General property descriptions provides an abridged version of the hotel property description or chain description. When the specific chain code or hotel Property ID is used in the request, more detailed information is returned.
Description information can vary by vendor, but typically includes:
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Hotel property identification, including chain code, hotel code (unique property ID), associated city or airport, and the hotel name.
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The address of the hotel property.
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The distance and direction of the hotel.
A Hotel Description request has no previous dependencies for data; however, the hotel property code must be known to request general property descriptions. This hotel code can be obtained through a Hotel Search.
General property descriptions can be combined with keyword description request to provide a more comprehensive description of the property.
Request
HotelDetailsReq in the HotelService is used to request Hotel Descriptions.
Minimum Request Data
In HotelDetailsModifiers, the RateRuleDetail attribute must be empty or set to 'None'.
Note that HotelDetailsReq returns different functionality depending on the enumeration set for HotelDetailsModifiers @RateRuleDetail.
- If @RateRuleDetail=“Complete”, a full Hotel Rate and Rule Search response is returned with availability, rates, and descriptive data.
- If @RateRuleDetail=“None” or is empty, a Hotel Description response is returned with only descriptive information, and no availability or rate information.
- If @RateRuleDetail=“RatePlansOnly”, an abridged Hotel Rate and Rule Search for Rate Plans Only response is returned with only availability and rates, but no descriptive data.
In addition, the following minimum request data for Hotel Description is located in the HotelProperty child element:
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The hotel's chain code in the HotelChain attribute.
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The hotel's unique property code in the HotelChainCode attribute.
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The IATA city/airport code for the hotel's location in the HotelLocation attribute.
The traveler's check-in date, <StartDate>, can optionally be specified for General Information and Keyword requests. If no date is requested, the response defaults to the current date.
Response
The response is returned in HotelDetailsRsp.
If hotel descriptions were requested, the response is text-only, and is included in the Description element. General information, keyword descriptions, or a list of available keywords can be combined in the response. If a check-in date, <StartDate>, was included in the request, the response will include a hotel description valid for that date.
If data is not available for a specific keyword in the request, such as meal plans or facilities, an error response is not sent . The response will simply not include an element for that keyword. In some cases, the response text indicates that no information is available for that keyword.
Required data in a Hotel Description response is:
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HotelChain
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Hotel Code (unique Property ID)
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The IATA code for the nearest city or airport.
Additional optional data may be returned in a Hotel Description response. The type and amount of data returned may vary by the vendor and data source:
- Hotel property information, such as chain, hotel code (unique Property ID), associated city/airport, and hotel name.
- The property's address and phone number.
- The geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude) of the property.
- The distance and direction.
- Any additional information about the hotel property sent from the data source as text strings, which are sent as children of the HotelDetailItem element. The amount and type of additional information varies by data source and hotel vendor, but typically includes information such as room descriptions, promotional information, and locale information.
Check-in and check-out times are returned by property in /HotelDetailItem Name="CheckInTime" and Name="CheckOutTime". Because data is forwarded as text data from the supplier, the time formats may vary by supplier and property in the corresponding Text element.
Check-in and check-out times are returned from Galileo, Apollo, and Worldspan. does not return times.
Note: For Galileo and Apollo, some property information may be provided in a Miscellaneous node. For Worldspan , the Miscellaneous node is parsed and information is returned in separate, identifiable nodes.
- A Commission indicator and discrete commission data when available. Commissions are usually a percentage of the base stay rate (not including tax or surcharges).
- Travelport Universal API supports discrete guarantee, deposit and prepayment data, if it is returned by the hotel supplier in the GuaranteeInfo element. Previously, this data was returned only as free text in RoomRateDescription. This feature provides guarantee, deposit and prepayment data in discreet fields, to support ease of programming.
Show details
The "Commission" value is available in typeHotelRateDescription @Name, which displays in the response in RequestedHotelDetails/HotelRateDetail/RoomRateDescription/.
In the corresponding Text element, the first text row indicates the presence ("yes") or absence ("no") of a commission for the hotel rate. If the value of the first row is "yes", and a commission value is available, the second text row indicates the percentage of the commission ("nn%"). Commission data is returned only if supported by the supplier and provider. Some responses may return a Commission indicator but not include a percentage value.
