookings to your personal calendar.
With this feature, you’ll be able to see your upcoming bookings in the online calendar of your choice. Now it’ll be easier for you to get organized with your Withlocals experiences and your daily appointments - it will all be in one place!
To access the new Calendar and Bookings Synchronization, you can do it from the Withlocals host agenda section. Follow the step by step guide below.
Here's what the you will have to do:
From your laptop or desktop (Suggested)
- Go to your host agenda in the Withlocals platform.
- Once there, you will have to access the agenda settings, at the bottom of the agenda.
3. In the agenda-setting environment, click on the pink “Calendar link” link.
4. When you click on the “Calendar link” a unique Withlocals calendar URL will be copied to your clipboard. Once that happens you should see the text “Copied” in green next to the pink “Calendar link >” text to confirm the action.
From now on, you will have to take some actions on your personal calendar.
For Google Calendar
- Access your personal calendar.
- Go to settings on the top right corner.
3. Look for the “Add calendar” or similar option.
4. Select “From URL” and then paste the URL you previously copied (for it to work, you shouldn’t have copied anything else through the whole process).
5. Click “Add calendar” and the confirmation message “Calendar created. Fetching events in the background” should come up at the bottom of the screen. From now on, you should be able to see your Withlocals bookings in your personal calendar.
A video explaining how to do it can be found in the link below. Adding Additional Calendars to Your Google Calendar
For Apple iCalendar
- Access your personal calendar.
- Open the “File” menu and click on “New Calendar Subscription”
3. Paste the URL you previously copied from your Withlocals host agenda settings and click on “Subscribe”
4. Give the calendar a name and click on “OK”
5. You imported your Withlocals bookings calendar and your bookings will now appear in your calendar.
For Microsoft Outlook Calendar
- Access your personal calendar.
- Click on “Add calendar” on the left side of your screen
2. Select “Subscribe from web” and then paste the URL you previously copied from the Withlocals host agenda settings.
3. Give the calendar a name and click on “Import”.
4. Your newly imported calendar will now appear under “other calendars” and all your future bookings will automatically appear in your calendar.
A video explaining how to do it can be found in the link below.
How to Add an Internet calendar to Outlook
From your phone
This way of setting up the calendar only works when you are using the standard calendar app that comes with the phone. If you are using a different one, you will have to set it up from the laptop or desktop and follow some extra steps.
- Go to your host agenda in the Withlocals platform.
- Once there, you will have to access the agenda settings, at the bottom of the agenda.
- In the agenda-setting environment, you will have to find the “Calendar link” section.
- Once the section is identified, you will have to select “Subscribe to calendar >”
5. Now you should be on your personal calendar on your phone and the Withlocals bookings will be seen. No additional confirmation message or extra task is needed.
In the case you don’t use the standard calendar app that comes with your phone, please follow the additional next steps.
- Complete all the steps mentioned above about how to synchronise the bookings with your personal calendar from your laptop or desktop.
- Open your personal calendar app on the phone (Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook Calendar, or other)
- Go to the calendar settings on your phone.
- Select the Withlocals calendar URL.
5. Activate the sync option and go back.
6. Refresh and then the Withlocals bookings will also be shown on your phone.
The bookings you could see in your personal calendar will include the following information:
- Booking ID
- Experience title
- Starting and ending time
- Meeting point
- Number of guests
- Name of the main guest
The visualisation of the booking could change per calendar provider (Google Calendar, Apple iCalendar, Microsoft Outlook Calendar, and others), but the booking information that is shared remains the same on any platform.
Important: Keep in mind that this is a one-way communication tool. This means that the bookings will only be seen in your personal calendar on your phone, laptop, or desktop, but you are not able to modify them. To do so, you will have to go to your host profile and access the bookings from there, as always.
Do I have to do anything else after I synchronised the Withlocals bookings to update my personal calendar?
The calendar update happens automatically. There is nothing else you need to do to update the calendar. Please keep in mind that it normally takes up to 24 hours to update new bookings, transferred or canceled bookings. This depends on the calendar provider and it is outside of our control.
The “Subscribe to calendar” option is not shown when I’m on my laptop or desktop?
The “Subscribe to calendar” option is built only to work for phones, so it shouldn’t be visible on your laptop or desktop. If seen on a laptop or desktop and clicked, it won’t help you to synchronise the Withlocals bookings with your personal calendar.
What would happen if you synchronise the Withlocals bookings with your personal calendar on the laptop or desktop and then try to do it on your phone?
Once the calendar and bookings are synchronised on the laptop, desktop, or phone, and if you have the same account with the same calendar provider on all the devices, the bookings will be shown on all of them. There is no need to do it again on a different one. Moreover, if you do it again on a different device what will happen is that you double the calendar. This probably won’t be shown until the previous one is unsubscribed or removed.
When I try to go through the synchronisation process on my phone and select the “Copy calendar link” option I can’t make it work?
The “Copy calendar link” option is meant to work on laptops or desktops. If you select it on the phone, the Withlocals calendar URL will be copied to your clipboard, but the Calendar apps on the phone don’t allow you to add a URL that is copied in your clipboard, that is why the “Subscribe to calendar” option is there.
I got on my laptop or desktop the message that I don’t have access to a long calendar code, what should I do?
If this error pops up, it means that you need to ask for permissions, but this is not required. Cancel the message and try it again without leaving the page where you are. This is an error that comes from the Calendar supplier.
Can I modify bookings from my online calendar?
This is a one-way communication tool. This means that the bookings will only be seen in your personal calendar on your phone, laptop, or desktop, but you are not able to modify them. To do so, you will have to go to your host profile and access the bookings from there, as always.