Get started with payments

Use this guide to understand how payment data flows through the Demand API and how to use it when creating accommodation and car rental bookings in v3.3.

Payment information is returned at different stages of the booking flow.

Use each response for its intended purpose:

✅ Discover payment options.
✅ Retrieve payment requirements.
✅ Preview the full payment breakdown.
✅ Create a booking with the correct configuration.

A typical integration follows this sequence:

1. Search for accommodation or car rental options.
2. Review the payment information returned for each option.
3. Preview the selected booking.
4. Create the booking using the requirements for that travel service.

Use:

• /search
• /availability

These endpoints retrieve intial payment information, including:

• Available payment options.
• Whether a product is eligible for specific payment flows.

Accommodation search and availability responses can include payment timing information for each option. You can filter accommodation search results by payment timing:

• pay_at_the_property
• pay_online

The pay_online filter includes options with pay_online_now or pay_online_later timing.

Example accommodation search request:

{
  "booker": {
    "country": "nl",
    "platform": "desktop"
  },
  "checkin": "2026-11-18",
  "checkout": "2026-11-25",
  "city": -2140479,
  "filters": {
    "payment": {
      "timing": "pay_online"
    }
  },
  "extras": [
    "extra_charges",
    "products"
  ],
  "guests": {
    "number_of_adults": 2,
    "number_of_rooms": 1
  }
}

Car search supports payment timing filters through payment.timings.

The timing values include:

• pay_online_now
• pay_partial_online_now (v3.2) or pay_partially_online(v3.3)
• pay_at_pickup

Example car search request:

{
  "booker": {
    "country": "nl"
  },
  "currency": "EUR",
  "driver": {
    "age": 36
  },
  "payment": {
    "timings": [
      "pay_online_now"
    ]
  },
  "route": {
    "dropoff": {
      "datetime": "2026-11-10T11:05:00",
      "location": {
        "city": -2140479
      }
    },
    "pickup": {
      "datetime": "2026-11-05T11:05:00",
      "location": {
        "city": -2140479
      }
    }
  }
}

For accommodation:

• Request the payment extra from /accommodations/details to retrieve the payment methods accepted by the property. Depending on the response, these can include card types, virtual cards or cash.

For car rental:

• Review the selected offer's card requirements and policies in the car search or availability response. In particular, check credit_card_required for offers payable at pickup.

Use /orders/preview after the traveller selects an accommodation option or car rental offer.

Treat the orders/preview response as the source of truth for checkout.

For accommodation the response includes payment information under data.accommodation.general_policies.payment.

Each available timing can include:

• dates: the payment schedule and amounts.
• method_required: whether a payment method must be provided for that timing.
• methods: methods available for that timing, such as cards, AirPlus or wallet where supported.

If method_required is false, a method is not required to create the booking using that timing. This does not necessarily mean that no payment will be due later.

For car rental, the payment timing and amounts are represented in the car price components and payment policy data.

• Review the relevant values in data.car.price and data.car.policies.payment.
• Car payment information is not structured like the accommodation general_policies.payment object.

For accommodation, pay_online_later can be used with supported credit card payment flows, including MOTO, SCA and Riskified configurations. These flows are not inherently excluded by the timing.

Availability depends on the selected booking and partner configuration. Check the methods returned for pay_online_later in /orders/preview, and follow the authentication and card requirements for your configured payment model.

If /orders/preview returns more than one payment timing, display the available options and let the traveller choose. For accommodation, send the selected timing in /orders/create.

Use /orders/create after confirming the traveller's selection and reviewing the preview response.

For an accommodation order:

• Use a payment timing and method supported for the selected booking in /orders/preview.
• Provide a payment method when method_required is true.
• Follow the requirements for the selected payment model, including any card authentication data.
• Use the schedule returned by /orders/preview to explain when charges will occur. The schedule itself is not a payment selection to copy into the create request.

For car rental, determine whether payment details are required from the selected offer, the accepted price and credit_card_required. Do not use payment.timing alone to decide whether to include a payment object.

You can omit payment from /orders/create only when all of the following conditions are met:

• The selected offer is payable at pickup.
• credit_card_required is false.

If a credit card is required, provide the payment and card details required for the offer.

Before going live:

• Test accommodation payment flows in the Demand API sandbox where supported.
• Car order creation is not available in the Demand API sandbox. Use the environment and testing instructions specified for your integration.
• Do not assume that a production card payment will be refunded automatically.

✅ Use /orders/preview to confirm accommodation checkout options and schedules.
✅ Use the selected offer and accepted price to determine car rental payment requirements.
✅ Check the methods available for the selected timing; do not assume that pay_online_later excludes MOTO, SCA or Riskified.
✅ Display all payment events and any amounts due at the property or pickup location.