Accounting
Turn booking income into draft invoices in Xero, QuickBooks, Sage or FreshBooks for you to review.
The Best Way to Export Rental Financials for Tax Prep
Export one row per booking with gross income, platform fees, taxes and payout kept apart, by property, for the tax year. What your accountant needs, and how to get it out of each platform.
How do I export my rental income for my accountant? →
In Namibia, Letting an Unregistered Room Is a Criminal Offence
The Namibia Tourism Board Act makes providing accommodation in an unregistered establishment an offence carrying a fine up to N$20,000 or two years' imprisonment.
Do I need to register my rental with the Namibia Tourism Board? →
Kenya Plans to Collect Its 2% Tourism Levy at Source
Kenyan short-term rental operators must register with the Tourism Regulatory Authority. A 2% tourism levy deducted by the platforms was due by mid-2026 and had not started by September 2026.
How does Kenya's 2% tourism levy affect my rental? →
Barcelona's Tourist Licences All Expire in November 2028
Roughly 10,101 HUT licences, none renewable, all gone by November 2028 — upheld by the Constitutional Court. No calendar setting fixes this. What the options actually are.
What happens to Barcelona tourist licences in 2028? →
Portugal's Alojamento Local, Now That Lisbon Has Stopped Issuing
AL licences became permanent and transferable in 2024 — then Lisbon began closing neighbourhoods to new ones. Why the licence is now the asset, and how containment zones work.
Can I still get an Alojamento Local licence in Lisbon? →
Greece's AMA Number, and the 60-Day Line That Isn't a Cap
Greece requires an AMA number from AADE on every listing. The 60-day threshold is widely misread as a limit — it is a tax classification boundary, and the difference matters.
Do I need an AMA number in Greece, and is 60 days a limit? →
A Night Cap Is an Accounting Problem, Not a Calendar Problem
Your calendar shows today. It cannot tell you what was available last March — and that is exactly what a night-cap rule asks. Why proving your number needs a ledger.
How do I prove how many nights my property was let? →
Three Properties, Three Spreadsheets, One Sunday Afternoon
Multi-property owners reconcile by hand because each property lives in a different place. What a portfolio view shows that three spreadsheets cannot, including the pipeline nobody tracks.
How do I see all my properties on one page? →
Your Booking System and Your Accounts Disagree. Which One Is Wrong?
Two systems, two totals, and no way to tell which is right. How to reconcile bookings against your ledger month by month, and what the gaps usually turn out to be.
Why don't my bookings match my accounts? →
Tourist Tax and City Tax on Short-Term Rentals: How to Charge It Properly
How tourist, city and occupancy taxes on short-term rentals are worked out, who collects them, and how to charge them correctly on your direct bookings.
How do I charge tourist tax on a short-term rental? →
How to Calculate and Record Your Management Fee
Two managers can both charge 20% and pay the same owner different amounts. The difference is the base the fee is charged on. Here is how to choose it, and how Airflow applies it on every owner statement.
How do I calculate and record my management fee? →
South African Short-Term Rental Tax and Rates
Crossing Cape Town's 50% threshold makes you a commercial operator. Here's what changes for rates, income tax, VAT and capital gains — and what to track.
What tax and rates apply to a South African short-term rental? →
No-Shows and Guests Who Never Pay
Abandoned checkouts, offers that expire, and the stay nobody turned up for. What each one should do to your calendar, your books and your task allowance.
What should happen when a guest never pays or never arrives? →
How to Take a Deposit on a Direct Booking
How much to ask for, when the balance should fall due, and the edge case that trips up every booking system: a guest who books inside your own balance window.
How do I take a deposit on a direct booking? → What to Do When a Guest Hasn't Paid the Balance
The balance was due last Tuesday and nothing happened. How to chase it, how to reach a guest whose email you never got, and what to automate.
What do I do when a guest hasn't paid the balance? →
Setting a Cancellation Policy for Direct Bookings
Free cancellation until when? What to charge, what to put in writing, and the one safeguard that stops a guest's throwaway email cancelling a real booking.
How do I set a cancellation policy for direct bookings? →
What Happens to Your Invoice When a Guest Cancels
A cancelled booking can leave a live invoice in your accounts. Whether to delete, void or credit-note it depends on one thing: its real status.
