# Airflow > Airflow turns booking confirmations from Airbnb, Booking.com, VRBO, Expedia and direct bookings into structured bookings and draft invoices in Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage and FreshBooks — for short-term rental hosts and property managers. No manual entry: forward a booking email, or let Airflow watch Gmail or Outlook, and each booking becomes a draft for you to review. Nothing is sent, approved or paid without you. What Airflow does, in one chain: booking email → structured booking (guest, dates, property, rate, fees, taxes, currency) → draft invoice in your accounting package → you review and approve. You can record the actual payout against a booking so the draft invoice matches what you received. It reads booking emails; it is not a channel manager and needs nothing authorised inside the channel. Around that core: direct booking pages with card payments (Stripe; Paystack incl. M-Pesa), proportional platform commission, owner statements, a guest portal, calendar sync (iCal feeds, Google Calendar, Outlook), letting-limit tracking for night caps, and a free tier: your own booking page and booking widget for one listing, with commission per booking (see https://www.airflowhq.com/pricing/); listings join the Airflow Stay marketplace when it opens. Each booking keeps the currency agreed with the guest and the ledger currency of your accounts, with the FX rate locked at booking. Machine-readable access: every answer page, blog post, feature page, and integration page below is also available as raw markdown — append `.md` to its URL. The full text of every answer page and article in a single file is at https://www.airflowhq.com/llms-full.txt. ## Product - [Features](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/): What Airflow does across bookings, payments, accounting, guests, and operations. - [How it works](https://www.airflowhq.com/how-it-works/): The booking-to-ledger flow — ingest, structure, draft, approve. - [Pricing](https://www.airflowhq.com/pricing/): Free, Starter, Growth and Portfolio plans, automated-task allowances, commission and add-ons. - [Use cases](https://www.airflowhq.com/use-cases/): Airflow for short-term rentals and property management. - [FAQ](https://www.airflowhq.com/faq/): Common questions about channels, payments, accounting, and data. - [About](https://www.airflowhq.com/about/): Who builds Airflow and why. - [Get started](https://www.airflowhq.com/get-started/): Create an account and connect your channels and accounting. - [Blog](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/): Guides and product explainers. ## Answers to common questions ### About Airflow - [What is Airflow, and what does it do?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/what-is-airflow/): Airflow turns booking emails into structured bookings and draft invoices, and adds a booking page, guest portal and calendar links. The short answers to what it does and does not do. ### Bookings into your accounts - [How do I get Airbnb bookings into Xero?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/airbnb-bookings-into-xero/): Airbnb has no Xero connection of its own. The options are manual entry, a CSV import, an accounting sync tool, or reading the booking email, which is what Airflow does. - [How do I automate Airbnb bookkeeping?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/automate-airbnb-bookkeeping/): Automate the entry, keep the approval: each booking email becomes a draft invoice in your accounting package, split by fee and tagged by property. - [How do I create invoices from Airbnb bookings?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/invoices-from-airbnb-bookings/): Airbnb does not issue an invoice from you to the guest. Airflow drafts one per booking in your accounting package, itemised from the confirmation email. - [How do I connect Airbnb to accounting software?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/connect-airbnb-to-accounting-software/): Airbnb connects natively to QuickBooks only. For Xero, Sage and FreshBooks, or for more than one channel, you need a bridge: three kinds exist. - [How do I get Booking.com bookings into Xero?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/booking-com-bookings-into-xero/): Booking.com has no Xero connection and bills its commission separately. Airflow turns each reservation email into a draft Xero invoice with the commission split out. - [How do I automate holiday-rental accounting?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/automate-holiday-rental-accounting/): Make every booking, from every channel and every property, arrive in your accounts the same way: as a draft invoice, split and tagged. - [Why don't my Airbnb and Booking.com payouts match my invoices?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/why-airbnb-payouts-dont-match-invoices/): A payout is what is left after fees, batching, currency conversion and adjustments, so it rarely equals one booking. Record each booking in full, with the fee on its own line, and the deposit can be explained. - [How do I record Airbnb and Booking.com commission in my accounts?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/record-airbnb-commission-in-accounts/): Record the full booking value as income and the channel's commission as a separate expense, one account per channel. Never record only the net payout. - [Can I import my past Airbnb bookings into Xero?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/import-past-airbnb-bookings-into-xero/): Yes, but in two deliberate steps: bring past bookings in as blocked dates first, then choose which ones should raise draft invoices. Years already filed are usually best left alone. - [How do I record Airbnb income paid in a foreign currency?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/foreign-currency-airbnb-income/): Keep the amount in the currency the guest paid, convert it once at a rate you record, and put the difference from the bank deposit in an exchange gain or loss account. ### Direct bookings - [How do I create a direct-booking website for my Airbnb?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/direct-booking-website-for-airbnb/): You need four things: a page, a live calendar, a way to take payment and your Airbnb dates blocked. Airflow gives every listing all four, on your own domain if you want. - [How do I take direct bookings for my holiday rental?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/take-direct-bookings-holiday-rental/): A link guests can book from, payment into your own account, written terms, and the dates blocked elsewhere. You do not need a full website to start. - [How do I get direct bookings without leaving Airbnb?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/direct-bookings-without-leaving-airbnb/): Keep your Airbnb listing and add a booking page of your own beside it. Calendar links stop the two selling the same night, and each guest books where they found you. - [How do I get repeat Airbnb guests to book direct?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/get-repeat-airbnb-guests-to-book-direct/): You may not solicit them through Airbnb. You can make yourself easy to find when they come looking: a consistent name, a bookable page, and a stay worth repeating. - [How do I accept payments directly from holiday-rental guests?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/accept-payments-from-holiday-rental-guests/): Open a card account in your own name, take a deposit at booking and the balance before arrival, and tie every payment to its booking. - [What is the best direct-booking software for Airbnb hosts?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/best-direct-booking-software-for-airbnb-hosts/): There are four kinds, and the right one depends on whether you need a site, a channel manager, or the booking joined to your guests and accounts. - [How do I sync Airbnb bookings with my own website?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/sync-airbnb-bookings-with-my-website/): Use a booking calendar on your site that reads your Airbnb calendar link, and give Airbnb the site's link in return, so each blocks the other. ### Getting found by travellers - [How do I get my holiday rental found by travellers without relying on Airbnb?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/get-holiday-rental-found-by-travellers/): Spread across more than one channel, give returning guests a direct route, and list where travellers plan trips. Airflow Stay, launching soon, is built for the last part. - [Where can I list my holiday rental besides Airbnb?