Requesting a Standard Hotel Availability

Business Description

Returns a list of available hotel properties with a limited list of available booking codes (room rates) for each property. Returns a more limited list of properties than a Hotel Index search, but returns only hotels with available booking codes.

Request

The default standard availability is made by city code; however, a number of modifiers can be added to the request, including: reference point search, postal code search, or a number of hotel search qualifiers, such as amenities, distance or direction from a specific location, rate categories, AAA rating, and property types.

Note: The same search qualifiers can also be used in Requesting a Hotel Index.

Response

The most recent hotel availability transaction, HotelAvailability_12 returns the highest and lowest non-credentialed rates for a hotel property.

Previous versions of HotelAvailability return a list of approximately 12 to 14 hotel properties, with up to 8 booking codes for each property. A brief description of the property and rates is also returned. Properties are returned in a random sequence.

It is important to note that the number and type of rates returned is determined by the vendor. In some cases, vendors may not return any rates for a standard hotel availability. A complete hotel available request may be required to retrieve room rates for these vendors.

Because availability is not provided for the properties listed in an index, an availability transaction must be used if availability is desired. For example, the user can follow up with a Complete Availability request for a specific property listed in the index, if appropriate dates are included in the index display.

Recommended Use

A standard availability be used as the initial or sole hotel search request, if the end user does not require a comprehensive list of properties for the requested location. However, a standard availability must be followed by a Complete Hotel Availability to retrieve all available booking codes for the property.

This task is recommended for end users who do not require the extensive, detailed search response offered by a hotel index, or who want pricing options (booking codes) for a property within a single, combined search and availability transaction.

Technical Overview

Associated Transactions

For more information about the functionality of this task, see the associated transaction: HotelAvailability_12.

Sample Transaction Flow

Hotel Transaction Flow 2: Step 1