Our Channel Management feature is extremely powerful and can greatly simplify your channel advertising. Learn how it works by reading our Channel Management overview article. The most powerful part of our Channel Management is the API Integrations we have with certain channel partners like TripAdvisor.
This article provides a list of common questions and answers for the TripAdvisor API integration that are not covered elsewhere. This article assumes you have already connected the TripAdvisor API to OwnerRez. If not, do that first.
Please read the TripAdvisor overview, connecting and rules & settings support articles for TripAdvisor before coming to this page as those articles cover the normal workflow. While not comprehensive, this article provides a list of questions not found elsewhere.
- Adding a new listing to TripAdvisor after the API is connected
- Changing content on the TripAdvisor side
- How long do availability/rate updates take to show up on TripAdvisor?
- Can I take credit cards payments myself like other APIs allow?
- Collecting and remitting taxes
- How do I get historical data for my past TripAdvisor bookings into OwnerRez?
- I'm getting an ACTIVATION error in my API connection.
- How do I delete a property listing?
- Why do my rates display as rounded or whole numbers and do not include the decimals (cents) that are set in OwnerRez?
- How do I handle the "Multiple reasons: ACTIVATION: Validation failures prevented publishing ACTIVATION ACTIVATION - PAYMENT_METHOD" error?
Adding a new listing to TripAdvisor after the API is connected
Adding a new listing to TripAdvisor is done entirely from the OwnerRez side.
If you haven't already, first create a new property in OwnerRez. Then open the TripAdvisor API dashboard (under Settings > Channels > API Integration > click into TripAdvisor). Click the Change Property Mappings button.
Next to the new property, click on the drop-down and select "Create New Listing" and select the Sync Enabled checkbox on the right.
When the page saves, OwnerRez will create a new listing on the TripAdvisor side and it maps it back to your OwnerRez property.
For more information about property mappings, read the "Mapping properties" section on the Setup and Connecting support document. Make sure to fill out the property content, rates and rules in OwnerRez on your new property so that the new listing on TripAdvisor is fully fleshed out. As you fill in property content, OwnerRez will push over that data to TripAdvisor in real time.
Changing content on the TripAdvisor side
Once you go API, TripAdvisor disables (ie. "grays out") the fields on their control panel and you can no longer modify most settings on their side. This is true for all property content, rates, rules and availability. OwnerRez becomes the master record for all information so the channel turns off the ability for you to edit that directly and only communicates with OwnerRez for changes. There are a few select settings that still can be changed on the TripAdvisor side because they are not available to be set in OwnerRez. If you don't know how to set something on the OwnerRez side, please read our rules & settings article or ask us.
How long do availability/rate updates take to show up on TripAdvisor?
Once your account is live, we will push updates in about 20 minutes after you finish making changes in OwnerRez. Additionally, availability on TripAdvisor is checked instantly just before booking so there is no risk of a double booking against the information in OwnerRez.
If you have made a change and want to trigger an immediate sync, go to the TripAdvisor channel in OwnerRez and use Actions > Trigger Full Sync. That will queue the update for the next push which will go through within a minute or two.
Can I take credit cards payments myself like other APIs allow?
No. TripAdvisor does not allow this and will still be the merchant of record for all payments even after you go API. We discuss this in more detail on the overview article and functional comparisons article.
Collecting and remitting taxes
TripAdvisor does not remit any taxes - you are fully responsible to collect and remit all taxes. Taxes that are configured in OwnerRez will be pushed over to TripAdvisor and set in the tax fields in TripAdvisor. Those taxes will then be shown to the guest (ie. added onto the rates and fees) during the booking process.
When the booking comes into OwnerRez, the tax amounts will be set on the booking and matched up to your OwnerRez tax settings as best as possible.
This is similar to how taxes are done with Vrbo API.
How do I get historical data for my past TripAdvisor bookings into OwnerRez?
The TripAdvisor API is very generous that way - as soon as you have connected a property via the API, almost all historical booking information for that property is automatically brought into OwnerRez.
No double-bookings or collisions will occur - OwnerRez will automatically merge new information into existing bookings if they match, or skip entries that don't.
I'm getting an ACTIVATION error in my API connection.
This means there's something not quite complete with your TripAdvisor setup, either the account as a whole or related to the particular property.
You'll have to reach out to them to find out what it is, what needs to be changed, and where -- most likely an additional configuration is needed on the TripAdvisor side, such as a missing subscription payment method or manual verification they need to toggle on their side.
How do I delete a property listing?
This is not possible via the API - you'll have to contact TripAdvisor tech support for assistance.
Why do my rates display as rounded or whole numbers and do not include the decimals (cents) that are set in OwnerRez?
OwnerRez does not include cents in the rates we push to TripAdvisor, but the real-time rate calculation on the quote used for actual booking does include cents. TripAdvisor does live quotes. So OR pushes integer, rounded or whole numbers, rates to them for display on the listing. But when a guest books, TA requests a live quote at that time which does include decimals (cents).
How do I handle the "Multiple reasons: ACTIVATION: Validation failures prevented publishing ACTIVATION ACTIVATION - PAYMENT_METHOD" error?
This error means that TripAdvisor needs a payment method on file in your account to cover commission charges or, possibly, banking information for TripAdvisor to send you your share of guest payments. You'll need to reach out to TripAdvisor support via email tavrsupport@tripadvisor.com or phone +442037015369 for assistance in resolving the issue.