# How do I get Airbnb bookings into Xero? Canonical: https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/airbnb-bookings-into-xero Last checked: 2026-10-04 Source: Airflow (https://www.airflowhq.com) ## Short answer Airbnb does not connect to Xero itself, so a booking only reaches Xero if you or a tool put it there. With Airflow, you forward your Airbnb booking-confirmation emails (or let Airflow watch your Gmail or Outlook inbox) and each one becomes a structured booking and a draft invoice in Xero, with accommodation, cleaning fee, the Airbnb service fee and taxes on separate lines. You review the draft in Xero and approve it yourself. ## Why this is harder than it should be Xero sees your bank account, and what arrives there is an Airbnb payout: one net figure, after the service fee, often covering more than one stay and arriving after check-in. The gross booking, the cleaning fee and the fee Airbnb kept are not in that line, so the bank feed alone cannot give you revenue by booking or by property. The usual workaround is retyping each reservation, or exporting a CSV from Airbnb every month and reshaping it for import. Both work for a handful of bookings and both fall behind as soon as you have a busy month, a second listing or a guest who changes dates. ## How to do it with Airflow 1. **Connect Xero**: In your Airflow portal, connect your Xero organisation and choose the sales account and tax rate your booking income should use. If you run several listings, map each one to a Xero tracking category option. 2. **Send Airflow your Airbnb emails**: Forward booking-confirmation emails to your Airflow address, set an automatic forwarding rule, or connect Gmail or Outlook so Airflow picks them up for you. Nothing needs authorising inside Airbnb. 3. **Airflow reads the booking**: The email is read into a booking: guest, dates, nights, nightly rate, cleaning fee, the Airbnb host service fee, discounts, taxes and currency. If the email does not hold enough to build the booking, Airflow asks you for the missing detail instead of guessing. 4. **A draft invoice appears in Xero**: Airflow creates a multi-line draft invoice in your Xero currency, tagged to the right property. You open it in Xero, check it and approve it. Airflow never approves, sends or pays anything. ## What one booking looks like in Xero A four-night Airbnb stay, as the draft invoice Airflow creates. The figures are an illustration of the layout, not real rates. - Accommodation, 4 nights at 150.00: 600.00 - Cleaning fee: 60.00 - Airbnb host service fee: -19.80 - Tracking category: Property: Sea View Cottage - Status in Xero: Draft, awaiting your approval When the payout arrives, you can record the amount actually received against the booking and the draft is updated to match. ## When bookings change If a guest changes dates or you record the real payout, Airflow updates the matching draft in Xero. If the invoice has already been approved and you have switched the option on, Airflow can void it and issue a corrected one, so a late change does not leave the books wrong. Airflow also keeps each invoice's Xero status (draft, authorised, paid) in step on the booking. ## Past bookings Bookings you already have can be brought in from a CSV file, a Google Sheet or your Airbnb calendar link. Import them as blocked dates first and decide which ones should raise invoices, so you do not end up with a year of draft invoices dated today. ## Other ways to do this - **Type each booking into Xero**: Free and accurate if you are careful. Realistic for a few bookings a month on one listing. - **Export a CSV from Airbnb and import it**: Airbnb lets you download your earnings as a CSV, and Xero can import invoices from a CSV once the columns are reshaped to its template. It is a monthly job and it runs behind real time. - **A dedicated accounting sync tool**: Tools such as Tallybreeze connect to your Airbnb account and post reservations and payouts into Xero. If a ledger sync is all you need, and you want automatic payout reconciliation, that is a strong, proven choice. - **A bookkeeper**: A bookkeeper who knows short-term rentals will do the entry and the reconciliation for you. Many of them use one of the tools above to do it. ## What Airflow does not do - Airflow reads booking emails. It does not connect to the Airbnb API and is not a channel manager. - Invoices are created as drafts. Airflow does not approve, send or file them. - Payouts are recorded against a booking by you; Airflow does not match bank lines to bookings automatically. ## Frequently asked questions ### Does Airbnb integrate with Xero? Not directly. Airbnb offers no Xero connection of its own. Bookings reach Xero by manual entry, a CSV import, or a third-party tool such as Airflow, which reads the Airbnb booking email and creates a draft Xero invoice. ### Do I have to give Airflow my Airbnb login? No. Airflow reads the booking-confirmation emails Airbnb already sends you, through forwarding or a connected Gmail or Outlook inbox. Nothing is authorised inside Airbnb. ### Will Airflow approve or send invoices in Xero? No. Every invoice is created as a draft. You review it in Xero and approve, send or mark it paid yourself. ### Can I see Airbnb income by property in Xero? Yes. Each listing maps to a Xero tracking category option, and every invoice line is tagged with it, so Xero reports break down by property. ### What if the booking is in a different currency from my Xero organisation? Airflow keeps the currency agreed with the guest on the booking and writes the draft invoice in your accounting currency, using an exchange rate fixed at the time of booking. ### What does it cost? Reading a booking email and creating a draft invoice each use automated tasks. Paid plans include a monthly allowance of automated tasks and start with a free trial; on the Free plan the same work is pay as you go. Current prices and allowances are on the pricing page. ## Related - [Airbnb to Xero integration](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/airbnb-xero) - [Import Airbnb booking history into Xero](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/import-airbnb-booking-history-into-xero) - [Why Airbnb payouts do not match invoices](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/airbnb-payouts-dont-match-invoices) - [Airflow compared with Tallybreeze](https://www.airflowhq.com/compare/tallybreeze) - [Pricing](https://www.airflowhq.com/pricing) Get started at https://www.airflowhq.com/get-started. Plans and prices: https://www.airflowhq.com/pricing.