Syncfaro Setup & User Guide

Everything you need to connect a MotoPress Hotel Booking site to the Channex channel manager, and keep it in sync.

1. Overview & requirements

Syncfaro is a WordPress plugin that connects MotoPress Hotel Booking to Channex.io, a certified channel management platform distributing to Booking.com, Airbnb, Expedia and 60+ channels. Once configured, Syncfaro keeps prices, availability, minimum stay and bookings in sync, in both directions, automatically.

How it works, in one paragraph

Syncfaro listens to what actually happens on your site: a booking is created, a season price changes, a min-stay rule is edited. It recalculates only the affected dates and sends just the changes to Channex (never bulk snapshots), respecting Channex rate limits. Bookings made on any channel flow back into MotoPress as native bookings, and availability updates everywhere.

Requirements

WordPress with MotoPress Hotel Booking installed and configured (accommodation types, rates, seasons).
PHP 8.0 or newer.
A Channex account with a property created (rooms and rate plans matching your MotoPress structure).
Your Channex API key.

Tip. Create the Channex property to mirror your MotoPress structure: one Channex room type per MotoPress accommodation type, one Channex rate plan per MotoPress rate. The mapping step then becomes a one-minute job.

2. Installation

In WordPress, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
Upload the Syncfaro .zip file and click Install Now.
Click Activate. A new Channex menu entry appears in your admin sidebar.

Updates are delivered automatically through your licence; you'll see them in the normal WordPress updates screen.

3. Connect to Channex

Open the Syncfaro admin page and complete the Connection section:

Paste your Channex API key.
Select or paste the Property ID of your Channex property.
Save. Use Probe Channex to confirm the connection: it lists the rooms and rate plans found on the property.

One required Channex setting

In your Channex property settings, set Min Stay Type to arrival. Syncfaro manages minimum stay as min-stay arrival and sends it under the simplified min_stay key, which is what Channex expects in this mode.

Don't skip this. If the property is left on both, Channex expects two min-stay types on every update and the sync will report inconsistencies.

Dry-run mode

While testing, you can enable dry-run: Syncfaro prepares every update and writes the exact payload to the Activity Log, but nothing is sent to Channex. Turn it off to go live.

4. Map rooms & rate plans

The Mapping section shows your MotoPress accommodation types and their rates on one side, and dropdowns with your Channex rooms and rate plans on the other.

For each MotoPress accommodation type, pick the matching Channex room type.
For each MotoPress rate, pick the matching Channex rate plan.
Save the mapping.

Only mapped rooms and rates are synced. Anything left unmapped is simply ignored, which is useful if some products should stay off the channels.

Naming doesn't need to match. Your MotoPress rate can be called "Non-Refundable" and map to a Channex rate plan called "Best Available Rate". The mapping is what counts, not the names.

5. Min-stay per rate plan

Channex models minimum stay per rate plan: two rate plans of the same room can carry different values. MotoPress defines it per accommodation type. Syncfaro bridges the two with its own Min-stay rules, a feature MotoPress itself doesn't offer.

Adding rules

Open the Min-stay per rate plan section of the Syncfaro page.
Click + Add rule for each rule you need: choose the rate plan, the date range, and the minimum nights.
Add as many rows as you like, then click Save min-stay rules once. All changes are sent together in a single update.

How rules behave

Dates without a rule carry min_stay 1 (no restriction).
Overlapping rules: the one lower in the list wins for the overlapping dates.
Deleting a rule automatically resets those dates back to 1 on Channex, no residue is left behind.
Rate and min-stay changes affecting the same dates are sent fused in one call, as Channex requires.

Real-world example. Make the refundable rate bookable from 1 night, but require 3 nights on the non-refundable rate during high season: two rules, one save.

6. Everyday sync

After setup there is nothing to operate. Work in MotoPress as you always did; Syncfaro reacts:

You do this in MotoPress	Syncfaro sends to Channex
Change a season price	The new rate, only for the affected dates and rate plans
A booking is created (site or admin)	Availability down, only for the booked dates
A booking is cancelled	Availability back up for those dates
A booking's dates are moved	Both ranges: the old dates freed, the new dates occupied
Edit Syncfaro min-stay rules	The changed min-stay values, per rate plan

Every event and payload is visible in the Activity Log at the bottom of the Syncfaro page: what came in, what was calculated, what was sent, and Channex's response (including the task ID). If you ever wonder "did it sync?", the log answers in one glance.