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/where-to-list-holiday-rental-besides-airbnb/): The big platforms, Google, regional sites, your own page, and marketplaces for places that book direct such as Airflow Stay, which is launching soon and free to list on. - [How do I reduce Airbnb booking fees?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/reduce-airbnb-fees/): You cannot negotiate Airbnb's fee. You can price for it, and move returning guests and new enquiries to channels where you keep more. - [How do I get my place into the trips travellers plan?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/get-my-place-into-trips-travellers-plan/): Write your own trip itinerary in Airflow with your place on the route; it is checked, and then it joins the trip ideas on Airflow Stay that travellers start their plans from. ### Running a small rental - [How do I manage Airbnb and direct bookings in one place?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/airbnb-and-direct-bookings-in-one-place/): Put both in one calendar: Airbnb bookings arrive from their confirmation emails, direct bookings are taken on your own page, and calendar links block the dates each way. - [What is the best software for managing a small holiday rental?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/software-for-small-holiday-rental/): It depends on which job hurts most. A plain guide to the four kinds of tool, what each is for, and where Airflow fits for one to a few properties. - [How do I manage Airbnb and Booking.com together?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/manage-airbnb-and-booking-com-together/): Link the two calendars so neither can sell a night the other has sold, then bring both sets of bookings into one list. The same method covers Vrbo and any other platform. - [How do I manage multiple Airbnb properties?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/manage-multiple-airbnb-properties/): Standardise four things across the properties: one calendar, one bookings list, income tracked per property, and a statement per owner. - [How do I automate messages to my holiday-rental guests?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/automate-guest-messages-holiday-rental/): Write each answer once, keep it in a guest portal, and let timed emails from your own address send the guest there: at booking, before arrival, on check-in day and after checkout. ### Rules, night limits and registration - [How many nights a year can I let my home on Airbnb?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/how-many-nights-can-i-let-on-airbnb/): It depends on the city: 90 nights in London and Paris, 30 in Amsterdam, 70 or 30 in Copenhagen, and the count is of the property across every channel. - [Do I need to register or license my holiday rental?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/do-i-need-to-register-my-holiday-rental/): In most of the places we have checked, yes, and the number has to be shown on every listing: Italy, Greece, Portugal, the EU from 20 May 2026, Namibia and Kenya. - [How do I prove how many nights my property was let?](https://www.airflowhq.com/answers/prove-how-many-nights-my-property-was-let/): With a record written on each day about that day, not a screenshot of today's calendar: one row per night, the rule it was measured against, and how the record was made. ## Features - [Connections & Integrations](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/connections-integrations/) - [Platform Connections](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/connections-integrations/platform-connections/): Forward a booking confirmation by email or WhatsApp, or connect Gmail or Outlook, and Airflow turns it into a booking on your calendar. Works with Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, agents and any channel that emails you. - [Accounting Sync](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/connections-integrations/accounting-sync/): Connect Xero, QuickBooks, Sage or FreshBooks. Each booking becomes a categorised draft invoice, ready for you to review and post. - [WhatsApp Bookings](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/connections-integrations/whatsapp-bookings/): Forward a booking to Airflow on WhatsApp and it lands on your calendar. Ask about your account in the same chat. It is an assistant for you, not a way to message guests. - [Payment Processing](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/connections-integrations/payment-processing/): Guests pay you directly, into your own Stripe or Paystack account. Take a deposit or full payment by card, or record M-Pesa, bank transfer and cash by hand. - [Booking Widget and Guest Portal for Your Website](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/connections-integrations/booking-widget/): Paste one piece of embed code and the website you already have shows live availability, your prices and checkout. A second embed lets guests sign in to their booking on your site. - [Google Sheets Export](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/connections-integrations/google-sheets-export/): Your bookings written to a Google Sheet in your own Drive: one tab for each listing and a summary. It is a one-way export, so changes made in the sheet are not read back. - [Connect Out: Send Bookings to Zapier, Make, n8n or Your Own System](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/connections-integrations/connect-out/): Add a web address and Airflow sends it a signed message each time a booking is created, changed or cancelled, or a payment is received, with the money lines of the booking. Use it to reach tools and accounting systems Airflow does not connect to itself. - [Automation & Workflows](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/automation-workflows/) - [Booking-Triggered Checklists](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/automation-workflows/booking-triggered-tasks/): With the Operations Management add-on, a pre-arrival checklist and a turnover checklist are created for each booking, ready for your team. - [Reconciliation-Ready Invoices](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/automation-workflows/auto-reconciliation/): Every booking becomes a draft invoice with its confirmation code and fees on it, ready for you to match against payouts in your accounting software. Airflow does not reconcile for you. - [Scheduled Guest Emails](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/automation-workflows/scheduled-messaging/): Pre-arrival, check-in and after-stay emails and review requests, sent to each guest at the right time. On every plan; each email sent uses a task. - [Smart Notifications](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/automation-workflows/smart-notifications/): One digest email of what Airflow did and what needs your attention, plus an immediate email for anything that needs you now. You choose how each event reaches you. - [AI Assistants](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/automation-workflows/ai-assistants/): Ask for what you need in plain words inside your portal. A help assistant answers how-to questions, and three specialists work on your account, your website and your market. - [Accounting & Compliance](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/accounting-compliance/) - [Automated Bookkeeping](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/accounting-compliance/automated-bookkeeping/): Every booking becomes a draft invoice in your accounting software, with accommodation, cleaning, channel fees and tax on separate lines. - [Financial Reporting](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/accounting-compliance/financial-reporting/): Income by listing and by channel, occupancy and your forward pipeline on the Stats page, plus reports you can run, save and have emailed on a schedule. - [Tax-Ready Exports](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/accounting-compliance/tax-ready-exports/): Download your bookings and income as CSV, or as a PDF statement, for any period and any listing, ready to hand to your accountant. - [Guest & Client Management](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/guest-client-management/) - [Guest Email Threads](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/guest-client-management/unified-inbox/): One email thread per booking: the confirmation, the emails sent for you, your replies and the guest's emails. - [Reviews Management (add-on)](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/guest-client-management/review-management/): Collect reviews from Google and from the review emails your channels send, choose which to publish, add your response and show them on your booking