What happens to the invoice when a guest cancels? → Multi-Currency Airbnb Income in Xero
A foreign-currency booking involves three exchange rates, not one. Which rate belongs on the guest invoice, the payment and the Xero entry, and why.
How do I record foreign-currency Airbnb income in Xero? →
Import Airbnb Booking History into Xero
Importing years of past bookings can raise hundreds of draft invoices dated today. The safe order to do it in, and which bookings to leave out.
How do I import past Airbnb bookings into Xero? →
Know What the Import Will Cost Before It Runs
Running out of credits mid-batch is worse than being refused at the start. Airflow prices the work before it runs and refuses short batches whole.
How do I know what an import will cost before it runs? → Quote in Their Currency, Bank in Yours
Quote a guest in their currency and keep your books in yours. How Airflow locks the exchange rate, tracks the balance owed, and keeps Xero reconciled.
Can I quote guests in their currency and bank in mine? →
Who Collects the Money on a Booking.com Stay?
Airbnb collects from the guest and remits. Booking.com usually does not. Why that hides money you are owed, and how to track what each channel collects.
Who collects the money on a Booking.com stay? →
How to Track OTA Commissions as Expenses (Airbnb, Booking.com & VRBO)
How to track Airbnb, Booking.com and VRBO commission in your accounting as a proper expense, why netting it out costs you, and how to automate the split.
How do I track Airbnb and Booking.com commission as an expense? →
Your Short-Term Rental Chart of Accounts: A Template That Works
A short-term rental chart of accounts template: the income, expense and liability accounts hosts actually need, why the split matters, and how to keep it clean.
What chart of accounts does a short-term rental need? →
Expedia Bookings and Your Accountant
Expedia accounting for hosts: how Expedia's commission and remittance model differs, the right invoice structure, and how to automate the draft in your books.
How do I account for Expedia bookings? →
Bank Reconciliation for Short-Term Rentals: A Step-by-Step Guide
Short-term rental bank reconciliation made simple: why OTA payouts never match your invoices, the step-by-step method, and how to automate the matching.
How do I reconcile my bank for a short-term rental? →
Deposit Now, Balance Later — and the Books Stay Right
Let guests pay a deposit to hold their dates and the balance closer to arrival. Airflow tracks every stage automatically — deposit paid, balance remaining, fully paid — and the accounting stays reconciled the whole way. Live across cards, Paystack, and manual payments.
Can guests pay a deposit now and the balance later? →
Why None of Your OTA Payouts Match Your Invoices
Airbnb, Booking.com and VRBO each net fees and commission differently, so OTA payouts rarely match your invoices. Here is why, and how to reconcile cleanly.
Why don't my channel payouts match my invoices? →
VRBO Income in QuickBooks: the Setup Nobody Explains
How to record VRBO income in QuickBooks correctly: what a payout contains, the line-item structure for accommodation and fees, and how to automate the draft invoice.
How do I record VRBO income in QuickBooks? →
VAT for Short-Term Rentals: When to Register & How to Handle OTA VAT
VAT for short-term rentals explained: when registration becomes compulsory, why holiday lets are standard-rated, and how to handle VAT on OTA commission.
When must a short-term rental register for VAT? →
Bookkeeper vs PMS vs Airflow: An Honest Breakdown
Bookkeeper vs PMS vs Airflow for short-term rentals: what each one actually does, what it does not, and how to combine them without paying for overlap.
Do I need a bookkeeper, a PMS or Airflow? →
How to Record Airbnb Income in Xero (Without the Manual Entry)
How to record Airbnb income in Xero correctly: what a payout really contains, the right line-item structure for accommodation, cleaning and service fees, and how to automate it.
How do I record Airbnb income in Xero? →
Short-Term Rental Tax Prep: Get Your Books Ready in a Weekend
Short-term rental tax prep made manageable: what records you need, a quick UK and US overview, and how clean draft invoices and an activity log make Airbnb tax preparation fast.
How do I get my rental books ready for tax? →
Channel Manager vs. Better Accounting: What You Actually Need
A channel manager distributes rates and availability across OTAs. Airflow connects bookings to your accounting. Here is how to tell which problem you actually have.
