Answers · Bookings into your accounts
How do I create invoices from Airbnb bookings?
Short answer
Airbnb gives the guest a receipt and gives you a VAT invoice for its own service fee, but it does not create a sales invoice from your business for the stay. If you need one per booking for your books, Airflow creates it automatically: it reads the Airbnb booking-confirmation email and drafts an itemised invoice in Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage or FreshBooks, which you review and approve.
Three documents that get confused
The guest receipt is issued by Airbnb to the guest. The VAT invoice, where VAT applies, is issued by Airbnb to you for its service fee. The sales invoice for the stay is yours: the record in your books of what you earned from that booking. Airbnb does not produce the third one.
Accountants and tax authorities usually want income recorded per booking, with fees and taxes shown separately. Creating those invoices by hand means copying dates, amounts and fees from the reservation into your accounting package for every stay.
How to do it with Airflow
- 1
Connect the accounting package you invoice from
Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage or FreshBooks. Choose the income account and tax rate for booking income.
- 2
Send Airflow each confirmation email
By forwarding, by a rule, or by connecting Gmail or Outlook.
- 3
Airflow drafts the invoice
One invoice per booking, with the property, channel, guest name and confirmation code in the reference, and separate lines for accommodation, cleaning fee, platform fee and taxes.
- 4
Approve it, and send it if a guest needs one
The draft waits in your accounting package. Approve it for your books. An invoice for a direct booking is addressed to the guest, so you can send it from your accounting package as you would any other.
What is on the draft invoice
The fields Airflow fills in from one Airbnb confirmation. Amounts are illustrative.
| Contact | Airbnb (the channel), with the guest named in the reference |
|---|---|
| Reference | Property code, channel, guest name and confirmation code |
| Line 1 | Accommodation, 3 nights at 120.00 = 360.00 |
| Line 2 | Cleaning fee = 45.00 |
| Line 3 | Airbnb host service fee = -12.15 |
| Tax | The rate you chose for booking income |
| Status | Draft |
Nothing is emailed to the guest by Airflow from your accounting package. Sending is your decision.
Invoices for direct bookings too
A guest who books on your own Airflow booking page gets the same treatment: the booking becomes a draft invoice, and the deposit and balance they pay are recorded against it. One numbering sequence and one set of books cover channel and direct bookings together.
Do you need an invoice for every stay?
It depends on where you are and how your business is registered. Many hosts record per-booking invoices because it makes VAT returns, owner statements and year-end straightforward. Others post a monthly summary. Ask your accountant which your tax authority expects; Airflow supports the per-booking route.
Other ways to do this
Airflow is one option. These are the others, and when each is the better choice.
- Download what Airbnb provides
- Guest receipts and the VAT invoices for Airbnb's fee can be downloaded from your Airbnb account. They are Airbnb's documents, not your sales invoice, but they may be all your accountant asks for.
- An invoice template or generator
- A free template or online invoice generator produces a PDF you fill in per booking. Fine for the occasional business guest; it does not put anything in your books.
- Create the invoice in your accounting package by hand
- Accurate, and slow. Reasonable below roughly ten bookings a month.
What Airflow does not do
- Airflow does not change or replace the receipts and VAT invoices Airbnb issues.
- It drafts invoices; it does not send them to guests from your accounting package.
- It does not decide whether your tax authority requires per-booking invoices.
Common questions
Does Airbnb create invoices for hosts?
Airbnb issues a receipt to the guest and, where VAT applies, a VAT invoice to the host for Airbnb's service fee. It does not create a sales invoice from the host's business for the stay.
Can I create an invoice for every Airbnb booking automatically?
Yes. Airflow reads each Airbnb booking-confirmation email and creates a draft invoice in Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage or FreshBooks with accommodation, cleaning, fees and taxes on separate lines.
Who is the invoice addressed to?
An invoice for a channel booking is addressed to a contact for that channel, for example Airbnb, with the guest and confirmation code in the reference. An invoice for a direct booking is addressed to the guest. One for a booking made through an agent who collects the money is addressed to the agent.
Can I give a business guest a proper invoice?
Yes. For a direct booking the draft is already addressed to the guest. For a channel booking, change the contact on the draft to the guest or their company in your accounting package, then approve and send it with your business details on it.
Does this work for Booking.com and Vrbo?
Yes. Reservation emails from Booking.com, Vrbo and Expedia go through the same process, with each platform's commission shown separately.
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.
Start with Airflow See plans and pricing