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Integrating Commissionable TPI rates

Learn everything about Commissionable third-party (TPI) Sell rates, and how to retrieve and book them using the Demand API.


About Commissionable third-party rates

These rates are commissionable rates sourced from a third-party inventory (TPI). Commissionable third-party rates are made available when they offer a better price than direct Booking.com inventory, helping you stay competitive.

These rates are integrated as "Sell rates" via the Demand API and sourced from other brands within Booking Holdings.

Key benefits

Some benefits of enabling Commissionable third-party sell rates:

Commissionable rates benefits
Offer incremental availability
  • Enabling you to grow in more regions and boost conversion.
Access to more competitive pricing
  • Enabling you to offer more value and win new customers.
Zero integration effort for partners
  • Rates from third party sources are distributed to you through existing integrations.

Who is this guide for?

You should use this guide if you:

  • Integrate with Demand API v3.1.
  • Are authorised to use pay_online_now with supported payment methods (Credit Cards or Virtual Credit Cards).
  • Are implementing one of the following flows:
    • Search and look (Commissionable sell rates with whitelabel)
    • Search, look and book
    • Post-booking

Depending on the sort of integration you are implementing, follow the dedicated processes to make these rates bookable.

Important

For Commissionable TPI rates you do not need another Affiliate ID, you must use your regular AID in your API requests. See Demand API authentication guide for more details.

Search and look

Let your audience start their search on your website and redirect them to Booking.com to complete their booking. Use accommodations/search and availability endpoints.

Entire booking journey

Allow your audience to search, look and book their stays on your website. For this integration use the full set of accommodation endpoints.

Post-booking, report and loyalty

Create a complete travel experience including reporting and loyalty programmes.


Implementing Search and look flow

To support the Search and look integration, implement this flow including booking with whitelabel.

Search and look flow
  1. Search for eligible properties using the accommodation/search endpoint.
  2. Look up pricing and policies at accommodations/availability.
  3. Redirect traveller to Booking.com to finish the booking.

Step 1 and 2 - Search and look for Commissionable TPI rates

In the accommodations/search and availability responses, Commissionable TPI rates are identified as "Sell" rates.

  • Check the inventory object and the third_party_inventory.type= "sell" field.
  • The returned products represent the best price for your criteria (e.g. one room, pay online now).
    • The product with Sell rate is the first available retrieved in the availability results for the same room, cancellation policy, and meal plan.
  • Accommodation URLs and deep links are returned in the availability response, not in search.

See detailed instructions in the Step-by-step TPI rates guide

Example of availability response:

{
  "request_id": "01j6en0kkx6ve7eyd8nmh6knaz",
  "data": {
    "id": 2489623,
    "currency": "EUR",
    "deep_link_url": "booking://hotel/2489623?affiliate_id=1234567&checkin=2025-12-15&checkout=2025-12-18",
    "products": [
      {
        "id": "tpi-f621534d2037f346ff4b80c090072866",
        "deal": null,
        "inventory": {
          "third_party": true,
          "type": "sell"
        },
        "maximum_occupancy": {
          "adults": 3,
          "children": null,
          "total": 3
        },
        "number_available_at_this_price": 1,
        "policies": {
          "cancellation": {
            "free_cancellation_until": "2025-12-13T16:59:59+00:00",
            "type": "free_cancellation"
          },
          "meal_plan": {
            "meals": [],
            "plan": "no_plan"
          },
          "payment": {
            "prepayment_required": true,
            "timings": [
              "pay_online_now"
            ]
          }
        },
        "price": {
          "book": 58.03,
          "total": 58.03
        },
        "room": 248962301,
        "third_party_inventory": true
      },
      ...
    ],
    "recommendation": null,
    "url": "https://www.booking.com/hotel/th/kallapangha-resort.html?aid=1234567&checkin=2024-12-15&checkout=2024-12-18&no_rooms=1&group_adults=1&selected_currency=EUR"
  }
}

Note: Sell rates do not include best_available_price- This feature is specific to Net rates.

Step 3 - Booking Commissionable TPI rates with whitelabel

This type of integration requires performing the book part of the flow by sending the traveller to Booking.com landing platform.

In these cases, Commissionable TPI rates appear on Booking.com’s branded landing pages and are tagged as “Partner Offer” in the user interface.

“Partner Offer” label for TPI products in Booking.com interface

You can then market these offers via your whitelabel setup:

example using whitelabel setup when market TPI product

Implementing Search, look and book flow

To support a full TPI booking flow (Search, look and book integration), implement the complete accommodation flow including preview and create the order.

Search, look and book flow
  1. Search for eligible properties using the accommodation/search endpoint.
  2. Look up pricing and policies at accommodations/availability.
  3. Preview the booking with the order/preview endpoint.
  4. Use the order/create to finalise and confirm the booking.

See detailed instructions in the Step-by-step TPI rates guide


Step 3 and 4 - Previewing and booking Commissionable TPI rates

To book Sell rates, you must meet these requirements:

Checklist
Your agreement includes support for pay_online_now.
You can use the Virtual Credit Card (VCC) and/or Credit card payment methods.
You are integrated with Demand API v3.1

Contact your account manager if you meet these requirements and would like to enable Sell rates.

  • Follow the standard accommodation booking flow:
  1. Call orders/preview endpoint to get final pricing and policies.
  2. Use orders/create endpoint to confirm the booking.
  • Ensure you specify the payment method in the request (either Credit card or VCC)

See the Step-by-step TPI rates guide for implementation details.

Post booking

For post-booking tasks guidelines on reporting TPI rates, or cancelling TPI bookings, refer to the dedicated guide.


Commissionable TPI rates integration best practices

Follow these recommendations for a smooth and effective Commissionable rates integration:

AreaRecommendation
Affiliate IDAlways use your regular AID in the API requests for Commissionable rates.
VCC or CC handlingEnsure your system supports Virtual Credit Card (VCC) and/or Credit card payment methods and that you comply with Booking.com’s payment flow requirements.
Price validationAlways call the /orders/preview endpoint before booking to confirm final prices and policies.

Troubleshooting

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

IssueDescriptionHow to resolve
No "Sell" rates returnedYou’re not seeing any third_party_inventory.type = "sell" products.Confirm your account is enabled for Commissionable TPI Sell rates and that you're using your regular Affiliate ID in each request.
Booking fails with payment errorBooking request is rejected.Ensure you specify the correct payment method in orders/create. See the Payments guide for more details.
Missing pricing details in availabilitySome pricing fields appear null.Make sure you’re requesting pay_online_now products.

Next steps

Want to optimise your integration? Explore these additional resources:

Learn more