Do I need a channel manager or better accounting? →
Multi-Property Short-Term Rental Accounting: A Clean P&L Per Property
Multi-property Airbnb accounting done right: how to get a clean profit and loss per property using tracking categories, and automate the per-property tagging.
How do I get a profit and loss for each property? →
Best Airbnb Accounting Software in 2026 (Xero, QuickBooks, Sage & FreshBooks)
The best accounting software for an Airbnb host is usually Xero or QuickBooks, whichever your accountant already uses. A plain comparison of Xero, QuickBooks, Sage and FreshBooks, and how to get your booking income into them.
What is the best accounting software for an Airbnb host? →
Accounting for Short-Term Rentals: OTA Income, Fees & Reconciliation (The Complete Guide)
A complete guide to short-term rental accounting: why OTA income never matches your bank, how to structure your books, and how to reconcile Airbnb and Booking.com payouts.
How should I do the accounting for a short-term rental? →
Hostaway & Guesty Do Channels — But Who Does Your Books?
Hostaway and Guesty are excellent channel managers, but they are not accounting tools. Here is the books-side gap they leave, and how Airflow fills it honestly.
Who does the books if I use Hostaway or Guesty? →
Owner Statements That Write Themselves — and Land in Xero
If you manage properties for owners, the monthly statement is the job everyone dreads. Airflow now builds each owner's payout statement automatically — rent collected, deductions, your management fee, net payout — emails it, shows it in a portal, and pushes it to Xero as a draft owner remittance. Live now.
How do I produce monthly owner statements? →
Cleaning Fees, Damage Deposits & Taxes: Where Do They Go in Your Books?
Airbnb cleaning fee accounting explained: where cleaning fees, refundable damage deposits and occupancy taxes belong in your books, and how to record each correctly.
Where do cleaning fees, deposits and taxes go in my books? →
Automatic Accounting Sync
How Airflow automatically creates draft invoices in Xero, QuickBooks, FreshBooks, or Sage from your booking data — with correct line items, taxes, and FX.
How does Airflow create invoices in my accounting software? →
Airbnb Payouts Don't Match Your Invoices — Here's Why
The guest paid €1,200. After Airbnb's ~15% host-only fee and a currency conversion, your bank received £867. Your Xero invoice says something else entirely. Here's what's happening — and how to fix it.
Why don't my Airbnb payouts match my invoices? →
Your Booking Confirmation Emails Are a Goldmine You're Ignoring
Every booking confirmation email contains guest details, dates, amounts, fees, and platform data. You're reading them once and filing them. Here's what you should be doing instead.
What can I do with my booking confirmation emails? → Xero + Short-Term Rentals: The Setup Nobody Teaches You
Xero is powerful accounting software. But setting it up for short-term rental income — with multiple properties, platforms, currencies, and fee structures — is harder than it should be. Here's the right way.
How do I set up Xero for short-term rentals? →
Multi-Currency Bookings Are Breaking Your Spreadsheet
EUR bookings, GBP payouts, USD reporting, KES bank deposits. If you're managing multi-currency bookings in a spreadsheet, something is already wrong. Here's why — and how to fix it.
How do I manage bookings in several currencies? →
Your Money, Every Currency: How Airflow Handles Multi-Currency Bookings
Bookings in euros, payouts in pounds, accounting in dollars — Airflow's three-layer currency model handles it all without spreadsheets.
How does Airflow handle multi-currency bookings? →
Automated Accounting: From Booking Email to Draft Invoice in Seconds
How Airflow turns a forwarded booking confirmation into a categorised, tax-ready draft invoice in your accounting software — without you touching a spreadsheet.
How does a booking email become a draft invoice? →
Connect Everything: Xero, Stripe, Google, and Beyond
Airflow connects your booking channels to your accounting, payments, calendar, and email — without replacing any of them.
Does Airflow connect to Xero, Stripe and Google? →
Why Every Booking Business Needs a Middleware Layer
You're the human middleware between your booking platforms, your accounting software, and your clients. Here's why that needs to change.
Why does a booking business need a middleware layer? →