page. - [Dashboard & Reporting](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/dashboard-reporting/) - [Operations Dashboard](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/dashboard-reporting/operations-dashboard/): Who is staying today, who arrives next and what you have earned this month, on the first page of your portal. The Operations Management add-on adds guest readiness. - [Property Overview](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/dashboard-reporting/property-overview/): Income, bookings, nights and the forward pipeline for each listing, month by month. - [Revenue Analytics](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/dashboard-reporting/revenue-analytics/): Track income by resource, platform, and time period. Identify your best performers and growth opportunities. - [Mobile Friendly](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/dashboard-reporting/mobile-friendly/): Your full dashboard accessible from any device. Check on your business from anywhere. - [QR Checklists for Staff](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/dashboard-reporting/qr-staff-checklists/): Pin up a QR code at each property and your cleaning or maintenance team scans it to get the day's checklist — no email, no app, no login. - [Calendar and Your Own Bookings](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/dashboard-reporting/calendar-and-own-bookings/): See every listing on one calendar, block the dates you need and add the bookings you take by phone, email or in person. A booking you add that is already paid carries no Airflow commission. - [Team Members](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/dashboard-reporting/team-members/): Invite the people you work with by email and choose what each one can do. Everyone signs in with their own email address, so there is no password to share. - [Host itineraries](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/host-itineraries/): A host writes a trip itinerary with their own place on it; it is checked and joins the trip ideas on Airflow Stay, where travellers can start their own plan from it. - [Owner statements to Xero](https://www.airflowhq.com/features/owner-statements-to-xero/): A monthly statement per property for managers with owners, pushed to Xero as a draft bill for review. ## Integrations - [Airbnb to Xero](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/airbnb-xero/): Turn Airbnb booking emails into draft Xero invoices you simply review and approve. - [Airbnb to QuickBooks](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/airbnb-quickbooks/): Airbnb booking emails become draft QuickBooks Online invoices, classed by property. - [Airbnb to Sage](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/airbnb-sage/): Airbnb confirmation emails become itemised draft invoices in Sage for your review. - [Airbnb to FreshBooks](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/airbnb-freshbooks/): Airbnb booking emails become tidy draft invoices in FreshBooks, ready for your review. - [Booking.com to Xero](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/booking-com-xero/): Booking.com reservation emails become draft Xero invoices, with commission broken out. - [Booking.com to QuickBooks](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/booking-com-quickbooks/): Booking.com reservation emails become draft QuickBooks invoices, classed and commission-split. - [Vrbo to Xero](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/vrbo-xero/): Vrbo booking emails become draft Xero invoices, itemised and tagged by property. - [Expedia to Xero](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/expedia-xero/): Expedia reservation emails become draft Xero invoices, with the channel cut broken out. - [Airbnb + Booking.com + Vrbo](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/airbnb-booking-vrbo/): Bookings from Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo in one calendar and one set of draft invoices, with no Airflow commission. - [All channels to Xero](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/multi-channel-xero/): Every channel feeds one stream of draft Xero invoices, tagged by property and source. - [HomeExchange & home swaps](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/homeexchange/): Bring home-swap stays into your calendar as zero-value bookings that block dates without an invoice. - [iCal & calendar sync](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/ical-calendar-sync/): Calendar links in both directions: your Airflow dates block your other channels, and their dates block Airflow. - [Booking.com to Sage](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/booking-com-sage/): Booking.com reservation emails become itemised draft invoices in Sage, commission separated. - [Booking.com to FreshBooks](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/booking-com-freshbooks/): Booking.com reservation emails become tidy draft invoices in FreshBooks, commission broken out. - [Vrbo to QuickBooks](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/vrbo-quickbooks/): Vrbo booking emails become draft QuickBooks Online invoices, classed and itemised by property. - [Vrbo to Sage](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/vrbo-sage/): Vrbo booking emails become itemised draft invoices in Sage, ready for you to review and post. - [Expedia to QuickBooks](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/expedia-quickbooks/): Expedia reservation emails become draft QuickBooks invoices, classed and with the channel cut split. - [All channels to QuickBooks](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/multi-channel-quickbooks/): Every channel feeds one stream of classed draft QuickBooks invoices, with commission split and FX handled. - [All channels to Sage](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/multi-channel-sage/): Every channel feeds one stream of itemised draft Sage invoices, with commission split and FX handled. - [Google Calendar sync](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/google-calendar-sync/): Your Airflow bookings in the Google calendar you choose, one calendar per listing. - [Outlook Calendar sync](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/outlook-calendar-sync/): Your Airflow bookings in the Outlook calendar you choose, one calendar per listing. - [WhatsApp bookings](https://www.airflowhq.com/integrations/whatsapp-bookings/): Forward a booking to Airflow on WhatsApp and the AI reads it and creates a structured booking for you. ## Blog — Announcements - [Airflow is Now in Early Access](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/airflow-early-access/): We're opening Airflow to our first users. Here's what's ready, what's coming next, and how to get started. - [What's Next for Airflow: The Road Ahead](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/whats-next-for-airflow/): A transparent look at what we're building next — from direct booking sites to AI agents to trusted device security. ## Blog — Product updates - [Put Your Place on the Trip: Itineraries Written by Hosts](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/host-itineraries-put-your-place-on-the-trip/): Travellers plan a route, not a single bed. Hosts on Airflow can write their own trip itinerary with their place on the route. It is checked, then joins the trip ideas on Airflow Stay, where travellers can start a plan from it. - [How Airflow Works With Safari Operators, Travel Agents and Local Experts](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/how-airflow-works-with-safari-operators-and-travel-experts/): Travellers plan multi-stop trips on Airflow, then hand them to someone who knows the ground. A walk through the whole thing with our first safari partner, The Safari Vibe: their page, their journeys, the traveller's plan and the checkout. You can try every step yourself. - [Nobody Should Manage a Night Cap by Hand](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/automate-letting-limit-blocks/): Counting nights against a letting limit every month, for every property, forever, is a job that fails quietly. What it takes to hand it over safely — and what should still need your say-so. - [Open an Airflow Account Without Leaving WhatsApp](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/open-an-airflow-account-on-whatsapp/): Message Airflow on WhatsApp and you can sign up, set up your listing from a link to it, set your price and put your booking page live, all in the chat. Here is how it works, step by step, and what it does not do yet. - [Where Your Bookings Are Actually Sold](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/where-your-bookings-are-sold/): A