Deltas only. Syncfaro keeps a local record of the last value sent for every date and rate plan (the state mirror) and transmits only what actually changed. This keeps you comfortably inside Channex rate limits, even on busy sites.

7. Full sync & the state mirror

A full sync pushes the complete picture, 500 days of availability, prices and restrictions for every mapped room and rate, in exactly two API calls. Use the Full sync (500 days) button:

right after finishing the initial setup;
after restoring a backup or making bulk changes outside the normal flow;
whenever you want the peace of mind of a clean baseline. A daily background full sync also runs automatically as a safety net.

The state mirror

The mirror is Syncfaro's memory of what Channex already knows. The Clear state mirror button erases that memory, so the next full sync resends absolutely everything.

Golden rule. After clearing the mirror, always run a full sync before editing prices. The mirror must be rebuilt from a complete baseline; editing prices in between can produce partial updates.

Other maintenance buttons

Button	What it does
Process queue	Sends anything waiting in the outbox immediately (updates are normally grouped for a few seconds to batch related changes).
Probe Channex	Reads the property from Channex and lists rooms/rate plans, confirms credentials and mapping targets.
Pull bookings	Fetches pending booking revisions from Channex on demand (they also arrive automatically).
Snapshot	A one-page health check of the current configuration.

8. Receiving bookings

Bookings made on any connected channel (Booking.com, Airbnb, …) travel through Channex to your site:

New booking: created in MotoPress as a native booking, room assigned, marked with its channel source. Availability updates automatically and is pushed back out to all other channels.
Modification: the existing MotoPress booking is updated in place, never duplicated.
Cancellation: the booking is cancelled in MotoPress and the freed dates go back on sale everywhere.

Each processed revision is acknowledged back to Channex, so nothing is delivered twice. You can see every received booking in the Activity Log, with its Channex booking ID.

Payments. Syncfaro does not carry card data. Guest payments follow each channel's own flow, or your site's gateway for direct bookings.

9. Troubleshooting

Prices arrive wrong by a factor of 100

Channex expects amounts in minor units (cents): 333.00 travels as 33300. Syncfaro converts automatically, if a value looks wrong, check the original price in MotoPress uses a dot as decimal separator (456.23, not 456,23).

Values for next year appear that you never set

MotoPress seasons repeat annually by default. A season for 15 Nov 2026 quietly applies to 15 Nov 2027 too. Edit the season and disable the annual recurrence if you want it to apply to a single year.

A change didn't sync

Check the Activity Log: is there an event for your change? If it says "nothing changed since last send", the value on Channex is already correct (the mirror is doing its job).
If the item is queued, click Process queue.
To force a resend of a value that's already on Channex: change it to something else, save, change it back, save. The mirror detects both edits.

Availability range looks one day short

A booking from the 10th to the 16th occupies the nights of the 10th through the 15th, checkout day is free and stays on sale. This is standard hospitality behaviour, not a sync error.

Min-stay updates rejected by Channex

Confirm the Channex property's Min Stay Type is set to arrival (see section 3).

Starting over cleanly

Clear state mirror → Full sync (500 days). This rebuilds Channex from the ground truth of your MotoPress data and resets the mirror. Remember the golden rule: full sync first, price edits after.

10. FAQ

Does Syncfaro replace my MotoPress iCal connections?

Yes, and you should remove them for channels managed through Channex, or you'll have two systems fighting over the same calendars. Syncfaro syncs prices and restrictions as well as availability, which iCal cannot do.

Which channels can I reach?

Every channel Channex supports: Booking.com, Airbnb, Expedia, VRBO and dozens more. Channel activation and mapping on the OTA side is done in your Channex dashboard.

Can I sync only some of my accommodation types?

Yes. Only mapped rooms and rates sync; leave the rest unmapped.

What happens if my site is offline for a while?

The daily full sync realigns everything as soon as the site is back. Pending booking revisions are pulled and acknowledged on the next cycle, nothing is lost.

Where do I get support?

Through your account at syncfaro.com. Include the relevant lines of your Activity Log, they usually contain the whole story.