Host Domination Booking Engine: Calendar Sync & Reservation System
Free Booking Engine for Vacation Rentals, B&Bs and Hotels with Direct Bookings, Automatic iCal Calendar Sync with OTAs, payments, coupon and more.
Solid choice
Host Domination Booking Engine:… is a solid plugin choice in 2026, with a few things worth checking first. It runs on 100+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 4 days ago, and scores 75/100 on our health check.
- Actively developed — last update 4 days ago
- Tested with the latest WordPress (7.1)
- Small user base (100+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Host Domination Booking Eng… stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| Booking Engine | #7 |
| booking system | #48 |
| calendar sync | #19 |
| Hotel Booking | #34 |
| reservations | #30 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
Rating breakdown
★★★★★★★★★★ 5 from 3 reviews
About Host Domination Booking Engine: Calenda…
From the official readme · v1.4.83Description
Transform your WordPress website into a powerful direct booking channel with calendar synchronization for Airbnb, Booking.com and other OTAs!
Host Domination Booking Engine is a Multilanguage WordPress booking engine, reservation request system and iCal calendar synchronization plugin with new Whatsapp Integration, designed for vacation rentals, holiday homes, apartments, villas, bed and breakfasts, guest houses, small hotels and other accommodation businesses.
Take a look at the live demo website and see for yourself what you can build and manage with Host Domination Booking Engine, including the option to show or hide prices in the calendar.
Demo Free Edition
- Front-end Booking Engine Free Demo
- Back-end Booking Engine Free Demo
- Free Plugin Video Demo – Youtube link
Demo Pro Edition
- Front-end Booking Engine Pro Demo + Add-ons
- Back-end Booking Engine Pro Demo + Add-ons
- Pro + Add-ons Plugin Video Demo – Youtube link
Extra
- NEW! Free Multilanguage Pack
- NEW! Free Advanced Report
- NEW! Back-end Mobile Layout
- Add-ons Store
- New Shared Rooms & Flexible Guest Capacity Add-on for Hostel and dormitories
- New Referral Program for PRO users: Your Friend Gets €5 Off — You Get a €5 Coupon!
- Ticket Support for Free & Pro version
The plugin is open source, self-hosted and compatible with any WordPress theme. It works directly inside your WordPress website without requiring a mandatory Host Domination cloud account or a subscription to a proprietary booking platform. The Free version does not expire.
Hosts and property managers can display an availability calendar, receive direct booking requests, review guest details in WordPress and synchronize unavailable dates through standard iCal and ICS calendar feeds.
Each calendar can also enable an optional WhatsApp request channel. Email delivery remains active and mandatory; after the request is saved and emailed, WhatsApp opens with the submitted booking details already filled in for the guest to review and send.
The Free version automatically checks one connected external iCal feed once a day and also provides a manual Refresh Calendars option. PRO provides automatic calendar synchronization every 30 minutes for up to three external feeds per accommodation calendar.
Host Domination Booking Engine can be used alongside Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and other OTA or reservation platforms that provide a compatible iCal or ICS URL. You can continue using the booking channels you already work with while adding a direct booking form to your own website.
Direct booking requests from your WordPress website
Turn your WordPress website into an additional direct booking channel.
Guests can select and submit:
- Check-in and check-out dates
- Number of adults
- Number of children up to the maximum age configured for the selected calendar
- Full name
- Email address
- Contact phone number
- Additional notes
- Mandatory Privacy Policy consent before submission
- Optional acceptance of linked Terms and Conditions when configured by the website administrator
- Optional WhatsApp opening with a prefilled copy of the submitted request
New requests appear in the WordPress administration area. Administrators can review, confirm, reject or delete them.
Pending requests do not become confirmed reservations automatically. Once a request is confirmed, its dates are included in the internal availability calendar and in the website iCal export feed.
Native Gutenberg Block & Elementor Widget – Add a single booking calendar or the multi-calendar booking form directly from Gutenberg or Elementor, without manually entering shortcodes. Shortcodes remain available for other WordPress page builders.