row of tiles under your bookings list and calendar showing every place each property can be booked, whether it is live, and the listing title Airflow matches your booking emails against. - [Cancelling Shouldn't Take Your Listing Down](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/cancelling-shouldnt-take-your-listing-down/): Downgrading and closing your account are two different decisions. Now they have two different outcomes — one listing stays live, takes bookings, and gets paid. - [A Booking Is a Thing at a Time](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/a-booking-is-a-thing-at-a-time/): One booking engine for nights, days, per-person tours, appointments and timed sessions, with the same checkout, invoice and books behind every type. - [Price Next Season Before You Have To](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/price-next-season-before-you-have-to/): See what each season actually achieved against the rate you set, then apply a yearly increase per season, only where your own booking data supports it. - [Quote in Their Currency, Bank in Yours](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/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. - [Thirty Emails, or One](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/thirty-emails-or-one/): One digest instead of an email per event, with a per-event choice of immediately, in the digest, or off, and silent failures surfaced so you can fix them. - [It's a Trip, Not a Booking](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/its-a-trip-not-a-booking/): Guests have trips, not bookings. Paste an itinerary or forward a flight confirmation and Airflow builds the plan: stays, flights and activities in one place. - [Your Reviews, On Every Surface You Own](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/your-reviews-on-every-surface/): Put your Airbnb and Google reviews on your own booking page, website and embeds. Airflow reads them out of the notification emails you already receive. - [Go Live on Your Own Terms](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/go-live-on-your-own-terms/): Publish your direct booking page, your marketplace listing and your website embed separately, per property. Or run Airflow accounting-only, with no public page. - [Commission on What You Collect, Not What You Hope to Collect](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/commission-on-what-you-collect/): Airflow now charges its booking commission proportionally to the money you've actually received — pay on the deposit when it lands, the rest when the balance is paid. Live now across cards, Paystack, and manual payments. - [Deposit Now, Balance Later — and the Books Stay Right](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/deposit-now-balance-later/): 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. - [Every Guest Message in One Thread, Beside the Booking](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/every-message-beside-the-booking/): Stop hunting for the right conversation across email, your OTA inbox, and confirmation messages. Airflow gives every booking its own communication thread — the original booking email, your guest's replies, and the emails you send, all on one timeline right beside the reservation. - [Get Paid in Kenya: M-Pesa Bookings With Real Books Behind Them](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/get-paid-in-kenya-mpesa-bookings/): Kenyan and African hosts can take direct bookings paid by M-Pesa, card, or bank transfer through their own Paystack account — and the accounting draft and commission flow happen automatically. Live now in KES. - [Held for 10 Minutes: How Airflow Stops Double Bookings at Checkout](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/held-for-ten-minutes-stops-double-bookings/): When a guest starts paying, Airflow holds their dates for about 10 minutes so no one else can grab the same slot. Complete the payment and it's confirmed; abandon it and the hold auto-expires and the dates free up. And a database-level guard makes a true double-book impossible, even in a race. - [Your Website, Imported by AI in One Paste](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/import-your-website-with-ai/): Paste the URL of your existing website and Airflow's AI reads it for you — crawling your pages and filling in your property details, descriptions, photos, and branding. Onboarding goes from an afternoon of copy-paste to a couple of minutes. - [Owner Statements That Write Themselves — and Land in Xero](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/owner-statements-that-write-themselves/): 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. - [Your Referral Engine Is Already Built (and Free)](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/referral-engine-already-built/): Every Airflow host already has a complete referral toolkit in their account — a shareable link, a QR code, ready-made social and print assets, and live stats. Invite another host and you both earn bonus automated tasks when they take their first booking. No setup, no cost. - [See the Number Before You Charge It: Manual Payments, Done Right](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/see-the-number-before-you-charge-it/): In bank-transfer, cash, and mobile-money markets, you collect the money yourself. Airflow lets you record the exact amount received — and shows you the precise commission before anything is charged. No silent charges. Live now for PayPal, M-Pesa, and bank transfer. - [Sell the Airport Pickup at Checkout: Guest Extras in Action](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/sell-the-airport-pickup-at-checkout/): Offer airport transfers, late checkout, activities, and a private chef as paid extras — guests can buy them while booking or during their stay. The money flows to your account, the commission is handled, and there's no extra admin. Live now across your booking pages and the guest portal. - [Stop Sending Guest Emails Manually — Automate the Entire Journey](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/stop-sending-guest-emails-manually/): Airflow's Automations addon sends the right email at the right time — pre-arrival, check-in, post-checkout — once you've set it up, automatically for every booking. - [WordPress Booking Plugins Are Holding You Back](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/wordpress-booking-plugins-holding-you-back/): WooCommerce Bookings, Amelia, Jetwoobuilder — WordPress plugins promise booking management but deliver frustration. Here's why they fail, and how Airflow's WordPress plugin and embeddable widgets turn any website into a direct booking system. - [Your Reviews Are Your Most Underused Asset — Here's How to Fix That](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/reviews-are-your-most-underused-asset/): Airflow's Reviews addon collects reviews from Google, from Airbnb's review-notification emails, and from your direct guests into one dashboard — with tracking, responses, and automated review requests. - [Your Booking Business Deserves a Real Website — Not a Linktree](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/your-booking-business-deserves-a-real-website/): Airflow's Website addon gives property managers a professionally designed, mobile-ready site with booking integration, custom domains, and managed hosting. - [Your Booking Confirmation Emails Are a Goldmine You're Ignoring](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/booking-emails-are-a-goldmine/): 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. - [From Checkout to Account in 60 Seconds](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/from-checkout-to-account/): Pick your plan, enter your card, and your entire Airflow account is live before you finish your coffee. Here's how the onboarding pipeline works. - [Why Your Cleaning Team Can See Your Revenue (And How to Fix It)](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/cleaning-team-can-see-your-revenue/): Most booking tools give everyone the same access. Your cleaner sees your revenue. Your co-host sees your billing. Here's why proper team permissions matter — and what they should look like. - [Your Own Booking Engine, for Free — Why Direct Bookings Change Everything](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/your-own-booking-engine-for-free/): Every Airflow plan includes direct booking: a Stripe-powered checkout, draft invoices, and full guest ownership — with no monthly fee for the booking engine. - [Meet AI Flow: Your Booking Business Has an AI Assistant Now](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/introducing-ai-flow/): AI