Connecting to Kayak / Hotels Combined

Minimum requirements to connect (N/A)

Kayak / Hotels Combined does not share with Rentals United any information on the minimum requirements for a property to be connected. Kayak / Hotels Combined retrieves all your properties from Rentals United and only then decides which are eligible to go live. In order to get details, you need to contact Kayak / Hotels Combined.

Establishing connection

In order to start advertising on Kayak / Hotels Combined, you need to establish the connection with this sales channel. You can do this by adding it to the list of services in your account. Follow the below steps in order to get connected.

  1. In Rentals United platform, go to the Services tab.

  2. Click the Find Services tab.

  3. Type the Kayak / Hotels Combined name in the search box or scroll down through the list of available channels.

  4. Unfold the Kayak / Hotels Combined section by clicking the Down arrow button.

  5. Click the Get connected button.

  1. Your connection is now being validated in the background. If the validation is passed successfully, the Connection Wizard is launched and you can go to the next step. If you are not eligible to connect to Kayak / Hotels Combined, an error is displayed.

    Eligibility errors indicate violating initial channel requirements that need to be met before you establish the connection. You will not be able to go to the next step and finish the connection process unless the eligibility error is cleared away. In order to resolve it, follow the instructions displayed on the screen. Please, see an exemplary eligibility error below.

  2. You are presented with a brief description on how the Kayak / Hotels Combined works. Read it carefully and confirm that you agree with it by ticking the checkbox below. Do not worry, once all the steps of the Connection Wizard are completed, you will still be able to view the How it works content again. Click the Save & Next button on the bottom of the page to move to the next step.

    Tip: On the top of the page, you can view the progress of the Connection Wizard. Depending on the channel, the number of steps may differ. You can stop anywhere along the process. Upon next time you open the Connection Wizard, you will continue at the last completed step.

  3. Follow the next steps displayed in Rentals United.

Add new properties

After you connect to Kayak / Hotels Combined, the Property Settings in Rentals United will be empty. Kayak / Hotels Combined automatically retrieves your properties from Rentals United to their system and creates listings on their website. You will be informed once the process is finished. At this point you can verify if they are displayed correctly in the Kayak / Hotels Combined dashboard and introduce changes to Rentals United, if needed.

Once your listings are properly created in Kayak / Hotels Combined, you can start the process of mapping the listings on the Kayak / Hotels Combined website to Rentals United properties, following Mapping properties to existing listings.

Mapping properties to existing listings

Once the listings are published on the Kayak / Hotels Combined website, it is possible to map them to the properties in Rentals United, which creates a direct link between the two systems.

  1. In Rentals United platform, go to the Services tab.

  2. Select the proper list to search for Kayak / Hotels Combined.

    • Find Services lists the channels you are not yet connected to,

    • My Services lists the channels which you have already established connection with and channels that are in the process of being connected.

  3. Type the Kayak / Hotels Combined name in the search box or scroll down through the list of available channels.

  4. Unfold the Kayak / Hotels Combined section by clicking the Down arrow button.

  5. Click the Property Settings button.

  1. Connect the property.

    Depending on whether you already have some properties connected to the Kayak / Hotels Combined or not, you are presented with two different options.

    • Click if it is the first property to be connected.

    • Click if you already have some properties connected.

  2. Provide the required information (Hotel ID) and click Next. Hotel ID can be found in the Kayak / Hotels Combined dashboard. If you are unable to find it, contact the Kayak / Hotels Combined Support Team.

  3. The hotel data is retrieved. Click the Next button.

  2. Click the Connect this room button.

  3. Select the properties you want to map to this room type. One or more properties may be mapped to one Kayak / Hotels Combined listing.

    Tip: Multiple properties should be selected only if they share the same characteristics (amenities, photos, pricing etc.). If you do so, you will create a multi-unit group in Kayak / Hotels Combined. You can learn more on multi-unit groups here.

  4. Click Next.

  5. The summary is displayed. You can set the rate mark-up now.

  6. Click the Connect property button.

    The connection is established. Rentals United sends the prices and availability to the channel and the channel passes correctly all the reservations.

    You can always add more properties under a particular room type. To do this, click the three-dot menu and select the Change mapping option.

Note: Due to a strong Kayak / Hotels Combined policy to prevent duplicates, it is not possible to re-create the property's connection with the channel (archive and connect again). Archiving a property does not resolve this, as the connection between Rentals United and Kayak / Hotels Combined is still maintained in the background.

Editing rates

The information in this chapter is useful when you already have properties connected or mapped, but you want to introduce changes to rates that will affect only Kayak / Hotels Combined.

