Q: How do I reduce the payload size for LOS Rate data?
A: Our partners need to be sure that their httpclients add header Accept-Encoding: gzip
Q: Are "in-rent" fees included in the LoS base rents, or are we meant to add those in ourselves?
A: In rent fees are not included in baseRent, it is intended to be rent-only, exclusive of any fees.
When quoting, a fee that has "includeInRent" set to true should be rolled into the baseRent and should not be displayed to a traveler as a separate line item. See "includeInRent" Fees for a detailed explanation and example.
Q: It doesn't appear that the LoS rent data is being filtered on availability. That is, we're receiving LoS prices for stays that are not bookable due to restrictions or existing bookings. Is that correct?
A: Yes, the los rent is not intended to be a precise source for non-Availability data. It cannot be used as a single source for both pricing and non-availability.
Q: Is the LoS rent data being filtered on availability? Does a "0" rent mean the date is unavailable?
A: The LoS rent is not intended to be a precise source for non-Availability data. It cannot be used as a single source for both pricing and non-availability.
Zero values does mean that the unit cannot be booked for that specific arrival date, occupancy and stay length.
You can use the EscapiaNet service for additional unit availability.
See the answer to the next question below for a list of rate rules that are included or not included in the filtering of loS rent data.
Q: From what we're seeing minimum and maximum stays, turnover rules, etc. are being applied to the LoS rent data that you are sending us. What is not applied is non-availability due to calendar blocks (eg. bookings).
A: Some booking rules are included as they are defined in rate rules:
Included: Rate Rules such as Turn Days, Min Stay, Max Stay (up to 31), Advance Days, Rate Not Defined
Not Included: Reservations, Bookings, Holds, Service Orders, Effective Contract Dates
Q: What is the process for property managers to allow access to their data my partner account?
A: Partner access to individual property manager data is controlled by each property manager through the Escapia Unit Distribution settings. This is the same process used today for the EscapiaNet API. The property manager will be presented a list of all "Network Partners" and will be able to enable distribution to your partner account. They will also select the units available to to be distributed.
Q: How often is LOS pricing calculated? How long will it take me to see rates changes reflected in the LOS pricing?
A: LOS rates are recalculated, updated and pushed within ~5 minutes of the rates being updated. This will solve for prices that are changed via acceptance of MarketMaker rate opportunities and bulk action prices changed by third party pricing services.
Q: What is the difference between "Fee Product Code" and "Fee Description"?
A: The "Fee Product Code" is more of a "Category". It is a pre-defined value that is selectable from a drop down in the Escapia UI. The "Fee Description" is a free-form text field where the property manager can enter a description which is approved to be displayed to a traveler.
Q: How can you have a PerStay fee, but the applicable taxes are PerNight?
A: The service we use to retrieve this data is shared with other services that require percentage based fees and taxes to be set to “per night”, so all percentage based values will always have a corresponding applyPer=Night value. A flat amount tax (isPercent=false) would be applied as one amount for the whole stay in Escapia, so you should see applyPer=Stay for flat rate taxes.