Flow is a context-aware AI assistant built into Airflow. It knows your bookings, your settings, and your business — and it costs a fraction of what you'd expect. - [One Calendar to Rule Them All](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/one-calendar-four-views/): Day, week, month, and year views — all in one calendar. See every booking across every property at a glance. - [Managing Teams Without the Complexity](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/teams-without-complexity/): Owners, managers, and staff — with permissions that make sense. Add your team without needing an IT department. - [Your Money, Every Currency: How Airflow Handles Multi-Currency Bookings](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/multi-currency-made-simple/): Bookings in euros, payouts in pounds, accounting in dollars — Airflow's three-layer currency model handles it all without spreadsheets. - [Automated Accounting: From Booking Email to Draft Invoice in Seconds](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/automated-accounting-for-hosts/): How Airflow turns a forwarded booking confirmation into a categorised, tax-ready draft invoice in your accounting software — without you touching a spreadsheet. - [Connect Everything: Xero, Stripe, Google, and Beyond](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/connect-everything/): Airflow connects your booking channels to your accounting, payments, calendar, and email — without replacing any of them. - [One Platform, Every Service: How Airflow Adapts to Your Property Operation](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/five-verticals-one-platform/): Villas, lodges, boutique hotels, safari camps — plus restaurants, spas, and activities within your property. Airflow adapts its entire interface to your operation. Here's how. ## Blog — Guides - [Running a Guesthouse or Small Hotel](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/help-guesthouse-rooms/): How a guesthouse, B&B, lodge or small hotel runs on Airflow: one listing per room, a room search on your website, each room's own calendar feed and booking address, and what to tell Booking.com and Airbnb. - [How to Connect Airbnb to Make](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/connect-airbnb-to-make/): Airbnb has no Make app for hosts. Here is how to send each new, changed or cancelled Airbnb booking to a Make scenario through a custom webhook, what the message contains and what the method cannot do. - [How to Connect Airbnb to n8n](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/connect-airbnb-to-n8n/): Airbnb has no n8n node for hosts. Here is how to get each new, changed or cancelled Airbnb booking into an n8n workflow through a Webhook node, with the fields you receive and how to check the signature. - [How to Connect Airbnb to Zapier, Make or Slack](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/connect-airbnb-to-zapier/): Airbnb gives hosts no Zapier app. Here is how to send each new, changed or cancelled Airbnb booking to Zapier or Slack, what Airflow already does without it, eight automations worth building, and what the method cannot do. - [Connect Out: Send Booking Events to Your Other Systems](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/help-connect-out-webhooks/): How Connect out works: add a web address, choose the events, and Airflow sends a signed message when a booking is created, changed or cancelled, or a payment is received. What is sent, the money lines, how retries work and how to check a signature. - [The Best Way to Export Rental Financials for Tax Prep](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/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 to Find Your Airbnb iCal Link and Sync It with Other Calendars](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/find-your-airbnb-ical-link-and-sync-it/): Where the Airbnb calendar link is, how to paste it into VRBO, Booking.com or Google Calendar, how to import their calendars back, and what an iCal link can and cannot carry. - [Can I Move from WordPress to Booking Software?](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/move-from-wordpress-to-booking-software/): Yes. You can keep your WordPress site and add a booking engine to it, or move the whole site across. What comes with you, what does not, and the order to do it in. - [Is There One Inbox for Airbnb, VRBO and Booking.com Guest Messages?](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/one-inbox-for-airbnb-vrbo-booking-com-messages/): Yes, but only from software with an official connection to each platform. What a unified inbox needs, which kind of tool provides it, what it costs you in setup, and what Airflow does and does not do here. - [Which Nights Should You Give Up?](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/which-nights-should-you-block/): If a night cap means closing part of your year, the question is not how many nights but which ones. Rank the year by your own rate card and the answer changes by thousands. - [Cape Town's 50% Rule: Stay Under, or Go Commercial?](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/cape-town-stay-under-50-percent-or-go-commercial/): Staying under Cape Town's draft 50% letting threshold means closing nights. Crossing it means commercial rates. How to work out which costs you less, with three worked examples, including a family home with a garden cottage. - [Confirmed in Their Portal, Paid to You](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/confirmed-in-their-portal-paid-to-you/): When a traveller on Airflow Guest books your place, the booking is confirmed inside their own Guest Portal and the money goes directly to you. Here is the whole journey, from request to payment. - [Surfaced to the Right Guests, at the Moment They Plan](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/surfaced-to-the-right-guests/): Airflow's AI trip planner matches each traveller's route, dates and taste to the places that fit their trip. What that means for a host, and what makes your place come up. - [Travellers Find You While They Plan, Not After They Search](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/travellers-find-you-while-they-plan/): Booking sites wait for a traveller to type a search. On Airflow Guest and Airflow Stay your place is part of the trip while it is still being planned. How that works, and how to get your place in front of those travellers. - [Your Whole Trip in One Place](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/your-whole-trip-in-one-place/): A multi-stay trip usually means a dozen confirmation emails, several booking sites and a spreadsheet. Airflow Guest puts every stay, extra and person on one timeline. How to set one up in a few minutes. - [In Namibia, Letting an Unregistered Room Is a Criminal Offence](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/namibia-tourism-board-registration/): 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. - [Kenya Plans to Collect Its 2% Tourism Levy at Source](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/kenya-tourism-regulatory-authority-airbnb/): 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. - [Portugal's Alojamento Local, Now That Lisbon Has Stopped Issuing](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/portugal-alojamento-local-lisbon/): 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. - [Greece's AMA Number, and the 60-Day Line That Isn't a Cap](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/greece-ama-number-60-days/): 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. - [Italy's CIN: The Code That Goes on Your Listing and Your Front Door](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/italy-cin-code-airbnb/): Italy's national identification code must appear in every advert and physically at the property. What the CIN is, how it differs from the regional CIR, and the €8,000 downside. - [Amsterdam's 30 Nights — and 15, If You're in the Wrong Street](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/amsterdam-30-night-limit/): Amsterdam caps holiday letting at 30 nights a year, and at 15 in eleven central neighbourhoods since April 2026. Plus the per-booking reporting duty hosts keep missing. - [Paris Is 90 Nights Now, Not 120](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/paris-90-night-limit/): Paris cut its principal-residence cap from 120 nights to 90 with effect from January 2025. What changed, what the 13-character number is, and how to count it. - [London's 90 Nights: How to Count Them Before the Council Does](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/london-90-night-limit/): The 90-night rule