Each calendar generates its own shortcode. For example:
[hdbe_booking_calendar id=”123″]
Replace 123 with the ID shown in the Created Calendars table after saving your calendar.
Front-end availability calendar
Display a responsive booking calendar that allows guests to select arrival and departure dates directly from your website.
The calendar shows:
- Available dates
- Unavailable dates
- Confirmed website reservations
- Reservations imported from external iCal feeds
- Selectable check-in and check-out boundaries
- The minimum stay required
- An optional base price per night
Today can be selected when it is available. Guests can select dates up to 13 months in advance.
The calendar is suitable for:
- Vacation rentals
- Holiday apartments
- Villas
- Guest houses
- Bed and breakfasts
- Small hotels
- Rooms
- Campsites
- Short-term rentals
- Property rental businesses
Calendar and accommodation settings
Create a calendar for your room, apartment or accommodation and configure:
- Calendar or accommodation name
- Maximum number of guests
- Minimum number of nights
- Optional base price per night
- EUR or USD currency
- Whether the nightly price is displayed in the public calendar
- External iCal or ICS calendar URL
- Required Privacy Policy URL for GDPR and personal-data information
- Optional Terms and Conditions URL covering booking, cancellation, refund and reservation rules
- Receive requests channels, with mandatory Email and optional WhatsApp per calendar
- International WhatsApp destination number when the optional channel is enabled
- Website iCal export URL
The Free version supports up to three accommodation calendars.
Host Domination Booking Engine PRO adds online payments, advanced pricing, premium add-ons and capacity options that can scale beyond the three calendars included in Free.
Minimum stay validation
Set the minimum number of nights required for the accommodation.
If a guest selects a shorter stay, the booking form displays a validation message and prevents the request from being submitted until a valid date range is selected.
Optional nightly price display
The Free version allows you to configure a base price per night and display it on available dates in the public calendar.
Host Domination Booking Engine PRO adds advanced pricing tools for day, month and yearly pricing rules, including different prices for selected dates and periods.
iCal and ICS calendar synchronization
Host Domination Booking Engine supports standard iCal and ICS calendar feeds.
You can:
- Import unavailable dates from an external calendar
- Import reservations from a compatible OTA calendar
- Check the connected external calendar automatically approximately every 24 hours in the Free version
- Run an immediate manual import through Refresh Calendars
- Generate a website iCal export URL
- Export confirmed website reservations
- Export imported and blocked periods through the website calendar feed
- Connect the website calendar to other compatible reservation systems
Compatible sources may include:
- Airbnb
- Booking.com
- Vrbo
- Google Calendar
- Apple Calendar
- Tripadvisor
- Other vacation rental platforms
- Property management systems that provide an iCal or ICS URL
- Agoda or Expedia-connected properties when the platform, account or connected property management system provides a compatible iCal feed
Compatibility depends on the availability and format of the calendar feed supplied by each external service.
Automatic calendar synchronization in the Free version
The Free version supports:
- One external iCal or ICS URL
- An immediate calendar import when the external URL is saved
- Automatic checks approximately every 24 hours through WordPress scheduled tasks
- Manual updates at any time through the Refresh Calendars button
- One website iCal export URL for the accommodation calendar
The automatic interval is approximate. WordPress scheduled tasks are normally triggered when the website receives traffic, and their execution may also depend on the hosting environment and server configuration.
The external OTA or booking platform independently controls how frequently it publishes calendar changes and how often it reads the Website iCal Feed URL generated by the plugin. Some platforms refresh imported calendars automatically at their own intervals, while others may provide or require a manual refresh option.
For this reason, iCal synchronization is not guaranteed to be instantaneous or real time. You can force an immediate import from the connected external feed at any time by clicking the Refresh Calendars button.
Two-way iCal calendar workflow
A typical synchronization workflow is:
- Export the iCal or ICS URL from Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo or another compatible platform.
- Paste the external URL into Host Domination Booking Engine.
- Save the calendar. The plugin performs the initial import immediately.
- Copy the Website iCal Feed URL generated by the plugin.
