Supported Platforms
We currently support two CSV formats. We auto-detect which format you uploaded based on the column headers in the file.
Airbnb Earnings CSV
Covers Airbnb bookings only. Export from Earnings > Paid.
- •No date range limit
- •Includes payout date (when money hit your bank)
- •22 columns, clean format
Hostaway Rental Activity CSV
Covers all channels: Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, and direct bookings.
- •Uses Hostaway's ownerPayout formula for accurate income
- •Separate fee columns for platform and payment processing fees
- •One file covers all platforms
How to Export Your CSV
Airbnb
- Log into airbnb.com and go to Earnings
- Click Paid in the left sidebar
- Filter by date range and listing if needed
- Click Export CSV (bottom right of the page)
Hostaway
- Go to Financial Reporting > Rental Activity
- Click the Per reservation tab
- Set date type to Calendar (this captures stays that cross year boundaries)
- Set your date range (e.g., 1/1/2025 to 12/31/2025)
- Click Filters, set reservation status to New and Modified
- Click Settings (gear icon) and make sure these 16 columns are visible:
| Column | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Reservation ID | Prevents duplicate imports |
| Guest | Entry notes |
| Channel | Platform mapping (Airbnb/VRBO/etc.) |
| Reservation status | Filter to confirmed bookings |
| Check-in date | Month assignment |
| Check-out date | Night count |
| Listing | Property mapping |
| ownerPayout | Your income (what you receive) |
| Host channel fee | Platform commission expense |
| Payment service processing fees | Payment processing expense |
| OTA payment processing fee | OTA processing expense |
| Airbnb closed resolutions sum | 1099-K reconciliation (damage claims, AirCover) |
| Airbnb payout sum | 1099-K reconciliation (gross Airbnb payouts) |
| Cancellation payout | 1099-K reconciliation |
| Refund | 1099-K reconciliation |
| pmCommission | 1099-K reconciliation (co-host/PM payouts) |
- Click Download report > CSV
Important: Use Financial Reporting > Rental Activity (not the main Reservations page). The Rental Activity report uses Hostaway's financial formulas to calculate accurate owner payouts that exclude taxes, guest fees, and security deposits.
How We Calculate Income: Airbnb CSV
We import only rows with Type = "Reservation". Payout rows (bank transfers), resolutions, cancellations, and co-host payouts are skipped.
Income: The "Amount" Field
The Amount column is your net payout: what Airbnb deposited into your bank account. It equals Gross Earnings - Service Fee.
We use this because rental income is reported on a cash basis (when you received the money). This matches your bank statement and is what goes on IRS Schedule E.
Expense: Airbnb Service Fee
If you opt in during import, we create a separate expense entry for Airbnb's service fee on each booking. This is categorized as Commissions (Schedule E, Line 11) and is a deductible business expense.
What We Skip
- •Cleaning fee: Already included in the Amount. Not a separate charge you paid.
- •Tax remitted: Occupancy tax Airbnb collected and paid on your behalf. Not your income or expense.
- •Payout rows: Bank transfer records, not income events.
- •Resolutions and cancellations: Skipped in the current version.
Example: Airbnb Reservation
| CSV Field | Value | What We Do |
|---|---|---|
| Gross Earnings | $1,086.00 | Not used (includes Airbnb's cut) |
| Service Fee | $168.33 | Created as expense (Commissions, Line 11) |
| Amount | $917.67 | Imported as income (owner payout) |
| Cleaning Fee | $185.00 | Skipped (already in Amount) |
| Tax Remitted | $138.47 | Skipped (Airbnb pays this directly) |
Math check: $1,086.00 (Gross) - $168.33 (Service Fee) = $917.67 (Amount). Confirmed on 285/285 rows.
How We Calculate Income: Hostaway CSV
Hostaway is a channel manager, so one CSV file contains bookings from all platforms. We use the Financial Reporting > Rental Activity export which provides Hostaway's calculated ownerPayout field. This is the accurate amount you receive for every booking, regardless of channel.
Income: ownerPayout (all channels)
Hostaway calculates ownerPayout using its built-in financial formulas. This amount already excludes platform fees, taxes, guest fees, and security deposits. It works the same for Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, and direct bookings.
Hostaway formula: ownerPayout = rentalRevenue - totalTax
Expenses: Three Fee Types
If you opt in during import, we create separate expense entries for each fee type. Platform commissions are categorized as Commissions (Schedule E Line 11). Payment processing fees are categorized as Other (Line 19).
| Fee Column | What It Is | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Host channel fee | Airbnb host fee (3%), VRBO commission, Booking.com commission | $14.70 |
| Payment service processing fees | Stripe fees on VRBO and direct bookings | $69.66 |
| OTA payment processing fee | OTA-specific processing fees (rare) | $0.00 |
Examples by Channel
| Channel | ownerPayout | Host Channel Fee | Payment Proc Fee | Total Fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbnb (Sommer B.) | $475.30 | $14.70 | $0.00 | $14.70 |
| VRBO (Barrett H.) | $1,209.04 | $67.30 | $69.66 | $136.96 |
| Booking.com (Amber T.) | $639.54 | $112.86 | $0.00 | $112.86 |
| Direct (Blair Y.) | $686.98 | $0.00 | $31.02 | $31.02 |
All values come directly from Hostaway's financial formulas. No manual calculation needed.
How We Assign Income to Months
| Platform | Date Used | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Airbnb CSV | Payout date (Date column) | Matches your bank statement; cash-basis accounting |
| Hostaway CSV | Check-in date | When the guest arrived; Calendar date type captures cross-year stays |
For stays that cross month boundaries (e.g., Jan 29 to Feb 2), the entire amount is assigned to the payout/check-in month. We do not split income across months. This is consistent with cash-basis accounting used on IRS Schedule E.
Year Boundary Handling (Hostaway)
We recommend using the Calendar date type in Hostaway (not Check-in). Calendar captures stays that cross year boundaries. For example, a guest who checks in Dec 28, 2024 and checks out Jan 3, 2025 will appear in a 2025 Calendar export, ensuring no bookings are missed. The full payout is assigned to the check-in month in your reports.
Note: For stays that cross month boundaries, the Hostaway on-screen Rental Activity view may show a pro-rated amount per month. The CSV export always includes the full reservation payout, which is correct for tax reporting. Your CSV totals may differ slightly from the on-screen monthly totals for this reason.
What Gets Created in Your Account
Each imported reservation creates one income entry and optionally one expense entry:
Income Entry
- •Amount: Owner payout (net of fees and tax)
- •Platform: Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, or Direct
- •Month: From payout date (Airbnb) or check-in date (Hostaway)
- •Notes: Confirmation code, number of nights, guest name
Expense Entry (Optional)
- •Amount: Platform service fee or channel commission
- •Category: Commissions (Schedule E, Line 11) for platform fees, Other (Line 19) for payment processing
- •Description: Platform name and confirmation code
- •Created when: "Import platform fees as expenses" is checked during import
Duplicate Prevention
You can safely re-upload the same CSV file. We check for duplicates before importing:
| Platform | Unique Key | Why This Key |
|---|---|---|
| Airbnb | Confirmation Code + Year + Month + Amount | Handles split payouts on long stays (same code, different months) |
| Hostaway | Hostaway Reservation ID | Unique per reservation across all channels (100% coverage) |
Duplicates are counted and shown on the import success screen: "X duplicates skipped."
Hostaway Formula Configuration
The ownerPayout and fee values depend on Hostaway's built-in financial formulas. Your Hostaway account should have these formulas configured (these are Hostaway's defaults):
ownerPayout = rentalRevenue - totalTax
rentalRevenue = baseRate + cleaningFee + petFee + pricePerExtraPerson + weeklyDiscount + monthlyDiscount + airbnbClosedResolutionsSum + airbnbPassThroughTax + totalTax - hostChannelFee - paymentServiceProcessingFees - otaPaymentProcessingFee
totalTax = vat + hotelTax + lodgingTax + salesTax + occupancyTax + cityTax + roomTax + otherTaxes
You can verify your formulas in Hostaway under Financial Reporting > Rental Activity > click the formula name. If your formulas have been customized, the ownerPayout values may differ from what we expect. Contact support if you need help.
Undo and Import History
Every import is tracked with a batch ID. All income and expense entries from an import share this ID. You can undo an entire import from the success screen, which deletes all entries created by that import. This is useful if you mapped a listing to the wrong property or imported the wrong date range.
This page describes how RentalReportLab processes CSV files as of March 2026. The calculations and logic may be updated as platforms change their export formats.