applies to the property, not to you, resets on 1 January, and has a second condition most hosts have never heard of. How to count it properly. - [Short-Term Rental Rules by City, 2026](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/short-term-rental-rules-by-country-2026/): Night caps, registration numbers and licence freezes across Europe and Africa, with the number, the authority and the date for each — and what actually counts towards your limit. - [Three Properties, Three Spreadsheets, One Sunday Afternoon](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/every-property-on-one-page/): 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. - [Your Booking System and Your Accounts Disagree. Which One Is Wrong?](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/your-booking-system-and-your-accounts-disagree/): 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. - [Copenhagen's 70 Nights and the Reporting Condition](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/copenhagen-70-night-limit/): Denmark lets you rent out your whole home for 70 days a year only when every booking goes through a platform that reports your income to the tax agency. Otherwise it is 30. - [How to Calculate and Record Your Management Fee](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/how-to-calculate-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 to Get Direct Bookings Instead of Relying on Airbnb](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/how-to-get-direct-bookings/): A practical plan for moving part of your business off the channels: somewhere to book, somewhere to be found, a reason to trust you, and a way to keep the guest once they arrive. - [Letting an Owner Block Their Own Dates Without Handing Over Your Calendar](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/let-owners-block-their-own-dates/): Owners want to use their own property. You cannot give them the keys to your calendar. Here is how owner block-date requests work in Airflow: the owner asks, you approve, and only then is anything blocked. - [What to Show an Inspector: A Night-by-Night Letting Statement](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/short-term-rental-compliance-statement/): If a council asks how many nights your property was let or offered, a screenshot of today's calendar proves nothing. What a letting statement should contain, and how to download one. - [Tourist Tax and City Tax on Short-Term Rentals: How to Charge It Properly](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/tourist-tax-on-short-term-rentals/): 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. - [Turning a Repeat Channel Guest Into a Direct Booking, Without Breaking the Rules](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/turn-repeat-guests-into-direct-bookings/): Your best guests keep coming back through the channel, and you pay commission every time. What the channels forbid, what they do not, and how to be the easy option when a guest goes looking for you. - [The Plan Has a Price. What Did Last Month Actually Cost?](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/what-it-actually-costs-to-run-your-account/): What running an Airflow account costs in a quiet month and a busy one, which work uses automated tasks and which is free, and where to read your own number in the portal. - [What to Send a Guest Before Arrival, and When](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/what-to-send-guests-before-arrival/): A pre-arrival timeline for short-term rental hosts: what to send at booking, once paid, a week out, three days out and on check-in day, and how to automate it. - [South African Short-Term Rental Tax and Rates](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/running-your-str-as-a-business-south-africa/): 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. - [No-Shows and Guests Who Never Pay](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/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. - [How to Take a Deposit on a Direct Booking](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/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. - [What to Do When a Guest Hasn't Paid the Balance](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/guest-hasnt-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. - [Your Calendar Still Shows a Cancelled Booking](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/calendar-still-shows-cancelled-booking/): A guest cancelled on the channel, but the dates are still blocked everywhere else. Why feeds leave stale blocks behind, and how to clear them. - [Setting a Cancellation Policy for Direct Bookings](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/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. - [What Happens to Your Invoice When a Guest Cancels](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/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. - [Show Airbnb and Google Reviews on Your Website](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/show-airbnb-google-reviews-on-your-website/): Your best reviews sit on a channel that charges commission. How to get them onto your own site, what each platform's terms allow, and four pitfalls. - [How to Set Seasonal Rates for a Short-Term Rental](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/how-to-set-seasonal-rates/): Fixed rack rates or a percentage off a base? Recurring seasons, minimum stays, discount stacking, and a yearly increase that compounds correctly. - [Multi-Currency Airbnb Income in Xero](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/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. - [Import Airbnb Booking History into Xero](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/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. - [Know What the Import Will Cost Before It Runs](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/know-what-the-import-will-cost/): 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. - [Every Booking You Already Have, In One Place](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/every-booking-you-already-have/): Import existing bookings three ways: a CSV or Google Sheet, an iCal feed, or typed by hand. Every route blocks the dates before it touches your books. - [Accepting PayPal Payments for Your Bookings](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/accept-paypal-for-bookings/): How PayPal fits into your booking workflow, where Airflow handles the payment, and how to keep your accounts clean either way. - [Forward Booking Emails from Gmail to Airflow](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/forward-booking-emails-from-gmail/): Your Airbnb and Booking.com confirmations land in Gmail. Here's how to turn them into structured bookings, by hand or automatically. - [Forward Booking Emails from Outlook to Airflow](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/forward-booking-emails-from-outlook/): Booking confirmations sitting in Outlook? Here's how to turn them into structured records, by forwarding or by connecting your account. - [Guest Marketing with Mailchimp](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/guest-marketing-with-mailchimp/): Mailchimp is where your newsletters go out. Here's how Airflow keeps clean guest records that feed it, without double data entry. - [Taking Bookings from Instagram & Facebook (Meta)](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/instagram-and-facebook-bookings-meta/): A lot of enquiries start on Instagram or Facebook. Here's how to turn that interest into a real booking without losing it in your DMs. - [Export Your Bookings to Google Sheets](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/sync-bookings-to-google-sheets/): Prefer a spreadsheet? Airflow can draft your booking records straight into Google Sheets, so your numbers stay live without retyping. - [Accounting for Short-Term Rentals: OTA Income, Fees & Reconciliation (The Complete Guide)](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/accounting-for-short-term-rentals/): 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. - [Airbnb & UK Tax: Getting Your Books Ready for HMRC](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/airbnb-uk-tax-hmrc/): Airbnb tax in the UK explained for hosts: the property and trading allowances, VAT threshold, Making Tax Digital, and the records HMRC expects you to keep. - [Airbnb & US Taxes: 1099-K, Schedule E and Clean Books](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/airbnb-us-tax-1099k/): Airbnb taxes in the US for hosts: 1099-K thresholds, Schedule E versus Schedule C, the 14-day rule, and the records you need for clean, defensible books. - [Best Airbnb Accounting Software in 2026 (Xero, QuickBooks, Sage & FreshBooks)](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/best-airbnb-accounting-software/): 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. - [Booking.com Accounting: Why Your Payouts Never Match (and How to Fix It)](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/booking-com-accounting-payouts/): Booking.com payout reconciliation explained: the commission-invoice model, VAT on commission, fortnightly payouts, and how to make your bank deposits match your books. - [Cleaning Fees, Damage Deposits & Taxes: Where Do They Go in Your Books?](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/cleaning-fees-deposits-taxes-bookkeeping/): Airbnb cleaning fee accounting explained: where cleaning fees, refundable damage deposits and occupancy taxes belong in your books, and how to record each correctly. - [Expedia Bookings and Your Accountant](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/expedia-bookings-accounting/): 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. - [Multi-Property Short-Term Rental Accounting: A Clean P&L Per Property](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/multi-property-str-accounting/): 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 to Record Airbnb Income in Xero (Without the Manual Entry)](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/record-airbnb-income-in-xero/): 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. - [From Spreadsheets to Real STR Bookkeeping (Without the Pain)](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/spreadsheets-to-str-bookkeeping/): Moving from an Airbnb spreadsheet to real bookkeeping: where spreadsheets break for hosts, what proper accounting gives you, and how to make the switch painless. - [Bank Reconciliation for Short-Term Rentals: A Step-by-Step Guide](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/str-bank-reconciliation/): 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. - [Your Short-Term Rental Chart of Accounts: A Template That Works](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/str-chart-of-accounts/): 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. - [Short-Term Rental Tax Prep: Get Your Books Ready in a Weekend](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/str-tax-prep-get-books-ready/): 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 to Track OTA Commissions as Expenses (Airbnb, Booking.com & VRBO)](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/track-ota-commissions-as-expenses/): 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. - [VAT for Short-Term Rentals: When to Register & How to Handle OTA VAT](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/vat-for-short-term-rentals/): VAT for short-term rentals explained: when registration becomes compulsory, why holiday lets are standard-rated, and how to handle VAT on OTA commission. - [VRBO Income in QuickBooks: the Setup Nobody Explains](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/vrbo-income-in-quickbooks/): 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. - [Plans & Upgrading](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/help-plans-upgrade/): Understanding Airflow's plans, what's included at each level, how your automated-tasks allowance works, and how to upgrade when you're ready to grow. - [Calendar & Channel Sync](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/help-calendar-sync/): How Airflow consolidates bookings from every source into one calendar and publishes an availability feed your channels can import — helping prevent double-bookings. - [Notifications & Alerts](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/help-notifications/): How Airflow keeps you informed — booking alerts, payment notifications, system updates, and action reminders delivered to your portal and inbox. - [Automated Guest Communications](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/help-automated-communications/): How Airflow sends the right message to your guests at the right time — booking confirmations, pre-arrival info, check-in instructions, and follow-ups. - [Team Collaboration & Invitations](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/help-team-invitations/): How to invite team members, assign roles, and manage access across your Airflow organisation — from owner to staff. - [Your Connected Ecosystem](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/help-connected-ecosystem/): How Airflow connects your email, calendars, accounting, payments, and guest tools into one automated hub — so nothing falls through the cracks. - [Managing Your Properties](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/help-manage-properties/): How to add, configure, and manage your properties (resources) in Airflow — from a single villa to a portfolio of rentals. - [Guest Payments & Deposits](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/help-guest-payments/): How Airflow handles guest payments — from deposit collection at booking to balance payments via the guest portal, with support for Stripe, Paystack, and manual methods. - [Your Activity Timeline](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/help-activity-timeline/): How Airflow logs every action — bookings processed, invoices created, emails sent, settings changed — so you always know what happened and when. - [The Guest Portal Experience](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/help-guest-portal/): After booking, your guests get their own trip portal — itinerary, property details, documents, payments, and companion sharing. No app download required. - [Your Custom Booking Website](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/help-custom-booking-website/): How Airflow gives you a branded direct booking website where guests can browse availability, book, and pay — with zero OTA commission. - [Managing Your Account & Profile](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/help-account-profile/): How to set up your Airflow profile, manage your login, update contact details, and configure your display preferences. - [Automatic Accounting Sync](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/help-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 Booking Extraction Works](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/help-ai-booking-extraction/): Airflow reads your booking emails and extracts guest details, dates, pricing, and platform fees — automatically creating structured records. - [How Booking Email Forwarding Works](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/help-forward-booking-emails/): Learn how to forward OTA booking confirmations to Airflow and watch them turn into structured records automatically. - [Getting Started with Airflow: Your First Five Minutes](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/getting-started-with-airflow/): A step-by-step guide to setting up your Airflow account, connecting your first resource, and seeing your first automated booking in action. - [Xero + Short-Term Rentals: The Setup Nobody Teaches You](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/xero-short-term-rentals-setup/): 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. ## Blog — Insights - [Your Villa Sleeps Eight. Who Actually Books It?](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/who-actually-books-your-place/): An average party size hides the shape of who comes. What a group-size breakdown shows, why it changes year to year, and what it means for how you price extra guests. - [A Night Cap Is an Accounting Problem, Not a Calendar Problem](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/night-cap-is-an-accounting-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. - [Occupancy Was 78%. So Why Was It a Bad Year?](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/what-each-night-actually-earned/): Occupancy and average rate both flatter a bad year. What a per-night value chart shows that neither does, and how to find the months where you discounted and still didn't fill. - [Airbnb Says 15%. Your Books Say 18.4%.](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/what-your-channel-commission-actually-costs/): Headline commission is not what you pay. A breakdown of what each booking channel actually costs once service fees and taxes are out, and how to see your own number. - [Is a Direct Booking Actually Worth More? Run the Numbers](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/is-a-direct-booking-worth-more/): A direct booking does not save you the channel's whole commission. A worked example of what each side really costs, the