- Import the generated URL into the external booking platform.
- Confirm direct booking requests received from your website so that their dates are included in the exported feed.
- The Free plugin checks the connected external calendar once a day. You can also use Refresh Calendars at any time to run an immediate manual import. PRO provides automatic calendar synchronization every 30 minutes.
The plugin imports and exports availability through standard calendar feeds. It does not use the private APIs of the listed booking platforms.
Reduce the risk of double bookings
Calendar synchronization helps keep availability consistent between your WordPress website and compatible external booking channels.
Imported reservations are displayed as unavailable dates in the booking calendar. Confirmed direct reservations are included in the website iCal feed and can be imported by compatible OTA platforms.
Because iCal updates are periodic rather than instantaneous, no iCal-based system can guarantee real-time synchronization or completely eliminate the possibility of overlapping reservations.
Always verify the calendar refresh settings used by every connected OTA or reservation platform.
Reservation management in WordPress
Manage direct requests from the WordPress dashboard.
The booking area displays information such as:
- Guest name
- Guest email
- Contact phone number
- Check-in date
- Check-out date
- Number of guests
- Selected calendar or accommodation
- Guest notes
- Request status
Administrators can:
- Confirm a request
- Reject a request
- Delete a booking or request
- Review synchronized external reservations
- View a monthly availability overview
Responsive and mobile-friendly booking form
The front-end booking calendar is designed for desktop computers, tablets and smartphones.
Guests can browse availability, choose their dates and submit the direct booking request without leaving the accommodation website.
Built for hosts and property managers
Host Domination Booking Engine can be used by:
- Individual hosts
- Vacation rental owners
- Airbnb hosts
- Property managers
- Bed and breakfast owners
- Apartment managers
- Villa rental businesses
- Small hotels
- Guest houses
- Short-term rental agencies
- WordPress developers
- Web agencies creating accommodation websites
The plugin is not limited to Host Domination customers and can be installed on any compatible WordPress website.
Free version features
The Free version includes:
- Up to three accommodation calendars
- Direct booking request form
- Responsive front-end availability calendar
- Check-in and check-out selection
- Guest number selection
- Guest contact details and notes
- Request confirmation, rejection and deletion
- Minimum-stay validation
- Optional base nightly price displayed in the calendar
- One external iCal or ICS URL
- Immediate import when the external calendar is saved
- Automatic iCal checks approximately every 24 hours through WordPress scheduled tasks
- Manual iCal updates at any time through Refresh Calendars
- One website iCal export URL
- Import of external reservations and unavailable dates
- Export of confirmed website reservations
- WordPress administration dashboard
- Monthly availability overview
- Gutenberg and Elementor shortcode compatibility
- No time-limited trial
- No mandatory Host Domination cloud subscription
Interested in Host Domination Booking Engine PRO?
Curious about the PRO version?
Take a look at the live demo website and see for yourself what you can build and manage with Host Domination Booking Engine PRO.
Host Domination Booking Engine PRO
Host Domination Booking Engine PRO extends the booking system with online payments, multiple calendar sources, flexible prices, advanced availability controls and premium add-ons.
PRO features include:
- Three or more accommodation, room or property calendars with compatible expansion options
- Multiple-room or property selector on the front end
- Up to three external iCal or ICS URLs for each calendar
- Automatic synchronization of up to three external iCal or ICS feeds for each accommodation calendar
- Unified iCal calendar generation
- iCal calendar merger and calendar unifier
- One consolidated website iCal URL generated from multiple connected feeds for the same accommodation calendar
- Advanced day, month and yearly pricing
- Different prices for specific dates and periods
- Advanced date availability controls
- Blocking of selected dates or entire months
- Stripe online payments
- Payment status management
- Expanded reservation management
- Technical support
Multiple external calendars with PRO
The PRO version allows up to three external iCal or ICS feeds to be connected to each accommodation calendar.
For example, the same property calendar can import unavailable dates from:
- Airbnb
- Booking.com
- Vrbo
The plugin combines the imported events in the WordPress availability calendar so that dates already occupied through one connected channel are unavailable on the direct booking website.
