Vehicle Matrix

The Vehicle Matrix transaction provides a basic Vehicle Search Availability request that returns a maximum amount of vehicle rates in the fastest time possible. This transaction supports web-based applications that display a table of vehicle rates where the axes represent vehicle suppliers by vehicle types. The Vehicle Matrix response provides all of the data necessary to complete this grid in one transaction. Additional (Get More) transactions are not required to obtain all response data.

Important! Wordspan (1P) does not support Vehicle Matrix functionality. If a Vehicle Matrix request is sent to Worldspan (1P), the Matrix-specific request attributes are ignored and a standard Vehicle Search response is returned with a warning message: ReturnAllRates not supported by Worldspan, and has been ignored.

Schema

See the following transactions for Vehicle Search:

• VehicleSearchAvailabilityReq
• VehicleSearchAvailabilityRsp

Request

VehicleSearchAvailabilityReq is used to request Vehicle Matrix searches. The Vehicle Matrix request is similar to a standard Vehicle Search request, but is differentiated by a Return All Rates indicator. The response returns all response items in a single call, but typically includes truncated response data for individual Vehicle items.

Note: Vehicle Matrix is equivalent to the CarMatrix transaction in GWS.

Set ReturnAllRates to "True" to return a Vehicle Matrix response.

For a more specific response:

• Set ReturnApproximateTotal to "True" to have rates in the response quoted in approximate totals. Because only suppliers with an Inside Availability connection to Apollo or Galileo can support approximate totals, only Inside Availability suppliers are returned. If ReturnApproximateTotal is set to "False", best rates for all applicable suppliers are returned.
• Set ReturnExtraRateInfo to "True" to return expanded rate information in the response. Note that fewer total rates are returned because each rate item is longer.

NextResultReference data is not included in Vehicle Matrix requests because all data is returned in one response.

VehicleSearchModifiers

• VehicleSearchModifiers/ReferencePoint is not supported for the Vehicle Matrix request; reference points are supported in the response only. Reference point data is ignored if it is sent in the request.

• Only Vehicle Class 'A' is supported, so VehicleType must begin with an 'A'. See Vehicle Search by Vehicle Type for a list of supported Vehicle Types.

• VehicleSearchModifiers @PreferredCurrency can be specified to request vehicle rates in a user's preferred currency. E.g., PreferredCurrency="EUR". All converted rates are returned, regardless of the providers to whom the request was submitted. See the response for details.

Corporate / Government Rate Category and Discount Number Best Practices

The following points are best practices when using Corporate Discount Numbers (CDN) witn Rate Categories, specifically Corporate and Government. For some car vendors, these best practices are requirements and if not followed, results in errors: U

1. Pairing Enforcement:

   • When a Corporate Discount Number (CDN) is provided, the Rate Category must be either Corporate or Government, or,

   • When Rate Category is Corporate or Government, a valid CDN must be included in the request.

   • For some customers:

     • If CDN is present, the RateCategory must be Corporate or Government, or this error message returns: "Rate Category is required when a Corporate Discount Number (CDN) is provided. Please include a Rate Category of Corporate or Government."

     • If the Rate Category is Corporate or Government, a CDN must be present, or this error message returns: "Corporate or Government Rate Category requires a Valid Corporate Discount Number (CDN). Please include CDN in your Request."

2. Vendor Scoping/Identification:

   • Corporate or Government rate requests must specify a vendor using either VendorLocation@vendor or PermittedVendors/Vendor@code.

   • If both are provided, the vendor codes must match.

   • If RateModifier@VendorCode is sent, it must align with the specified vendors. If not, the following error may return: "Corporate or Government Rate Category requires a vendor. Please include VendorLocation@VendorCode or PermittedVendors/Vendor@Code in your request."

3. Consistency Validation:

   • The system validates that vendor codes match across VendorLocation@Vendor, PermittedVendors/Vendor@code, and RateModifier@VendorCode (when applicable).

   • For some customers, if both VendorLocation@vendor and PermittedVendors/Vendor@code are present and the codes don’t match, this error returns: "VendorLocation@VendorCode, PermittedVendors/Vendor@Code and RateModifier@VendorCode does not match in your request. Please review."

4. Error Handling:

   • Universal API returns clear, actionable error messages when these requirements are not met, helping you quickly identify and resolve any issues.