Quick editing data for single rates

With Advanced Settings, you can override the property data you have in the Edit property page. Before the property data is sent to Kayak / Hotels Combined, it is modified with additional configuration you can apply now. Note that whatever you set right now will apply only to this channel.

  1. Click the Manage rates button.

  2. The Management page opens. At this point you can edit the mark-up value. Mark-up indicates the value that the prices in Rentals United should be adjusted by before sending to the channel.

  3. Click the Advanced button to open Advanced settings.

    • Number of people in price - it refers to the Standard number of guests the price is calculated for. It is possible to overwrite the value set for this property in Standard number of guests in Step 5: Price and availability.

    • Minimal price per night - you can set up a minimum price for this property in Kayak / Hotels Combined; then, in case this property's prices in Step 5: Price and availability are set below this level, they will be increased.

    • Additional amount per day - you can specify an additional amount that will be charged each day of the reservation. It may cover for additional services available at this rate

      Example: If you offer a breakfast service to your guests, you can create a rate for this purpose and cover it in the additional amount per day.

    • Overwrite minimum stay - it is possible to overwrite the property's minimum stay in this particular rate.

      Example: Minimum stay from Monday to Friday is 2 nights, from Saturday to Sunday is 4 nights.

      • If you set the overwrite minimum stay value to 1 or 2, nothing will happen.

      • If you set the overwrite minimum stay value to 3, only the Monday to Friday season will be overwritten.

      • If you set the overwrite minimum stay value to 5, the Monday to Sunday season will be overwritten.

  4. Click the Save changes button.

    Note: Changes introduced here will not affect any other channel than Kayak / Hotels Combined and will only apply to this rate.

Manual options for all rates in a group

With these settings, you can override the property data you have in the Edit property page.

Note: This is only available if you operate on the Daily price model. In case you operate on LOS pricing or FSP pricing models, you will be able only to view manual options, but not edit.

  1. Click the Manage rates button.

  2. Scroll down to the Manual options section and click the Activate manual options button.

  3. Adjust the available options.

    • You can verify the availability of a single rate, as well as the total availability of all rates in the Availability summary row.

    • You can verify and temporarily update total availability by typing the new value. If the field has been edited, it is highlighted in blue. To undo the manual settings, click the blue field, delete the value and click away. The field now contains the default value taken from Step 5: Price and availability.

      Example: You received a reservation from 26 May 2021 to 30 May 2021 for Property 15 from another channel. The availability is blocked. However, you already know that the reservation is cancelled, but the availability has not been updated yet. You may still want to rent the property at this time, hence you can temporarily update the availability and receive reservations for this time.
      Important: Bear in mind that once you change anything in manual options, the settings will be persisting until you manually undo them! For example, if you bump up the availability and a reservation comes in, the availability will not be automatically closed and overbookings are possible! You will have to reset the settings in manual options.

    • You can verify and temporarily update price and minimum stay by clicking the pencil icon next to the relevant rate and typing the new value. The field now contains the default value taken from Step 5: Price and availability. If the field has been edited, it is highlighted in blue. To undo the manual settings, click the blue field, delete the value and click away.

    • You can also update availability, price and minimum stay for one rate for multiple days.

      1. Click the Batch edit button.

      2. Select rate from the dropdown.

      3. Specify dates.

      4. Update availability, price and / or minimum stay.

      5. Click Save changes.

      Edited fields are highlighted in blue. It is not possible to undo manual settings in batch. To undo the manual settings, click the blue field, delete the value and click away. The field now contains the default value taken from Step 5: Price and availability.

Updating listings

In this integration, updating listings from Rentals United on the Kayak / Hotels Combined website is not required. Kayak / Hotels Combined retrieves the property descriptive data regularly and, hence, your listings' content will be automatically updated.

Deactivating rates

  1. In Rentals United platform, go to the Services tab.

  2. Select the proper list to search for Kayak / Hotels Combined.

    • Find Services lists the channels you are not yet connected to,

    • My Services lists the channels which you have already established connection with and channels that are in the process of being connected.

  3. Type the Kayak / Hotels Combined name in the search box or scroll down through the list of available channels.

  4. Unfold the Kayak / Hotels Combined section by clicking the Down arrow button.

  5. Click the Property Settings button.

  1. Search for the property you want to deactivate rates for by scrolling down or filtering the property out.

  2. Click the Manage rates button.

  3. A property management page is opened.

  4. Click the Deactivate button.

    Note: Deactivating rates

    • If there are multiple rates in a group and you deactivate one - you stop sending availability and prices to Kayak / Hotels Combined, leaving the property open to new reservations on the Kayak / Hotels Combined channel. This means that new reservations can be made through Kayak / Hotels Combined, but the channel will not receive the updates in availability and pricing from Rentals United.