Unified iCal calendar and calendar merger
Host Domination Booking Engine PRO can work as an iCal calendar unifier for each accommodation calendar.
Multiple connected iCal or ICS feeds are imported into one property calendar. The plugin then generates one Website iCal Feed URL containing the combined confirmed and unavailable periods.
This unified URL can be imported into another compatible:
- OTA or booking platform
- Property management system
- Calendar application
- Reservation tool
- WordPress website
- Availability system that accepts only one iCal URL
This feature is useful for:
- Combining several booking-channel calendars
- Creating one master availability feed for an accommodation
- Merging unavailable dates from different sources
- Generating one iCal link from multiple connected feeds
- Sharing consolidated availability with another system
- Simplifying multi-channel calendar management
Each accommodation calendar has its own website iCal feed. The unified feed consolidates the sources connected to that specific calendar.
Accommodation calendar capacity
Free includes up to three calendars for rooms, apartments, units or properties. PRO starts from three calendars and can scale further with compatible calendar expansion options.
The following shortcode displays all active calendars and allows the guest to switch between them:
[hdbe_booking_calendars]
A specific calendar can still be displayed with its generated shortcode:
[hdbe_booking_calendar id=”123″]
Advanced pricing
Host Domination Booking Engine PRO provides additional pricing controls, including:
- Standard nightly price
- Prices for individual dates
- Daily pricing rules
- Monthly pricing rules
- Yearly or seasonal pricing rules
- Different prices for selected periods
Block dates and months
PRO availability controls can be used to block selected dates or entire months for:
- Maintenance periods
- Owner stays
- Seasonal closures
- Private events
- Temporary unavailability
- Dates managed outside the website
Stripe online payments
Host Domination Booking Engine PRO supports online payments through Stripe.
A Stripe account is required. Stripe may apply its own transaction fees, account requirements and service terms independently of Host Domination Booking Engine.
Extend your booking system with powerful Add-ons
The new Add-ons section allows you to extend Host Domination Booking Engine PRO with optional features designed for different accommodation and booking workflows.
Available add-ons include:
* Coupon Codes, Create percentage or fixed-value promotional …
Installation
- Download, install and activate Host Domination Booking Engine from your WordPress dashboard.
- Open the Host Domination Booking Engine menu and create your first booking calendar.
- Enter the calendar or accommodation name, maximum number of guests and minimum number of nights.
- Optionally, set the base price per night, choose EUR or USD and enable the option to display the price in the public calendar.
- To import unavailable dates, paste the iCal or ICS URL provided by Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo or another compatible OTA into the External iCal Link field.
- Save the calendar. If a valid external iCal URL was entered, the plugin performs the initial import immediately.
- In the Created Calendars table, copy the shortcode generated for your calendar. It will use this format:
[hdbe_booking_calendar id=”123″]
- Replace
123only when writing the shortcode manually. The safest option is to copy the exact shortcode generated by the plugin. - Create or edit the WordPress page where you want to display the booking engine and paste the generated shortcode.
- Publish or update the page, then verify the calendar, minimum-stay rule, availability and booking request form from the front end.
- To export confirmed website reservations, copy the Website iCal Feed URL generated by the plugin and import it into the compatible external booking platform.
- The Free plugin checks the connected external calendar once a day. Use the Refresh Calendars button whenever you want to run an immediate manual import. PRO provides automatic calendar synchronization every 30 minutes.
Using the shortcode with Gutenberg
Create or edit a WordPress page, add a Shortcode block and paste the exact shortcode generated in the Created Calendars table.
Example:
[hdbe_booking_calendar id=”123″]
Publish or update the page and verify the booking engine from the front end.
Using the shortcode with Elementor
Create or edit a page with Elementor, add the Shortcode widget and paste the exact shortcode generated by Host Domination Booking Engine.
Example:
[hdbe_booking_calendar id=”123″]
Publish or update the page and verify the booking calendar and reservation request form from the front end.