largest discount you can offer before you lose money, and when direct is worth less. - [The Pin on the Map Is Deliberately Wrong](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/the-pin-is-deliberately-wrong/): Keep your property's exact address private on a public listing, and release it automatically on confirmation, on payment, or days before arrival. - [Who Collects the Money on a Booking.com Stay?](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/when-the-channel-doesnt-collect/): 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. - [Admin That Handles Itself](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/admin-that-handles-itself/): A booking email arrives. By the time you've read it, the data is filed, the invoice is drafted in your accounting software, and the next steps are already moving. - [One Resource or One Hundred](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/one-resource-or-one-hundred/): Airflow works the same whether you run a single room or a hundred properties. Start small, grow without re-platforming, and never change how you work. - [See Your Whole Business in One Place](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/see-your-whole-business-in-one-place/): Bookings, revenue, clients and activity across every property — and every business you run — on a single dashboard. No more flicking between tabs. - [Bookkeeper vs PMS vs Airflow: An Honest Breakdown](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/bookkeeper-vs-pms-vs-airflow/): 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. - [Channel Manager vs. Better Accounting: What You Actually Need](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/channel-manager-vs-accounting/): 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. - [Hostaway & Guesty Do Channels — But Who Does Your Books?](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/hostaway-guesty-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. - [Why None of Your OTA Payouts Match Your Invoices](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/ota-payouts-dont-match/): 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. - [VRBO vs Airbnb Fees for Hosts: What Each One Takes in 2026](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/vrbo-vs-airbnb-fees-accounting/): Airbnb takes 15.5% from most hosts. VRBO takes about 8% from the host and charges the guest 6–15% on top. A side-by-side table, a worked $1,000 booking, and what the difference means for your books. - [Your Website Builder Bill Is Just the Start](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/your-website-builder-bill-is-just-the-start/): A website builder gives you a brochure. For less than a Wix subscription, Airflow gives hosts the website and the operating system behind it — and moves your old site over in one conversation. - [Why We're Opening Airflow Slowly — Our Early-Access Approach](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/beta-launch/): We're rolling Airflow out to a focused group of booking businesses first — deliberately. Here's why a careful early-access launch makes for a better product. - [Why Your iCal Sync Keeps Breaking — and What to Do About It](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/why-your-ical-sync-keeps-breaking/): Double bookings, stale calendars, and missing reservations. iCal sync is the glue holding most booking businesses together — and it's failing. Here's why, and a better approach. - [Airbnb Payouts Don't Match Your Invoices — Here's Why](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/airbnb-payouts-dont-match-invoices/): 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. - [Managing Bookings from 5 Platforms Without Losing Your Mind](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/managing-bookings-from-five-platforms/): Airbnb, Booking.com, VRBO, HomeExchange, and direct enquiries — all in separate tabs, separate calendars, separate inboxes. There's a better way. - [Stop Paying Per Property — You're Overpaying in the Off-Season](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/stop-paying-per-property/): Per-property pricing charges you the same in January as in July. If your bookings are seasonal, you're subsidising empty months. There's a fairer model. - [HomeExchange, HomeSwap, and the Calendar Problem Nobody Talks About](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/homeexchange-calendar-problem/): Home exchange platforms are great for free travel. But they don't give you a unified calendar, accounting records, or any way to manage swaps alongside paid bookings. Here's how to fix that. - [Multi-Currency Bookings Are Breaking Your Spreadsheet](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/multi-currency-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. - [Security First: How We Passed a 27-Point Code Audit](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/security-first-27-point-audit/): We ran a comprehensive security audit across every page and edge function in Airflow. All 27 items resolved. Here's what we found and fixed. - [Automated Tasks, Not Per-Property Fees: Why We Chose a Fairer Pricing Model](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/actions-not-subscriptions/): Most booking software charges per property per month, whether you use it or not. We think you should pay for what you actually process. - [Airflow Is Not a PMS (And That's the Point)](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/airflow-is-not-a-pms/): Why we deliberately chose not to build another property management system — and why the middleware approach serves businesses better. - [Why Every Booking Business Needs a Middleware Layer](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/why-str-hosts-need-middleware/): You're the human middleware between your booking platforms, your accounting software, and your clients. Here's why that needs to change. - [The 20-Minute Problem: Why Every Booking Costs You More Than You Think](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/the-20-minute-problem/): Each booking takes 20 minutes of admin work that software should handle. Here's the breakdown — and what to do about it. ## Blog — Industry - [Vienna and Berlin: When the Cap Depends on Where You Sleep](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/vienna-berlin-night-limits/): In Vienna and Berlin the number of nights you may let depends first on whether the flat is your main home. Why residence is the hinge, what each city allows, and how to set it up. - [Barcelona's Tourist Licences All Expire in November 2028](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/barcelona-tourist-licence-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. - [From 20 May 2026, Your Platform Reports Your Nights For You](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/eu-short-term-rental-regulation-2026/): EU Regulation 2024/1028 makes platforms verify your registration number and report your activity to national authorities every month. What it changes for hosts, and what it does not. - [Will My Garden Cottage Be Affected by Cape Town's 50% Availability Rule?](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/cape-town-cottage-on-the-same-erf/): You live in the five-bedroom house and let the two-bedroom cottage. Under Cape Town's draft by-law the erf is one property, so the cottage borrows the whole house's capacity — and the answer flips entirely if the City counts it the other way. - [Short-term Letting in the City of Cape Town](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/short-term-letting-city-of-cape-town/): What the City of Cape Town's draft Short-Term Letting By-Law, 2026 actually requires: registration, a registration number on every listing, availability and occupancy data sharing, and the 50% room-nights rates threshold. Comment closed on 5 October 2026; rating changes are due from 1 July 2027. - [Staying Under Cape Town's 50% Letting Threshold](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/cape-town-50-percent-letting-threshold/): The draft by-law counts nights your property is available, not nights it's booked. Here's how the 50% maths works and what it means for your rates bill. ## Blog — Tips - [Your Guests Keep Asking the Same Five Questions](https://www.airflowhq.com/blog/guests-keep-asking-the-same-questions/): The five questions every short-term rental guest asks before arrival, and how to answer each one once, in a place guests can find, instead of in every inbox. ## More - [Full article text for LLMs](https://www.airflowhq.com/llms-full.txt) - [Sitemap](https://www.airflowhq.com/sitemap-index.xml) - [RSS feed](https://www.airflowhq.com/rss.xml)