Calendar for your holiday home

I HIGHLIGHTED a website a few months ago that allowed you to set up an availability calendar for your holiday home.

A friend recently emailed me to say that they were having problems updating it and wondered if I knew of any others.

So not one to turn down a challenge I set out across the internet and discovered Availcheck, which looked as though it would do the job.

The site offers a simple, free internet-based calendar that you can update and tweak directly through the web browser – my preferred option.

Once you have registered you can set up twelve free calendars, more than enough for most people, and either link directly to a page outlining your availability or frame the link within your own site.

To see how I did it for my friend take a look at the Gite in Dordogne website.

All that Availcheck ask in return is that you link back to them from the foot of each calendar you create and even if you do decide to upgrade, which allows you to receive email requests amongst many other things, it costs just £10 a year.

Comments

[Philip Voice]

I was using Rentcalandar until Sunday last when I discovered it was not working.

I have also noticed that some of my search results were from people querying why Rentcalendar was not working.

I have redirected my clients to the calendar on French Connections for now but I will have a look at your suggestion.

Thanks

Phil

[Craig]

One thing to come out of this I suppose is that it is important to regularly check that the services you are using on your website are actually working correctly.

Things like forms, calendars and sites you link to will ensure your site is in good shape.

Maybe a job for a chilly, winter's afternoon with the fire blazing away!

[Clive Dawson]

I also have just discovered that rentcalandar.com is no longer working.I know we have little cause to criticise 'free'services,but you would think that they would have the decency to inform their client base.
I had the same trouble with 'mailtoweb' which I was using on both our sites for email enquiries,it just stopped working, but fortunately a potential client contacted us to say the form didn't work.
So I concur with Philip,try to remember to check out third party sevices !

[Craig McGinty]

Hi Clive
Thanks for your comment and you are right to recommend checking up on website services, would be annoying to miss out on bookings.
All the best
Craig

[Clive Dawson]

My apologies Craig, for crediting the wrong man!
As a footnote I spent most of the day looking for an alternative to rentcalendar.com.The obvious one is rentors.org,but I left them some time ago as I thought the calendar was rather dull,and there was no way to imbed it in my website.
There are countless php and javascripts available,but I'm no 'coder'.
In the end I've settled for Google calendar,the pro's:
Really easy to edit and integrate with your site(they provide a code generator)
Cons:
Limited editing of the calendar itself(colours etc) and it will only display up to one month at a time,with selection arrows for alternative months.
Never the less its a once again a great free service from Google.

[clive dawson]

Hi,
Just an update on availability calendars.I gave up on the google one,mainly because it always defaulted to French and secondly because the graphics are limited.
I ran a new search for calendars,and as always there are 'new kids on the block',and was impressed by www.dateblocker.com. a free service.
It's easy to use and customise and will automatically integrate with many popular online calendar services and gives you the code for personal site integration if you need it.

[Craig McGinty]

Hi Clive, many thanks for that, looks a very tidy option.
For those who want to check what Clive has done, please see:
http://www.gitewithaprivatepool.com/tariff.html#calendar
All the best, Craig