Configure direct integration with Outlook for travel bookings

Spotnana allows you to configure the system to automatically add placeholders to your Outlook calendar for any bookings you make on the platform. This allows your travelers to easily see upcoming, current and past travel bookings directly in their Outlook calendar automatically without having to import an ICS (Calendar) file. 

If you do not enable this feature, Spotnana will still continue to attach ICS files to all itinerary emails. Travelers can then import those .ics files to synchronize the related bookings with their calendar. However, any changes to the travel bookings will generate fresh ICS files that will need to be re-imported.

Enable automatic synchronization with Outlook Calendar

To enable automatic synchronization of Spotnana bookings with Outlook for all travelers in your organization, complete the following steps:

1. Request that your Microsoft Entra administrator (in your IT department) authorizes the Spotnana Outlook Integration app. For them to do this, you must share the Outlook calendar integration link with the administrator. To do that: 

   • Login to the Online Booking Tool (OBT).  

   • Select Company from the Program menu. 

   • Then select Integrations from the Configuration menu on the left. The Integrations page will be displayed. 

   • Select the Calendar tab. 

   • Click Manage in the Outlook calendar integration row. The Outlook calendar integration dialog will be displayed. 

   • Copy the URL displayed in the Use the below link to approve access field (shown below) and provide it to your Microsoft Entra administrator. 
     
     Note: This URL will allow your Microsoft Entra administrator to approve the Spotnana Outlook Integration app. Be sure to instruct the Microsoft Entra administrator to select the Consent on behalf of your organization option. 

2. Your Microsoft Entra administrator then uses the link you provided them with to approve the Spotnana Outlook Integration app. They should be sure to select the Consent on behalf of your organization option. 

3. Once your Microsoft Entra administrator has confirmed that this step has been completed, you must: 

   • Navigate to the same page in the OBT used in step 1.

   • When the Outlook calendar integration dialog is displayed, select Connect Outlook calendar. 
     
     This validates that the Spotnana Outlook Integration app was approved by your Microsoft Entra administrator and connects the Spotnana system to your individual Outlook calendar. 

4. Then, from the same Outlook calendar integration dialog, enable the Calendar sync option.
   
   This will enable the calendar synchronization option for all travelers in your organization. 

5. Once each of these steps has been completed, the Connect Outlook calendar option will appear on the Spotnana home page for all travelers within your company. Please instruct your travelers to enable this option. 
   
   This will automatically log each user into their Microsoft Outlook account and generate a user-specific token that authorizes calendar updates. Once this is done (for all users), the setup is complete.
   Note: If a traveler accidentally dismisses this prompt, they can still activate the feature by accessing their OBT Profile page (My Profile option in the menu under the icon with their name) and selecting Your connected apps from the menu on the left hand. Then, they would select Connect Outlook calendar from the Outlook tile. 

If a traveler has not logged in to the OBT for 90 days, the Microsoft Outlook calendar token will expire. This is a Microsoft security setting, not something Spotnana can control. If this occurs, the traveler can re-authorize the token by clicking Connect Outlook calendar on the OBT home page. If the traveler does not renew the Microsoft Outlook token after it has expired, Spotnana will revert to attaching ICS files to itinerary emails for travel bookings.