Answers · Bookings into your accounts
How do I get Booking.com bookings into Xero?
Short answer
Booking.com does not connect to Xero. Each reservation has to be recorded as income, and Booking.com's commission recorded as a cost, because the commission is billed to you separately rather than deducted where you can see it. Airflow does this from the reservation email: it creates a draft Xero invoice for the stay, with room revenue and commission on separate lines, tagged to the right property, for you to review and approve.
What makes Booking.com different from Airbnb
On Booking.com the guest often pays you directly, at the property or by card, and Booking.com then invoices you its commission each month. On other bookings Booking.com collects the payment and pays you the net amount. Your books need gross revenue and commission recorded separately in both cases, and the two flows look different in the bank.
Most errors come from recording the net amount as revenue, which understates income and hides the commission cost, or from missing the monthly commission invoice altogether. Both matter for VAT, since commission is a purchase from a supplier in another country for many hosts.
How to do it with Airflow
- 1
Connect Xero and map your properties
Choose the income account, the tax rate, and a tracking category option for each property.
- 2
Send Airflow your reservation emails
Forward Booking.com confirmation emails or connect the inbox they arrive in. Nothing is changed in the Booking.com extranet.
- 3
Airflow reads the reservation
Guest, dates, nights, room rate, taxes and the Booking.com commission are read into a booking, so both the gross stay and the platform's share are captured.
- 4
Approve the draft in Xero
The draft invoice shows accommodation revenue and the commission as separate lines in your Xero currency. You check it and approve it.
One reservation as a draft invoice
A three-night Booking.com reservation. Figures are illustrative.
| Accommodation, 3 nights at 110.00 | 330.00 |
|---|---|
| Booking.com commission | -49.50 |
| Tracking category | Property: Harbour Flat |
| Status in Xero | Draft, awaiting your approval |
When Booking.com's monthly commission invoice arrives, check it against the commission lines on that month's drafts.
Calendar: one thing to know
If you also block dates between Booking.com and other channels with calendar links, be aware that Booking.com's calendar feed lists every blocked range as "not available", without saying whether it is a guest or your own closure. Airflow blocks those dates at once and lists them for you to label. The reservation email remains the source for the booking and its money.
Several channels into the same Xero organisation
The same setup reads Airbnb, Vrbo and Expedia confirmations. Each channel treats fees differently, and Airflow lays every one out the same way in Xero, so income is comparable across channels and by property.
Other ways to do this
Airflow is one option. These are the others, and when each is the better choice.
- Record reservations by hand
- Enter each reservation as a sales invoice and the monthly commission invoice as a bill. Correct, and slow at volume.
- Use the extranet's statements
- Booking.com's finance section has reservation statements and commission invoices you can download and post as monthly summaries. Suitable if you do not need per-booking records.
- A PMS or channel manager with a Xero link
- If you manage rates and availability through a channel manager, check whether it posts to Xero. It already has the reservation data through the Booking.com connection.
What Airflow does not do
- Airflow does not connect to the Booking.com extranet or API.
- It does not fetch Booking.com's monthly commission invoice for you.
- It creates drafts in Xero and does not approve them.
Common questions
Does Booking.com integrate with Xero?
No. Booking.com has no Xero connection. Reservations reach Xero by manual entry, through a channel manager that posts to Xero, or through a tool such as Airflow that reads the reservation email and drafts the invoice.
How should Booking.com commission be recorded in Xero?
Separately from revenue. Record the full stay as income and the commission as a cost, so net revenue and VAT are right. Airflow puts the commission on its own line of the draft.
Does it matter whether the guest paid me or paid Booking.com?
For the invoice, no: the stay and the commission are the same. It changes what arrives in your bank, which is why recording the payment received against the booking is a separate step.
Can I do this for QuickBooks instead?
Yes. The same process creates draft invoices in QuickBooks Online, Sage or FreshBooks.
Will Airflow change anything in my Booking.com account?
No. It reads the emails Booking.com sends you. It has no access to the extranet.
Try it on your own bookings
Forward a few booking emails and look at what Airflow builds from them. A card is needed at sign-up.
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