How do taxes sync with booking channels?

You can set up different types of taxes in Guesty, such as VAT and local tax, but all types are not are supported by all booking channels.

The table below is a summary of how each tax type in Guesty syncs with Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo. If the tax does not sync it is marked with a ✗. If the tax does sync, you can see how it appears on the channel to the guest.

Before proceeding with setting up your taxes, see the detailed channel limitations following the table.

Tax sync summary

Tax type Airbnb

Booking.com 

Vrbo
City tax City tax Tax
Goods and services tax VAT/GST Goods and services tax Tax
Local tax Lodging tax Tax Tax
Tourism tax Tourist tax Tourism fee Tax
VAT Sales tax VAT Tax
Other tax
State tax Tourism assessment fee Tax
County tax Tax
Occupancy tax Hotel tax Tax
Transient occupancy tax Transient occupancy tax Tax
Home sharing tax Room tax Tax
Harmonized sales tax
Minimum alternate tax

Guesty Lite user limitations

The only channel that taxes in Guesty sync with is Vrbo, if you started connecting prior to 19 Feb 2024.

Taxes in Guesty do NOT sync with:

  • Airbnb
  • Booking.com linked listings
  • Vrbo, if you connected after 19 Feb 2024

Channel limitations

Important:

You are responsible for collecting and remitting for:

  • Taxes set up in Guesty and synced with channels
  • Any additional taxes that are not synced from Guesty but that you are still responsible for collecting based on your local tax authorities

Airbnb

Airbnb only syncs with taxes created on the listing level. Some listings may not be eligible for tax sync at all, at Airbnb's discretion. Learn more from Airbnb about how taxes work.

You can either set up taxes in Guesty OR in Airbnb. 

Airbnb supports only the following tax configurations:

  • Percentage per stay
  • Flat per guest
  • Flat per guest per night
  • Flat per night

If your account is connected to Airbnb, we will show you how they collect taxes for a particular listing when you create a tax on the listing level. Use this information to decide if you want to sync the tax or not. For example:

Airbnb tax sync statuses
  • Ineligible

You cannot sync taxes from Guesty to Airbnb on this listing. 

  • No Airbnb collected tax

Airbnb does not collect taxes for reservations on this listing. You can set up your taxes in Guesty and sync them to Airbnb. You are responsible for collecting and remitting this tax - not Airbnb.

  • Override

Airbnb collects and remits some taxes for reservations on this listing. If you create a tax in Guesty and sync it with Airbnb, it will replace the tax that Airbnb collects. You are responsible for collecting and remitting this tax - not Airbnb.

  • Stacked

Airbnb collects and remits some taxes for reservations on this listing. If you create a tax in Guesty and sync it with Airbnb, it will be in addition to the taxes Airbnb collects. You are responsible for collecting and remitting this additional tax - not Airbnb.

Choose to not sync with Airbnb

If you do NOT sync a listing level tax with Airbnb, and continue to collect taxes via Airbnb, you can still see a breakdown of the tax from Airbnb in Guesty by activating the Deduct tax from the accommodation fare for Airbnb reservations toggle. 

The tax will appear in the guest folio as two separate line items: Deducted from the accommodation fare as a negative amount, and added as a tax. Example:

Booking.com

Linked listings - Taxes do not sync, they must be set up in Booking.com directly.

Published listings - Taxes are only synced during the initial publish. If changes are made to any of the tax values in Guesty after the initial publish, they will only sync to Booking.com if the status of the listing on the Booking.com Extranet is "XML: Being Built". This status will not be displayed in Guesty.

Making changes to tax values in Guesty after the initial publish won't be synced to Booking.com, and you will need to make them in Booking.com. Contact your local Booking.com support to make changes in tax changes.

Tax type limitation

Booking.com only allows either TAX ("local tax" in Guesty) or VAT ("VAT" in Guesty). If you have both set up in Guesty, an error will occur when you try to publish the listing to Booking.com. You must remove one of the taxes to ensure compliance with Booking.com.

If you are using VAT, it must be defined as a percentage, not a flat rate.

Vrbo

Once taxes are set up in Guesty they are synced to Vrbo. The following information should be noted when setting up your taxes.

Tax types synced with Vrbo:

  • Any configuration for flat taxes
  • Only "Per night" and "Per stay" for percentage taxes

Tax conditions do not apply to reservations made through booking channels, and “Length of stay” conditions are not supported for Vrbo. If a reservation came from Vrbo with a “Length of stay” condition of 29 or more nights, taxes will still apply to the reservation.

Vrbo collects and remits taxes in the United States (in all states). However, Vrbo users who are integrated with third-party software such as Guesty are the merchant of record, and as such, they collect the payments. Vrbo will only collect the service fee in these cases.

The tax type you create in Guesty will be passed through to Vrbo. For example: If you create tax type "city tax" in Guesty, "city tax" will be passed to Vrbo, no "mapping" required.  However, in Vrbo the guest will only see "taxes", not a breakdown of specific tax types.

When a reservation is made, the guest folio breakdown in Guesty will reflect the specific taxes.

Other channels

For the channels below, taxes will not sync. For these channels, set up taxes on each channel directly.

  • Agoda
  • Expedia
  • Misterb&b
  • SiteMinder
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