Answers · Bookings into your accounts
Why don't my Airbnb and Booking.com payouts match my invoices?
Short answer
Because a payout is not a booking. Four things sit between what the guest paid and what reaches your bank: the channel's fee or commission, several bookings paid in one transfer, currency conversion at the channel's rate, and refunds or adjustments netted into a later deposit. Airbnb keeps its fee before it pays you. Booking.com, in many set-ups, leaves you to collect from the guest and bills its commission separately. A payout only reconciles if each booking is recorded at its full value with the fee shown separately. Airflow builds that record: it reads each booking-confirmation email and creates a draft invoice in Xero with accommodation, cleaning and the channel fee on separate lines and the booking reference kept, for you to review and approve.
Read the four reasons no channel payout matches an invoice →
Four things between the guest's payment and your bank
The first is the fee, and each channel takes it differently. Airbnb charges the guest, keeps its host service fee and pays you the rest, so the payout is already net. Booking.com often works the other way: depending on how you are set up, the guest pays you or pays on arrival, and Booking.com bills its commission on a separate invoice, often for a batch of bookings. In some countries VAT is applied to that commission. Treat a Booking.com booking as one net payout and the books will not close.
The second is batching: one transfer can cover several bookings, so no single invoice equals the deposit. The third is currency: a booking priced in one currency can be paid out in another, at a rate and on a date the channel chose, and your bank may convert again. The fourth is adjustments: cancellations, partial refunds and resolution payments arrive inside a later payout and were never on the original invoice.
The tempting fix is to record only the net payout as income. It matches the bank at once and it is wrong: revenue is understated, the commission never appears as a cost, and the exchange difference disappears into rounding.
How to do it with Airflow
- 1
Connect Xero
Connect your Xero organisation in the Airflow portal and choose the accounts and tax rates for booking income. The same process creates draft invoices in QuickBooks Online, Sage or FreshBooks.
- 2
Send Airflow your booking emails
Forward the confirmation emails from Airbnb, Booking.com and your other channels, or connect Gmail or Outlook so Airflow picks them up for you. Nothing is authorised inside the channels.
- 3
Each booking becomes its own draft invoice
Airflow reads the guest, dates, nightly rate, cleaning fee, channel fee, payout, currency and booking reference, and creates a draft invoice with those amounts on separate lines. A foreign-currency booking is converted when the invoice is created, and the rate, its source and the time are recorded.
- 4
Match the payout in Xero
Approve the drafts yourself. When the deposit arrives, match it in Xero to the invoice, or the group of invoices, it settled. Because each booking already has its own invoice and reference, a batched payout becomes a sum you confirm; you no longer have to take it apart from memory.
One deposit, two bookings
Two Airbnb stays paid out in a single transfer. Illustrative figures only; your own fee is on your payout breakdown.
| Booking A, paid by the guest | 600.00 |
|---|---|
| Booking A, Airbnb fee | -90.00 |
| Booking B, paid by the guest | 400.00 |
| Booking B, Airbnb fee | -60.00 |
| Deposit in the bank | 850.00 |
Income is 1,000.00 and the fees are 150.00. Recording the 850.00 deposit as income would hide 150.00 of revenue and 150.00 of cost.
Booking.com is two flows, not one
Where Booking.com bills commission separately, record each booking at its full value, record the commission invoice as an expense when it arrives, and match what you collected against the income. Airflow creates the income side as a draft invoice for each booking. It also records on each booking who collects the money: the channel, you, or you on arrival, and the bookings list shows what a guest still owes. Matching Booking.com's commission invoice to the bookings it covers is a step you carry out in your accounting package.
When your booking system and your accounts disagree
With Xero connected, Airflow compares its approved invoices with the income in your ledger month by month, in your accounting currency. Draft invoices are counted separately, bookings with no invoice are named, and an invoice whose booking changed after it was approved is flagged as out of sync so you can decide which version is right.
Other ways to do this
Airflow is one option. These are the others, and when each is the better choice.
- The channels' own reports
- Each channel reports what made up a payout, and Booking.com sends its commission invoices. Reconciling from these by hand is accurate and slow, and Airbnb's CSV exports show amounts in one currency with no exchange-rate detail.
- A spreadsheet
- List each booking with its gross value, fee, currency and reference, then group the rows by payout. It works for one listing and one channel, and gets hard with batching and more than one currency.
- A bookkeeper
- A bookkeeper who knows short-term rentals will split the payouts and record the fees for you. They will still need the detail of each booking to do it.
What Airflow does not do
- Airflow does not reconcile your bank account or match bank lines to invoices. Your accounting package does that.
- Airflow does not record Booking.com's separate commission invoice. You enter that and match it to the bookings it covers.
- Airflow works from booking emails, not from the channels' payout statements or an API. An adjustment that appears only in a payout is yours to record.
- Invoices are created as drafts. Airflow does not approve, send or pay them.
Common questions
Should I record the payout or the full booking value as income?
The full booking value, with the channel's fee as a separate cost. Both routes end at the same amount in the bank, but only one shows your real revenue and what the channel cost you. How to track channel commission as an expense →
Why does one deposit cover several bookings?
Channels often batch payouts. Match the deposit to the group of invoices it settled: the gross of those invoices less the fees should equal the transfer. Bank reconciliation for short-term rentals, step by step →
Why does Booking.com send a commission invoice?
In many set-ups Booking.com does not deduct commission from a payout. It bills you separately, often for a batch of bookings, so income and commission are two transactions. Booking.com accounting and payouts →
Who collects the money on a Booking.com stay?
On most rate plans you do, and Booking.com invoices its commission afterwards. It can vary from one reservation to the next, so check each booking and do not assume from the channel's name. Who collects the money on a Booking.com stay →
Why is the gap larger on a foreign-currency booking?
The channel converts the payout at its own rate and timing, and your bank may convert again. Record the rate you used and put the difference in an exchange gain or loss account. Do not change the income figure to make the two agree. Why Airbnb payouts do not match invoices →
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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