VehicleDateLocation

• A single VehicleDateLocation/PickupLocation and /PickupLocationNumber item can be requested. Only one PickupLocationType is currently supported by Universal API, and should be considered when using Vehicle Matrix. Only one specific ReturnLocation is currently supported when using Vehicle Matrix.

• All schema versions support submitting exact pickup, return, or both pickup and return locations.

• Release 24.4.1 enhances the flexibility of car rental location searches beyond traditional location codes. Vehicle matrix requests now support latitude, longitude, and radius criteria. Responses include each qualifying location, geocoordinates, and distance from the search point. Release 24.4

  • Release 24.4.3 enhances car rental location searches by adding pickup and return time in the GeoSearch response. Release 24.4

  • Release 25.2.1 provides the ability to include the geo location for both a pickup and drop-off location, for one-way rentals to give travelers the option of selecting car rental companies near a specific location. 1G only and Vehicle v54.0 and greater. Release 25.2

  xPath=VehicleSearchAvailabilityReq/VehicleDateLocation

  • @Latitude

  • @Longitude

  • @Distance

  • @Unit

Response

A Vehicle Matrix response is returned when ReturnAllRates is set to "True". The response contains all rates in VehicleSearchAvailabilityRsp. If ReturnAllRates is set to "False", a standard Vehicle Search response is returned, based on existing Universal API functionality.

• The following elements are not specifically returned in the Vehicle Matrix response; however, Universal API automatically converts the four-letter pseudo Vehicle Type into the applicable description.

  • TransmissionType
  • AirConditioning
  • FuelType
  • DoorCount

• Because the Vehicle Matrix transaction has limited description and detail, the following elements are not returned. A follow-on Vehicle Rules transaction is required to obtain this data:

  • Description
  • VendorName
  • Alternate Vendor
  • VehicleRateDescription
  • ThirdPartySupplierName

• When specifying all rates, the VendorLocationKey is returned.

• Depending on whether ReturnApproximateTotal is set to "True" or "False" in the request, either Approximate Total Rate or Base Rates are returned:

  • "True": Rates in the response are quoted in approximate totals in @EstimatedTotalAmount. Because only suppliers with an Inside Availability connection to Apollo or Galileo can support approximate totals, only Inside Availability suppliers are returned.
  • "False": Best rates for all applicable suppliers are returned in @BaseRate.

Note: Vehicle Search Availability requests do not support Approximate Total functionality, regardless of Inside Availability status for the supplier. This functionality is available through Vehicle Matrix only.

• DropOffChargesIncluded indicates if the supplier included drop-off charges in the rate. The inclusion of this data is at the discretion of the supplier, and may not always be reflected in the result.

• Required Payment information in the response varies depending on whether ReturnExtraRateItems is set to "True" or "False" in the request.

  • "False": Required Payment information is returned in @RequiredPayment, when applicable.
  • "True": Required Payment information is returned in @RateGuaranteeType.

Exact Pickup and Return Locations

Universal API processes up to the maximum number of vendors and maximum number of exact pickup and return locations allowed per provider and ignores all others. A warning is returned in the response that lists the pickup locations that were not processed.

VehicleSearchRsp @ReturnAtPickup indicates whether a vehicle can be returned at any location (ReturnAtPickup="false") or at the pickup point only (ReturnAtPickup="true"). Only Galileo (1G) and Apollo (1V) support the attribute.

Preferred Currency

Two new elements were added to Vehicle/VehicleRate:

• SupplierRate: Non-converted rates from the vehicle supplier.
• ApproximateRate: Converted rates into the preferred currency specified in the request.

The following attributes were removed from VehicleRate and added to each of the new elements:

• EstimatedTotalAmount
• BaseRate
• DropOffCharge
• RateForPeriod
• ExtraMileageCharge

If PreferredCurrency is specified in the request, converted rates are returned in the VehicleRate/ApproximateRate element. If PreferredCurrency is not specified, the SupplierRate element is populated. If Preferred Currency is requested in the same currency as the vendor currency, the rates that are returned are not converted. Only one type of rate (converted or non-converted) is returned in a response by Galileo or Apollo, not both.

For example, in a request to the Galileo provider, if the Pseudo City Code (PCC) has a currency of EUR, and @PreferredCurrency="USD" in the Vehicle Search request, converted rates are returned in USD.

Note: This functionality is not backwards compatible.

Exceptions