# Glossary of terms A list of important terms used in this documentation. ## A ### Agency booking A reservation where the property handles and processes the guest's payment. It is not part of the Payments by Booking.com solution. ## B ### Booking Assistant A chatbot that handles messages between guests and properties. It acts as an intermediary, answering the simplest questions itself, and forwarding those that need human attention. See also [the Booking Assistant video for property owners](https://youtu.be/MEG2VOS6t7o). ## I ### independent property A property owned by a person under their own name, rather than by a company. Common examples are holiday homes and private apartments. ## L ### legal entity ID An identifier for the legal entity that owns or manages a property (such as a property management company or a hotel chain.). When you [create a property](/connectivity/docs/ota-hoteldescriptivecontentnotif) with Content API, you must provide a legal entity ID in the creation request. Learn more about how to [request a legal entity ID here](/connectivity/docs/ota-hoteldescriptivecontentnotif#legal-entity-id). ## M ### machine account A set of credentials (username and password) that grants access to the functions of the Booking.com Connectivity APIs. You can manage your machine accounts [in the Connectivity Portal](https://connect.booking.com/machine-account). Each API call must [include a machine account username and password](/connectivity/docs/authentication). ## P ### participant A sender or receiver of a message exchanged via the Messaging API. ### Payments by Booking.com Payments by Booking.com is a payment solution that enables Booking.com to facilitate all guests’ payments to property and pay out to property via a virtual credit card or bank transfer. To learn more about Payments by Booking.com, see [Introducing Payments by Booking.com.](https://partner.booking.com/en-gb/help/policies-payments/payment-products/introducing-payments-bookingcom) ### PCI Payment Card Industry. "PCI" is often used as shorthand for "PCI compliant", which means "compliant with the standards created by the [PCI Security Standards Council](https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/)". ### property A hotel, bed & breakfast, or other type of guest accommodation. For a full list of supported accommodation types, see [Property Class Type Codes](/connectivity/docs/codes-pct). ## R ### RUID Response Unique IDentifier. Every API response body contains an RUID string at the end, like this: ```xml ``` The string is unique for every response. The Booking.com Connectivity Support team uses RUIDs to find specific requests/responses in the API logs. If you need to [contact Connectivity Support](https://connectivity.booking.com/s/article/Contact-Us?language=en_US) for troubleshooting or integration help, always provide one or more RUIDs. ## S ### special request A message sent by a guest to a property, asking for a change to their reservation in one of these areas: * check-in/check-out time * extra bed * bed type * airport shuttle * parking reservation