How to match Guesty payouts to bank deposits in QuickBooks?
By the Propfina team · Last updated
Match each Guesty payout to the bank lump in QuickBooks Online from the payout report that equals that deposit, then take Match. Do not Categorize the AIRBNB, VRBO or GuestyPay line as income.
This is the click path for a small property-management office on Guesty that keeps a few short-term listings, because the CPA lives in QuickBooks Online. Pull last month’s payout report, the bank statement and the register.
What you are matching
The bank shows one number. Guesty shows several. A payout is the lump that hit the bank, not one reservation.
| List | Where | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| GuestyPay Payouts report | Guest payments, Payment processing, Payment dashboard | Exact amount sent to the bank |
| GuestyPay Payouts Reconciliation report | Same dashboard | Sales, credits, fees, reserve and adjustments inside that payout |
| Airbnb Paid CSV, if the lump says AIRBNB | Airbnb, Earnings, Paid | Gross, host fee, tax withheld, net |
| Reservations report | Guesty, Reservations | Expected total payout per stay, not the bank lump |
| Bank feed | QuickBooks Online, Bank transactions | One AIRBNB, VRBO or GuestyPay lump |
Guesty’s payout help, read 2026-10-10, says the Payouts report displays the exact amounts sent to your bank daily, and that Payouts Reconciliation is the best report for accounting. Use those files for GuestyPay. Channel payouts still land as AIRBNB or VRBO. How to reconcile Airbnb payouts in QuickBooks Online is the split for an AIRBNB lump.
Pull the payout report first
Do this before you touch the bank feed. Pick the bank-statement dates. The usual miss is matching a check-in date to a deposit that landed later.
If the bank descriptor is GuestyPay or a processor name:
- Go to Guest payments, then Payment processing.
- In the GuestyPay section, open Payment dashboard and sign in.
- Open Sub-account reports, then Payouts. Filter platform, sub-account and date. The report defaults to the last two days.
- Confirm the Amount equals the bank line. Open Payouts reconciliation for sales, credits, fees, reserve and adjustments.
- Export an itemized or summarized Excel or CSV.
That same help article says payouts typically reach the bank seven days after GuestyPay receives the funds, and defines Reserve Balance as 10 percent of transactions, held 90 days. Leave those unmatched until Paid. A negative settlement day can debit the bank. Treat that debit as its own line.
If the bank says AIRBNB or VRBO, skip the GuestyPay Payouts report. Pull Airbnb’s Paid CSV or Vrbo’s payout dashboard. Guesty’s Airbnb payout article, read 2026-10-10, says a short-term payout can take 72 hours to show, and a co-host split leaves Guesty seeing only the host share, marked Partially Paid. Use the channel CSV when Guesty and the bank disagree.
Build one Bank Deposit that equals the bank
Put every component of that bank number on one QuickBooks deposit, dated to the bank date, not check-in. Intuit’s record bank deposits help, updated 2026-08-03, is this path. Put the fee on the deposit.
- Select + Create, then Bank Deposit.
- Choose the account the payout hit, trust or operating. Skip Undeposited Funds unless you already recorded sales receipts.
- Scroll to Add funds to this deposit.
- Accommodation: owner funds (Other Current Liabilities) on a managed door; rental income only if the firm owns the listing. Cleaning: pass-through if the office pays the cleaner; income only if the firm keeps it.
- Channel or GuestyPay fee as a negative amount to a channel-fee expense. Intuit’s example is a $0.50 fee entered as –.50.
- Occupancy tax paid out to you to remit goes to occupancy-tax payable. Tax the channel already remitted is skipped. Reserve withheld goes to a GuestyPay reserve asset, as a negative, so the total still equals the bank. The later release is its own deposit.
- The deposit total must equal the bank line to the cent. Memo the payout ID. Save.
Example, not a real office. Accommodation $2,400, cleaning $360, outgoing fees −$82.80, reserve withheld −$276. Deposit $2,401.20. A management fee you charge the owner is not a GuestyPay line.
Guesty’s rejected-payout help, read 2026-10-10, says a rejected payout comes back later as a Balance Adjustment. Put that adjustment on the later deposit.
Match the bank feed
Go to All apps, Accounting, Bank transactions. Open the account the payout hit. Find the lump.
If QuickBooks offers Match to the deposit you just saved, take Match. Intuit’s categorize help, updated 2026-08-24, treats Post or Add as a new ledger entry. Categorize on that payout records the cash twice.
If nothing is in the register yet, Split the Pending line into the same accounts until Difference is $0.00, then Post. Do not Split a line you already deposited. Turn auto-add off on any bank rule that posts AIRBNB, VRBO or GuestyPay to income.
How to reconcile a property management trust account in QuickBooks Online is the two-way rec after these deposits are in.
The reservations report is not the deposit
Guesty’s total-payout help, read 2026-10-10, writes total payout as accommodation fare, discounts, cleaning, extra-person fees, markups, channel commission and taxes. That is the stay. It is not the ACH.
On r/airbnb_hosts in June 2023, an office found the Guesty income report substantially higher than deposits for months. Replies said it was bookings that started that month, that the owner-portal payout ran above the bank, and that canceled refunded stays still sat on the list.
Open Reservations. Add Total payout under Financial. Filter Status away from canceled. Export the CSV only to split a matched lump by listing. Do not hunt for that column total on the bank statement.
For Vrbo stays through Guesty, Guesty’s Vrbo tax article, read 2026-10-10, says you are the merchant of record, so you collect payments and taxes. Put occupancy tax on the deposit as a liability, not as rent. This is not tax advice. Check the listing, the agency and your CPA.
When the lists still disagree
Work payout-report-to-bank first, then bank-to-QuickBooks.
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Bank is smaller than Guesty sales by about 10 percent | Reserve withheld | Negative reserve line on this deposit |
| Bank line has no matching payout | Seven-day GuestyPay lag, Airbnb 72-hour sync, or a weekend | Wait until the Payouts report shows it |
| Payouts report is higher than this bank line | Balance Adjustment from a rejected payout, or two days batched | Expand the reconciliation row. Put the adjustment on this deposit |
| Guesty says Partially Paid | Co-host split on Airbnb | Guesty only sees the host share. Split from the Airbnb CSV |
| Reservations report is a third above the bank | Check-in month, canceled refunds, or gross before fees | Stop using that report as the match key |
| QuickBooks income is the guest total | Categorize on the feed, or tax booked as rent | Reverse it. Match the split deposit |
What never gets its own deposit
| Thing | Own QuickBooks deposit? |
|---|---|
| GuestyPay outgoing fee | No. Negative line on the payout deposit |
| Reserve withheld | Same deposit, as a reserve asset |
| Reserve release | Yes. That is a later bank lump |
| Rejected payout, first time | No. Wait for the Balance Adjustment |
| One reservation already in the batch | No. Split it on that deposit |
| Reservations-report total payout | No. That is the stay, not the ACH |
| Typed deposit for the bank total, as income | No. That is a second copy |
What the software already does
Guesty wins reservation-level payout status and the GuestyPay reports that already know the fee, the reserve and which stays sat in the lump. Accounting by Guesty, a premium feature, read 2026-10-10, also wins owner statements and a bank rec under Cash management, Bank reconciliation. Guesty Connect for QuickBooks, read 2026-10-10, does not match payouts. It imports QuickBooks expenses into Guesty when vendor and category names match exactly.
Airbnb wins the Paid CSV for AIRBNB lumps. QuickBooks Online wins the two-way rec your CPA already knows. AppFolio, Rentvine and Buildium still win owner ledgers and the three-way trust rec on long-term doors. Someone still has to pick the file that equals the bank line, refuse Categorize, and keep occupancy tax off income.
How to tell this week is closed
Every AIRBNB, VRBO and GuestyPay bank line is Matched to a deposit that equals the statement to the cent. Each GuestyPay deposit has sales, fees and, if it was withheld, reserve. Rent for managed doors sat in owner funds, not income.
Pull last month’s GuestyPay Payouts report, the Airbnb Paid CSV for any AIRBNB lumps, and the bank statement for the account those payouts hit. Start with those three files. They already exist.
Frequently asked questions
Does Guesty's QuickBooks connection match payouts to the bank feed?
No. Guesty Connect, read 2026-10-10, imports expenses from QuickBooks into Guesty Accounting when vendor name and category match exactly. It does not post payouts into QuickBooks or Match the bank feed. Build one Bank Deposit from the payout report, then take Match.
Why is the Guesty reservations report higher than the bank deposits?
Total payout on the reservations report is the stay's expected net, accommodation plus fees and taxes minus channel commission, not the lump that hit the bank. GuestyPay holds 10 percent of transactions for 90 days. Airbnb and Vrbo pay days later. Canceled stays that were refunded can still sit on the report. Use the Payouts report.
Should I Categorize the AIRBNB or GuestyPay bank line as rental income?
No. Categorize or Post records a new ledger entry. Build one Bank Deposit that equals the lump, then take Match. Intuit's categorize help, updated 2026-08-24, treats Post as a new entry. Categorize on that line records the cash twice and skips fees, tax and reserve.
How long after a GuestyPay charge does the money hit the bank?
Guesty's payout help, read 2026-10-10, says payouts typically reach the bank seven days after GuestyPay receives the funds, and processing times vary by bank. Leave the feed unmatched until the Payouts report shows that amount. A rejected payout returns later as a Balance Adjustment, not a second bank line.