# What is Airflow, and what does it do? Canonical: https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/what-is-airflow Last checked: 2026-10-05 Source: Airflow (https://www.airflowhq.com) ## Short answer Airflow is software for short-term rental hosts and small property managers. It reads the booking-confirmation emails that Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and Expedia send, turns each one into a structured booking, and creates a draft invoice in Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage or FreshBooks for the host to review. Around that it provides a direct booking page with payment into the host's own account, a guest portal for every booking, and calendar links that block dates across platforms. It is not a channel manager and it never approves, sends or pays anything on the host's behalf. [See how a booking email becomes a structured booking](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/help-ai-booking-extraction) ## The problem it solves A booking leaves its details in several places: the platform that took it, the inbox the confirmation landed in, the calendar, the guest's messages and, eventually, the accounts. Hosts are the link between them, retyping the same booking into each. Airflow starts from the one thing every channel reliably sends, the confirmation email, and carries the booking from there to the calendar, the guest and the accounts, so it is entered once. ## How to do it with Airflow 1. **Create an account and add your property**: Choose a plan, add a listing with its rates and photos. A card is needed at sign-up. 2. **Send Airflow your booking emails**: Forward confirmations, set a forwarding rule, or connect Gmail or Outlook. Paste your platforms' calendar links so dates block both ways. 3. **Connect your accounting package**: Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage or FreshBooks. Each booking then becomes a draft invoice for you to approve. 4. **Publish your booking page**: Connect Stripe or Paystack and share your booking link, embed the widget, or add a full website on your own domain. ## What Airflow does, and what it does not The short version. - Reads booking emails into bookings: Yes: Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, Expedia and home-swap sites - Creates invoices in your accounts: Yes, as drafts you approve: Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage, FreshBooks - Takes direct bookings and payment: Yes, into your own Stripe or Paystack account - Gives guests a portal: Yes, with every booking - Blocks dates across platforms: Yes, by calendar link, read every hour - Pushes prices or availability through platform APIs: No. It is not a channel manager - Approves, sends or pays invoices: No. Drafts only - Holds guests' money: No Airflow Stay, a marketplace for places that book direct, is launching soon and uses the same listing. ## The parts of Airflow Airflow, at airflowhq.com, is the host's side: bookings, calendar, accounts and settings. Airflow Host is the booking page or website guests book on, on an airflowhost.com address or the host's own domain. Airflow Guest is the portal a guest receives with their booking, and a free trip planner for travellers. Airflow Stay is the marketplace of places that book direct, launching soon. All four read from one record of the property. ## Who it is for Hosts and managers with one to a few dozen properties who list on one or more platforms, want to take some bookings directly, and keep their books in a cloud accounting package. Hosts who need rates pushed to many channels every day are better served by a channel manager or a full property management system. ## Other ways to do this - **A property management system**: Hostaway, Guesty, Lodgify and similar. Connects to platforms through their APIs and manages rates. More to run, and usually priced per listing. - **An accounting sync tool**: Tallybreeze and similar. Posts reservations into Xero or QuickBooks and does nothing else by design. - **The platforms' own apps and a spreadsheet**: Enough for one listing on one platform, until bookkeeping or direct bookings become a burden. ## What Airflow does not do - Airflow is not a channel manager and uses no platform API. - It creates draft invoices and does not approve, send, file or pay them. - It does not hold guests' money, issue refunds or provide insurance. - It has no unified inbox for messages guests send inside Airbnb, Booking.com or Vrbo. ## Frequently asked questions ### Can Airflow import Airbnb bookings into Xero? Yes. Airflow reads each Airbnb booking-confirmation email and creates a draft invoice in Xero, with accommodation, cleaning fee, the Airbnb service fee and taxes on separate lines, tagged by property. You approve it in Xero. Full answer: [How to get Airbnb bookings into Xero](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/airbnb-bookings-into-xero) ### Does Airflow work with Booking.com? Yes. It reads Booking.com reservation emails, separates the room revenue from the commission, and reads the Booking.com calendar link every hour to block dates. It does not connect to the Booking.com extranet. Full answer: [How to get Booking.com bookings into Xero](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/booking-com-bookings-into-xero) ### Does Airflow replace a channel manager? No. Airflow is not a channel manager. It keeps dates in step between platforms by calendar link and does not push prices or availability through their APIs. Hosts with one or a few listings often need only that; larger portfolios may want a channel manager as well. Full answer: [How to manage Airbnb and Booking.com together](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/manage-airbnb-and-booking-com-together) ### How does Airflow handle platform fees and commission? Each platform's fee or commission is read from the confirmation and put on its own line of the draft invoice, so gross revenue and what the platform kept are both recorded. Full answer: [How to track platform commissions as expenses](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/track-ota-commissions-as-expenses) ### Can Airflow manage multiple properties? Yes. Each property is a listing. One calendar shows them all, each invoice line is tagged to its property, team members can be given access per property, and an owner statement is produced per property. Full answer: [How to manage multiple Airbnb properties](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/manage-multiple-airbnb-properties) ### Can I take direct bookings with Airflow? Yes. Every listing has a booking page and an embeddable widget, on every plan. Guests pay by card into your own Stripe or Paystack account, with a deposit and balance if you choose. Full answer: [How to take direct bookings](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/take-direct-bookings-holiday-rental) ### Does Airflow charge commission? Not on bookings from Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo or other channels. A commission applies to bookings paid through your Airflow booking page, at a rate that depends on your plan, and to bookings from Airflow Stay and Airflow Guest. The rates are on the pricing page. Full answer: [Pricing](https://www.airflowhq.com/pricing) ### Which accounting software does Airflow work with? Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage and FreshBooks. Each booking becomes a draft invoice in the one you connect. Full answer: [How to connect Airbnb to accounting software](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/connect-airbnb-to-accounting-software) ### Do guests need an app? No. Each guest gets a link to a portal with their dates, balance, documents and arrival details. There is nothing to install and no password. Full answer: [The guest portal](https://www.airflowhq.com/guest) ### What does Airflow cost? There is a Free plan for one listing with commission per booking, and paid plans that include listings, team seats and a monthly allowance of automated tasks, starting with a free trial. A card is needed at sign-up. Current prices are on the pricing page. Full answer: [Pricing](https://www.airflowhq.com/pricing) ### Is Airflow an official Airbnb or Xero partner product? Airflow is independent. It uses no Airbnb API and works from the emails Airbnb sends the host. It connects to Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage and FreshBooks through each package's own sign-in. ### Who makes Airflow? Airflow is built by Overtone Digital. Full answer: [About](https://www.airflowhq.com/about) ## Related - [How Airflow works](https://www.airflowhq.com/how-it-works) - [Features](https://www.airflowhq.com/features) - [All integrations](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations) - [How the parts fit together](https://www.airflowhq.com/ecosystem) - [Try every product, live](https://www.airflowhq.com/try) ## Go deeper - [Airflow is Now in Early Access](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/airflow-early-access) Get started at https://www.airflowhq.com/get-started. Plans and prices: https://www.airflowhq.com/pricing.