    • If there is only one rate in the group or you deactivate the last rate, you need to choose if you want to either stop sending availability and prices to Kayak / Hotels Combined, leaving the property open to new reservations on the Kayak / Hotels Combined channel, or to close the availability. If you close the availability, it means you will not receive reservations from Kayak / Hotels Combined any more.

    Availability can be always re-opened by clicking the Activate button next to the rate.

Once the rate has been deactivated, it will still be visible in the Property Settings. If you want to remove it from display, you should follow the below steps. Note that rates can be deleted only if there are no existing reservations that use this rate.

  1. From the three-dot menu, select the Confirm removal option.

  2. The rate is removed. No additional confirmation is required.

Removing hotels and room types from Property Settings

If you have some properties that are no longer listed in Kayak / Hotels Combined, but still appear in Property Settings in Rentals United and pollute your view, you may remove them from Property Settings. After deactivating the hotel or room type in Kayak / Hotels Combined, just use the Remove options available in Property Settings to make the property list in Property Settings identical in Kayak / Hotels Combined and Rentals United. There are two options available now:

  • Remove the whole hotel

  • Remove room type

Note, however, that these options can be used only to remove the hotels and room types from the Property Settings list. They do not stop your properties from being rented on the Kayak / Hotels Combined website.

  1. In Rentals United platform, go to the Services tab.

  2. Select the proper list to search for Kayak / Hotels Combined.

    • Find Services lists the channels you are not yet connected to,

    • My Services lists the channels which you have already established connection with and channels that are in the process of being connected.

  3. Type the Kayak / Hotels Combined name in the search box or scroll down through the list of available channels.

  4. Unfold the Kayak / Hotels Combined section by clicking the Down arrow button.

  5. Click the Property Settings button.

  1. Search for the property you want to remove by scrolling down or filtering the property out.

  2. Once found, decide whether you want to remove the entire hotel or particular room types only. Make sure that you have already removed the same properties in Kayak / Hotels Combined dashboard.

    • If you want to remove the whole hotel, hover over the three-dot menu on top of the cluster and select the Remove hotel option. Hotels stuck in the Pending state can be deleted from the Property Settings, too.

    • If you want to remove specific room type only, unfold the hotel cluster and hover over the three-dot menu next to the room type to be removed. Click the Remove room type option.

  3. A notification is displayed. Click the Refresh synchronization settings button to confirm.

    • If you wanted to remove an entire hotel, the following notification is displayed:

    • If you wanted to remove a room type, the following notification is displayed:

    Note: The Remove option will usually point you to refresh the property set-up in order to maintain synchronization with Kayak / Hotels Combined. Hence, make sure to remove the hotel or room type in Kayak / Hotels Combined dashboard before attempting to remove it in Rentals United. If you need more information how to proceed with hotel or room deletion in Kayak / Hotels Combined, you may want to contact the Kayak / Hotels Combined Support Team directly and request detailed instructions.

  4. Confirm the process by clicking the Confirm button.

  5. The summary of changes is displayed. If you removed the hotel or room type correctly in Kayak / Hotels Combined, you should see this change in the pop-up.

Handling notifications

Rentals United constantly validates and monitors the quality of your properties’ content in our system as well as in the connection between Rentals United and the channels. Hence, you can easily check the current status of your connection and take proper steps in case improvements are needed.

Notifications may be displayed on two levels: the property level and the rate level.

In order to learn more about the received notifications, click the Check notifications button. In most cases, you are prompted to see what can be done to clear the notification away. Depending on an notification type, you can either:

  • Retry - Rentals United attempts to synchronize your property content again

  • Clear all - you confirm you read the notifications, but intend no action

  • Manage - you need to manually adjust the property’s content according to the prompt

Tip: At this point, you may be interested in the Connection statuses article.

Bulk actions

  1. In Rentals United platform, go to the Services tab.

  2. Select the proper list to search for Kayak / Hotels Combined.

    • Find Services lists the channels you are not yet connected to,

    • My Services lists the channels which you have already established connection with and channels that are in the process of being connected.

  3. Type the Kayak / Hotels Combined name in the search box or scroll down through the list of available channels.

  4. Unfold the Kayak / Hotels Combined section by clicking the Down arrow button.

  5. Click the Property Settings button.

  1. Click the Bulk actions button on top of the page.

  2. You entered the bulk flow and you can update all your listings at once. Bulk actions may vary across the channels. Bear in mind that some options that are available for Kayak / Hotels Combined may not be available for other channels.

    You can read more about bulk actions:

  3. Select the option and follow the steps displayed on the screen.

  4. After the operation is finished, you will be prompted that it was successful. Click the OK button and you will be moved to the Property Settings.

    Note: If any process fails for some properties, you will be presented information which properties were not updated and you can try again.