Displaying multiple calendars
When multiple accommodation calendars have been created, you can display all active calendars with a property selector by using:
[hdbe_booking_calendars]
Use the individual generated shortcode when you want to display only one specific accommodation calendar.
Calendar synchronization
To configure two-way iCal calendar synchronization:
- Copy the external iCal or ICS URL from Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo or another compatible OTA or booking platform.
- Paste the URL into the External iCal Link field in Host Domination Booking Engine.
- Save the calendar. The first import is performed immediately.
- Copy the Website iCal Feed URL generated by the plugin.
- Import the generated URL into the external booking platform.
- Confirm website booking requests before expecting them to appear in the exported iCal feed.
- The Free plugin automatically checks the connected external feed approximately every 24 hours.
- Select Refresh Calendars whenever you want to run an immediate manual import.
The 24-hour interval is approximate because WordPress scheduled tasks are normally triggered by website traffic and can be affected by the hosting environment or server configuration.
The external OTA controls how frequently it publishes, reads and updates imported calendars. Some booking platforms refresh iCal feeds automatically at their own intervals, while others may offer or require a manual refresh.
New reservations, cancellations, blocked dates or availability changes may therefore not appear immediately on every connected platform.
Always check the calendar synchronization settings and refresh policy provided by each connected OTA.
Frequently asked questions
Is Host Domination Booking Engine a complete WordPress reservation system?
It provides a direct booking request form, availability calendar, request management, external iCal import and a website iCal export feed. It is not a complete OTA channel manager/PMS and does not synchronize listing content, messages, reviews or platform pricing through private APIs.
Is the plugin open source and self-hosted?
Yes. Host Domination Booking Engine is licensed under GPLv2 or later and runs directly inside your WordPress website. The Free version does not require a mandatory Host Domination cloud account or subscription and does not expire.
What is the correct shortcode?
Each calendar generates a shortcode in this format: [hdbe_booking_calendar id=”123″] Copy the exact shortcode from the Created Calendars table because the ID is different for each calendar.
Platform/OTA compatibility list
Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, Agoda, Expedia, Tripadvisor, Stripe, Google and Apple are trademarks of their respective owners. Host Domination Booking Engine is an independent WordPress plugin and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by these companies. Compatibility depends on the availability and format of the iCal or ICS feed supplied by each external service.
Can I display multiple accommodation calendars?
The Free version supports up to three accommodation calendars. PRO starts from three calendars and can scale further with compatible expansion options. To display all active calendars with a selector, use: [hdbe_booking_calendars]
Can I synchronize the calendar with Airbnb?
Yes. Copy the compatible Airbnb iCal export URL into the External iCal Link field. You can also import the Website iCal Feed URL generated by the plugin into Airbnb.
Can I synchronize the calendar with Booking.com?
Yes, when the property account provides compatible iCal import and export functions.
Does the plugin work with Vrbo?
Yes, when a compatible Vrbo iCal or ICS URL is available.
Does it work with Agoda or Expedia?
The plugin can process standard iCal and ICS URLs. Compatibility depends on whether the platform, property account, connectivity provider or connected property management system provides a compatible calendar feed.
Is this a direct API integration with booking platforms?
No. The plugin uses standard iCal and ICS calendar feeds and does not connect through the private APIs of Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, Agoda or Expedia.
Is Host Domination Booking Engine a channel manager/PMS?
No. It is a WordPress booking engine and reservation request system with iCal availability synchronization.
Does calendar synchronization happen automatically?
Yes. When a valid external iCal URL is saved, the plugin performs the initial import immediately. The Free version then checks the connected feed once a day through WordPress scheduled tasks, while PRO provides automatic calendar synchronization every 30 minutes. The interval is approximate because WordPress cron execution normally depends on website traffic, hosting conditions and server configuration. You can also click Refresh Calendars at any time to run an immediate manual import. The connected OTA independently controls how frequently it publishes calendar changes and reads the Website…
Does synchronization happen in real time?
No. iCal synchronization is not a real-time system. Updates depend on WordPress cron, website traffic, server configuration and the refresh policy of each external platform.
Can iCal synchronization prevent double bookings?
