Using ARI

Availability, Rates, and Inventory (ARI) is a pricing feed type that uses property data, room availability, and rate plans to set predefined pricing strategies for properties. Specifically, ARI feeds use a subset of OpenTravel Alliance (OTA) XML entities for defining availability and pricing.

Unlike the itinerary-based pricing delivery modes (Pull and Changed Pricing), ARI feeds aren't queried for specific prices or itineraries. Instead, partners push messages when new or changed data for their pricing model is available, such as changes to rate details, restrictions, and availability.

ARI messages sent to Google are termed as ARI "request" messages. Google subsequently returns "response" messages indicating success or failure.

ARI uses up to six different request message types:

  • Transaction (Property Data). Defines rooms, packages (combinations of booking features such as refundability and amenities), and their mapping.
  • OTA_HotelRateAmountNotifRQ. Updates pricing for room rates.
  • OTA_HotelAvailNotifRQ. Updates availability and restrictions for room rates. Inventory can also be updated using this message, but OTA_HotelInvCountNotifRQ is preferred.
  • OTA_HotelInvCountNotifRQ. Updates inventory counts for rooms.
  • TaxFeeInfo. (Optional) Defines per-property taxes and fees. This message isn't required if AmountAfterTax is specified in the OTA_HotelRateAmountNotifRQ message.
  • Promotions. (Optional) Defines promotional rates for certain bookings, stays, and users.

Each message contains a subset of information that Google uses to compute the prices and availability displayed to users when they search for your properties with specific check-in and check-out dates and desired occupancy.

For more information about ARI, refer to the XML Reference.

Pushing messages

To update ARI and property information, send the associated messages whenever data changes in your system.

Use the following guidelines when sending messages:

  • Use the self-serve tool in the Hotel Center to add or update your IP addresses in our system.
  • Use the following base path for the endpoints:
    • https://www.google.com, or
      • Host: www.google.com
      • Port: 443
  • Send messages via the HTTP POST method.
  • Set the Content-Type header to "application/xml".
  • Use the following paths depending on the data being updated:
    • To update Transaction (Property Data):
      • /travel/hotels/uploads/property_data
    • To update OTA_HotelRateAmountNotifRQ:
      • /travel/hotels/uploads/ota/hotel_rate_amount_notif
    • To update OTA_HotelAvailNotifRQ:
      • /travel/hotels/uploads/ota/hotel_avail_notif
    • To update OTA_HotelInvCountNotifRQ:
      • /travel/hotels/uploads/ota/hotel_inv_count_notif
    • To update TaxFeeInfo:
      • /travel/hotels/uploads/taxes
    • To update Promotions:
      • /travel/hotels/uploads/promotions

For each request message received, Google will respond with an HTTP 200 OK if the connection to the server succeeded and include a body with a response message indicating whether updates were applied successfully or encountered warnings or errors. If Google responds with an HTTP error code, resend the message. If the HTTP response body contains warnings and errors, they should be fixed before resending messages. You can also view issues encountered for specific messages on the Feed Status page in Hotel Center.