Integrating TPI Net rates

This guide explains how to retrieve third-party sourced Net rates in our accommodation inventory through Demand API, so you can provide more competitive prices while retaining full control over your margins.

About Net rates

Net rates are non-commissionable, prepaid prices made available to Affiliate partners.

As an Affiliate partner, you are free to apply your own markup or discounts when selling these rates to your travellers.

Key benefits

Key aspects of Net rates include:

Who is this guide for?

You should use this guide if you:

• Are implementing either Search, look & book and/or Post-booking integrations.
• Are integrating with Demand API v3.1 (or above)
• Are able to distribute and display these rates in a Closed User Group (CUG) or opaque environment, as specified in the approved Rate Distribution Framework*.
• Have signed the Net Rates Partner Addendum.
• Are authorised to use pay_online_now with Virtual Credit Cards (VCCs).
• Are able to handle first line customer service.
• Have been assigned a dedicated AID (Affiliate ID) for Net rates.

Getting started

Follow this process to get Net rates activated into your account:

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure the following requirements are met:

Integration steps

Follow these steps to retrieve and book Net rates:

Specifics for Net rates

Step 1 - Search for Net TPI rates

→ Make a call to the accommodations/search endpoint.

Identify Net rates

In the accommodations/search and availability responses, Net rates are identified as "Net" rates.

• Check the inventory object and the third_party_inventory.type= "net" field.
• The returned products represent the best price for your criteria (e.g. one room, pay online now).
• Accommodation URLs and deep links are not rerturned in search response (this is included in availability responses).

Step 2 - Look availability and pricing

→ Use the accommodations/availability endpoint to retrieve rates and policy details.

Availability response

The response includes a list of products being those with Net rates on first positions in the availability page results.

Each product provides two key pricing fields:

✅ price - The Net rate available to you as a partner.

✅ best_available_price - The most affordable and publicly available rate for the same product (room type, meal plan, cancellation policy).

Example of available Net rates products in response:

{
    "request_id": "01jwb627s8xa1s24ztkg6acgbe",
    "data": {
        "id": 547336,
        "currency": "EUR",
        "deep_link_url": "booking://hotel/547336?affiliate_id=2373042&checkin=2025-07-10&checkout=2025-07-11",
        "products": [
            {
                "id": "tpi-ae0c08d5985957f8bb241f06d0891a81",
                "deal": null,
                "inventory": {
                    "third_party": true,
                    "type": "net"
                },
                "maximum_occupancy": {...},
                "number_available_at_this_price": 1,
                "policies": {
                    "cancellation": {...}
                        ],
                        "type": "non_refundable"
                    },
                    "meal_plan": {
                        "meals": [],
                        "plan": "no_plan"
                    },
                    "payment": {
                        "prepayment_required": true,
                        "timings": [
                            "pay_online_now"
                        ]
                    }
                },
                "price": {
                    "book": 47.33,
                    "total": 47.33
                },
                "best_available_price": {
                    "total": 52.44
                },
                "room": 54733603,
                "third_party_inventory": true
            },
        ],
        "recommendation": null,
        "url": "https://www.booking.com/hotel/th/sunchine-paradise-resort.html?aid=2373042&checkin=2025-07-10&checkout=2025-07-11&no_rooms=1&group_adults=2&selected_currency=EUR"
    }
}

Understanding the Best available price

The best_available_price field is returned by default for accommodation availability with Net rates. It represents the cheapest publicly available rate for the same product (room type, meal plan, cancellation policy).

It is intended to help you align your pricing strategy with market expectations. It helps you to:

• View the first Net rate available for the same product on Booking.com (excluding Genius or member-only rates).
• Better understand your pricing competitiveness.
• Adjust your markup or markdown strategy accordingly.

Example - Applying margins

Taking the above example as use case, this product offers Net rates and includes:

• price.total: €47.33 (Net rate)
• best_available_price.total: €52.44 (public price on Booking.com)

You could add a margin up to €5.11 while remaining competitive.

Step 3 and 4 - Preview and book a product with Net rate

Follow the standard accommodation booking flow:

1. Call the orders/preview to get final pricing and policies.
2. Use orders/create to confirm the booking.
   • Do not forget to specify the VCC payment method in the request. Example:

{
  "payment": {
    "card": {
      "authentication": {
        "sca_exemption": "virtual"
      },
      "cardholder": "xxxx",
      "cvc": 123,
      "expiry_date": "2030-10",
      "number": "1234123412341234"
    },
    "include_receipt": true,
    "method": "card",
    "timing": "pay_online_now"
  }
}

Post booking

For post-booking reporting guidelines and best practices, refer to the dedicated guide.

Net rates integration best practices

Follow these tips to make the most of Net rates and ensure a smooth integration:

Troubleshooting

Here are some common issues you might encounter and how to resolve them:

Next steps

Explore the following resources to enhance your Net rates integration: