Vehicle Search by Rate Modifiers

By default, a Vehicle Search returns all available rates that meet the request search parameters. Availability can be requested by one or more of the following car rate modifiers:

Request

In addition to the minimum required data for a Vehicle Search, the car type options are added as attributes of the VehicleSearchAvailabilityRequest/VehicleSearchModifiers/RateModifiers.

 

Most rate type requests will require the supplier's VendorCode to be included in the request in combination with the rate type modifier(s). One or more of the following attributes can be added to the request to support:

Rate Codes

If multiple vendor Rate Codes are specified, multiple vendor DiscountNumbers and LoyaltyCards are not supported when a vendor rate code for the requested provider.

Exceptions

Worldspan supports a maximum of two Rate Codes.

Corporate Discount Codes (DiscountNumber)

Universal API supports up to three Corporate Discounts per supplier and one Loyalty Card per supplier when RateModifiers/RateCode is not specified. When a rate code is specified, only one supplier is allowed; therefore, only one Corporate Discount and one Loyalty Card is allowed per transaction.

See Vehicle Search with Loyalty Program for more details about the limitations of Corporate Discount Codes when used in combination with a Loyalty Program.

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.

Exceptions

Worldspan supports a maximum of three Corporate Discount IDs.

PermittedVendors and ProhibitedVendors are not applicable with multiple Discount Numbers.

Note: Vehicle v33.0, and earlier, for Worldspan, Universal API processed the VehicleSearchAvailabilityReq @DiscountNumber value (CD number), preceded with the vendor code and a "-"(e.g., ZE-123456), when the vendor code was present in the /RateModifers element. This caused an incorrect Discount/CD Number(s) to be sent to the supplier, which resulted in the supplier returning a format error or ignoring the number all together. This ultimately resulted in no rates associated to the CD number. Vehicle v34.0 and later removes the logic to precede the Discount Number with the Vendor Code and "-" and only send the number. -

Vendor Location Reference

The Vendor Location Reference associates of the RateModifiers (and LoyaltyCard) information to the correct Pickup and Return Locations.

Notes:

Tour Code

A tour code is issued by an airline to identify the relationship between an air booking and a vehicle booking that are purchased together as a package. The tour code must be shown on the ticket so that both the airline and the local BSP or ARC know what the fare is, and that the agency has authority to use it.

The code has a maximum of 13 alpha/numeric characters that show on the ticket.

Notes:

Response

A standard Vehicle Search response is returned in VehicleSearchAvailabilityRsp. However, rental options reflect the specified parameters of the request. Rate information in the response is returned in VehicleReservation/Vehicle/VehicleRate.