Preparing a property to be open / bookable

To make a property live on Booking.com, which refers to it being open and bookable by customers, you can follow one of two flows:

→ If you want more information on how the existing flow works, see managing properties.
→ If you want to turn the feature on or off, see the feature management page. (Ensure you are logged in to access the link.)

Not using the Direct to 'Open Bookable' feature

To prepare a property to be open and bookable on Booking.com, you must perform the following steps:

  1. Create and set up a property using the ota/OTA_HotelDescriptiveContentNotif endpoint.
  2. Verify whether the property fulfills all the necessary requirements to become open and bookable by calling the ota/OTA_HotelSummaryNotif endpoint.
    → See Check
  3. (Optional) If not all requirements are met, ensure you address at least the issues mentioned in the errors. That assures you fulfill the minimum requirements to proceed in the onboarding process.
  4. If you did not retrieve any errors, wait until Booking.com changes the property status to Ready To Open. This takes place every day at 12:00PM CE(S)T.
  5. Set the property to open and bookable by calling the ota/OTA_HotelSummaryNotif endpoint again.
    → See Open

Using the Direct to 'Open Bookable' feature

Opting to use the feature enables you to set the property to open and bookable while the status is still XML: Being Built. To prepare a property to be open and bookable on Booking.com this way, you must perform the following steps:

  1. Create and set up a property using the ota/OTA_HotelDescriptiveContentNotif endpoint:
  2. Verify whether the property fulfills all the necessary requirements to become open and bookable by calling the ota/OTA_HotelSummaryNotif endpoint.
    → See Check
  3. Set the property to open and bookable by calling the ota/OTA_HotelSummaryNotif endpoint again.
    → See Open

Verifying, opening, and closing a property

POST https://supply-xml.booking.com/hotels/ota/OTA_HotelSummaryNotif

The /ota/OTA_HotelSummaryNotif endpoint enables you:

  • To verify whether a property has all the necessary content required to become open and bookable: Check.
  • To make a property open and bookable: Open.
  • To stop a property from being open and bookable: Closed.

Header parameters

The following table lists the header parameters in the request:

Parameter Description Type Required/Optional Notes
Authorization Machine account username and password string Required Example: Authorization: Basic {username:password}

Body parameters

The following table describes what elements you must add in the request body:

Element Description Type Required/Optional Notes
OTA_HotelSummaryNotifRQ Contains the HotelCode attribute, which specifies the property id of the property you want to perform an action on. root object required
:HotelSummaryMessages Contains the HotelSummaryMessage elements array required
:: HotelSummaryMessage Contains the StatusType attribute, which specifies the action that you want to perform upon the property. object required Possible values are: Check, Open, and Closed.

Request body example: Check

The following is a request body example where you verify whether a property fulfills all the necessary requirements to become open and bookable (with StatusType="Check"):

<OTA_HotelSummaryNotifRQ HotelCode="12345">
  <HotelSummaryMessages>
      <HotelSummaryMessage StatusType="Check" />
  </HotelSummaryMessages>
</OTA_HotelSummaryNotifRQ>

Sample response: Check

<OTA_HotelSummaryNotifRS Target="Production">
  <Success />
  <Warnings>
    <Warning Code="733" ShortText="Restricted">Warning on check total_num_rooms: Hotel Info: Number of active rooms: 0
  </Warning>
</OTA_HotelSummaryNotifRS>

Dealing with errors and warnings

If the response contains Errors, you need to address the specified problems before you can open the property.

Warnings do not prevent you from opening the property, but may point out things that can become problems later on. Ignore Warnings at your own risk.

Request body example: Open

<OTA_HotelSummaryNotifRQ HotelCode="12345">
  <HotelSummaryMessages>
    <HotelSummaryMessage StatusType="Open" />
  </HotelSummaryMessages>
</OTA_HotelSummaryNotifRQ>

Sample response: Open

<OTA_HotelSummaryNotifRS Target="Production">
  <Success />
  <Warnings>
    <Warning Code="733" ShortText="Restricted">Warning on check total_num_rooms: Hotel Info: Number of active rooms: 0
  </Warning>
</OTA_HotelSummaryNotifRS>

Request body example: Closed

Do not lose potential bookings when updating property content

If you want to change or update property content, you should not close the property. You can make the necessary changes when open / bookable, with a few exceptions that you can only do in status XML: Being built. For more information, see property statuses.

You can temporarily close a property and prevent it from appearing on Booking.com:

<OTA_HotelSummaryNotifRQ HotelCode="12345">
  <HotelSummaryMessages>
    <HotelSummaryMessage StatusType="Closed" />
  </HotelSummaryMessages>
</OTA_HotelSummaryNotifRQ>

Sample response: Closed

<OTA_HotelSummaryNotifRS Target="Production">
  <Success />
  <Warnings>
    <Warning Code="733" ShortText="Restricted">Warning on check total_num_rooms: Hotel Info: Number of active rooms: 0
  </Warning>
</OTA_HotelSummaryNotifRS>

Response body

The following table describes the elements of the response body:

Element Description Type Notes
OTA_HotelSummaryNotifRS Contains the Target attribute, which specifies whether the property is in Test or Production object
: Success Indicates the success of the request. object This element only appears when you receive no errors.
: Errors Contains the Error elements that need to be resolved before you can make the property open and bookable. array
:: Error Specifies a specific error. Contains the attributes Code, which specifies the error code, and ShortText, which provides a short description of the error. string
: Warnings Contains the Warning elements. array
:: Warning Specifies a specific warning. A warning does not prevent you from making the property open and bookable, but they provide useful information to further improve the property's content. string