For Galileo and Apollo, Commission indicators and percentages are returned as discrete data only for suppliers that have a direct connection to Galileo and Apollo. If cached (RoomMaster®) data is used, the Commission indicator is returned. However, Commission percentages from RoomMaster are not returned as discrete data, but may still be included Room Rate Description text string.
Show details
A GuaranteeInfo child element was added to the /RequestedHotelDetails/HotelRateDetail/ .
All Guarantee attributes are optional, and are only populated if the hotel supplier returns data. If the hotel supplier does not return discrete guarantee, deposit and prepayment information, free text data will continue to be returned in the RoomRateDescription used in previous schema versions. Data is returned in RoomRateDescription @Name="Guarantee", "Deposit", and "Prepayment" and @Text.
It is recommended that the user should always consume all hotel populated values that apply to hotel room rates, payment, policy, guarantee, deposit, pre-payment, cancel penalty and other hotel rate descriptions. Cancellation, nonrefundable and penalty information, when provided by the hotel supplier will be found under HotelDetailItem/ @Name, @Text, RoomRateDescription/ @Name, @Text or CancelInfo/ and attributes separately. The Guarantee, deposit and prepayment information are provided by the hotel supplier, not the GDS.
This is supported by Galileo (1G), Apollo (1V), and Worldspan (1P).
Errors
If the number of children modifier is not supported by a particular vendor, the response returns the error message: Number of Children not supported by CC, where CC is the hotel chain code.
Exceptions
Galileo (1G) and Apollo (1V)
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Use of slot codes to prioritize request modifiers is NOT implemented in Universal API. See Hotel Search Modifiers for more details about how multiple modifiers are managed.
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Galileo and Apollo support up to four loyalty cards in a request.
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Galileo and Apollo do not support the following data in the request:
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Search by Address (street, city).
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Bed type.
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Number of beds.
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Relax indicator. In Galileo, hotel property responses are not set to "relax" during processing if no property that meets all of the requested parameters is available. Therefore, only properties that meet all requested parameters are returned.
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For ratings, Galileo and Apollo support the AAA ratings provider. However, the availability of AAA ratings may depend on a supplier's contractual agreement with AAA.
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Galileo and Apollo responses do not parse the HotelDetailItem@Miscellaneous node.
Worldspan (1P)
For ratings, Worldspan supports the AAA ratings provider. However, the availability of AAA ratings may depend on a supplier's contractual agreement with AAA.
Worldspan does not support the following data in the request:
- Loyalty Program
- Exact Match Indicator
- Priority Order
- Relax Indicator
- Next Results
Reference
Worldspan can return up to 99 properties in a single response. For Worldspan, no Next Results reference is returned in the response, but an additional request is considered to be a subsequent input. - Minimum/Maximum Amount Rate Change Indicators
- Transportation Indicator
- Best Available Rate Indicator
- Featured Property Indicator
- Booking requirement (guarantee required, deposit required)
- Unmatched
Search Indicators
When the Hotel Availability request has search qualifiers, it is possible that the response will return options that do not match one or more of the qualifiers passed in on the request. Worldspan does not have an unmatched search support. Therefore, if no property can be found to match the search modifiers in the request, an error response is returned. - Hotel Chain Brochure.
- Validated rates in hotel details.
- PointOfSale
Any value provided is ignored, and a warning is sent in the response: "Separate PointOfSale not supported by provider".
Worldspan does not support the following data in the response:
- Total "Includes"
- Min Length
- Max Length
- Guarantee
- Description
- Deposit Guarantee FOP
- Deposit Guarantee Credit Cards
- Hotel Deposit Address
- Include in Rate - Only Breakfast Included Indicator Available.
- Commission Percentage
- Extra Options
- Room Type - Returns this only in case of "Hotel Select" (Worldspan internal database) list
- Room View
- Floor range begin and end- Available as free text only
- Rate description
- Room rate
- Rate text
- Room detail
- Extra charges
- Packages
- Rate amount
- Rate comment
- Deposit, guarantee or prepay
- Commissionable
- Smoking/Nonsmoking
- Cancel