It can reduce the risk by importing unavailable dates and exporting confirmed website reservations. It cannot guarantee instant synchronization or completely eliminate overlapping reservations.
How many external iCal calendars can I connect?
The Free version supports one external iCal or ICS URL per accommodation calendar. Host Domination Booking Engine PRO supports up to three external iCal or ICS URLs for each accommodation calendar.
Can I combine multiple iCal calendars into one link?
Yes, with Host Domination Booking Engine PRO. Multiple feeds connected to the same accommodation calendar are imported and consolidated into one Website iCal Feed URL containing the combined confirmed and unavailable periods.
Can I use the unified iCal link in another system?
Yes, provided that the destination OTA, calendar application, property management system or reservation tool supports standard iCal or ICS imports.
Does a pending website request block the dates?
No. A new website request remains pending until an administrator confirms it. Confirmed requests are included in the unavailable dates and in the website iCal export feed.
Can I set a minimum number of nights?
Yes. The minimum stay can be configured for the calendar and is validated in both the front-end form and the server-side booking request process.
Can I display a nightly price in the Free version?
Yes. You can configure an optional base price per night and display it on available dates in the front-end calendar.
Changelog
1.4.83
- Changed the default guest selector to the standard drop-down menu for wider theme and JavaScript compatibility.
- The + / − guest selector remains available as an optional setting under Settings & Layout.
- Existing saved guest-selector choices are preserved during updates.
1.4.82
- NEW! When an administrator confirms a pending website booking request, the guest automatically receives a second email confirming that the reservation is now confirmed.
- The existing per-calendar guest email option now controls both the initial request acknowledgement and the final booking confirmation email.
- Confirmation emails include the property, check-in, check-out and guest summary, and use the calendar notification email as Reply-To when available.
- Prevented duplicate confirmation emails by allowing the confirmation transition only from pending requests.
1.4.81
- Improved the public booking form layout, minimum-stay notice and responsive behavior.
- Refined the local Flatpickr month container styling.
1.4.79
- Hide the native WordPress Screen Options control across Host Domination Booking Engine admin screens.
1.4.78
Added the option to move a booking to another available calendar while editing the reservation.
1.4.77
- Fix: external iCal imports now reject HTTP errors and malformed/truncated calendar payloads before changing saved availability.
- Fix: the last known-good external blocks are preserved and the feed is marked as error when a remote iCal fetch is invalid.
- A valid empty VCALENDAR remains authoritative and correctly clears previously imported events.
Screenshots
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FAQ
Host Domination Booking Engine: Cal…: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Sep 29, 2026
Is Host Domination Booking Engine:… free?
Yes. Host Domination Booking Engine:… is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Host Domination Booking Engine:… safe to use in 2026?
Host Domination Booking Engine:… is a solid plugin choice in 2026, with a few things worth checking first. It runs on 100+ sites, is rated 5/5 and was last updated 4 days ago, and scores 75/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Host Domination Booking Engine:…?
Host Domination Booking Engine:… is active on 100+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 4,200 times since it launched in June 2026. It was downloaded 1,760 times in the last 30 days.
Does Host Domination Booking Engine:… work with WordPress 7.1?
Yes. The developer has tested Host Domination Booking Engine:… up to WordPress 7.1.2, the latest release. It requires WordPress 6.0 or newer.
What PHP version does Host Domination Booking Engine:… need?
Host Domination Booking Engine:… requires PHP 7.4 or higher. Most hosts run PHP 8.x today, so it works on any modern WordPress hosting.
When was Host Domination Booking Engine:… last updated?
The latest version, 1.4.83, was released on September 25, 2026 (4 days ago).
Who makes Host Domination Booking Engine:…?
Host Domination Booking Engine:… is developed and maintained by Host Domination.
What are the best alternatives to Host Domination Booking Engine:…?
The most popular alternatives to Host Domination Booking Engine:… are MotoPress Hotel Booking (10K+ installs), VikBooking Hotel Booking En… (8K+ installs) and Beds24 Online Booking (2K+ installs).
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