Before we can query for car rental availability, we need to load static information
about car agency locations into our databases. The catalog should be updated daily
to ensure that we always have the most up to date data possible.
Provided static data will be used to match car agency locations against our catalog.
Please note that new locations will not appear on KAYAK until an import and mapping
has been completed.
Technical details
We accept multiple data exchange formats. The preferred option is to use an already
existing provider static data API or a scheduled dump of static data. In both cases
we will extract all useful data and ensure that the maximum number of car agency
locations will be available for search. UTF-8 character encoding should be used for
text fields.
We strongly discourage manual data preparation as it leads to poor quality data.
Static data must be accessible online, here are the transfer methods we support:
- HTTP, HTTPS
- FTP, FTPS
- SSH, SFTP
If provider has no API and is about to implement one to cover our needs, here is the
list of preferred formats:
sample.json
[
{
"_comment_": "Main content should always be english",
"locationId": "123",
"agency": "Hertz",
"_comment_": "Provider is optional unless this feed combines multiple providers",
"provider": "Hotwire",
"address1": "57 Main Street",
"address2": "Suite 1",
"city": "Anytown",
"_comment_": "State also falls under region",
"region": "MA",
"country": "US",
"postalCode": "12345",
"latitude": 42.460105,
"longitude": -71.390874,
"_comment_": "Feel free to skip empty tags",
"airport": "",
"_comment_": "Location types:",
"_comment_": " T - In terminal location",
"_comment_": " R - Common Rental center either walking distance of a shuttle (LAS for example)",
"_comment_": " A - Airport or branded (Hertz for example) shuttle directly to car",
"_comment_": " O - Shuttle to an off airport location with maybe another shuttle to the car",
"_comment_": " S - Unknown shuttle type, typically the default shuttle type",
"_comment_": " N - non airport location",
"_comment_": " P - renter must call for a pickup or the car is delivered at the airport",
"locationType": "N",
"phone1": "+1 123-456-7890",
"phone2": "+1 123-456-7890",
"fax": "+1 123-456-7890"
},
{
"locationId": "BOS1",
"agency": "Alamo",
"provider": "Hotwire",
"address1": "Boston Logan Airport",
"address2": "",
"city": "Boston",
"region": "MA",
"country": "US",
"postalCode": "12345",
"latitude": 42.460105,
"longitude": -71.390874,
"airport": "BOS",
"locationType": "S",
"phone1": "+1 123-456-7890",
"phone2": "+1 123-456-7890",
"fax": "+1 123-456-7890"
}
]
sample.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<locations>
<location>
<locationId>123</locationId>
<agency>Hertz</agency>
<provider>Hotwire</provider>
<address1>57 Main Street</address1>
<address2>Suite 1</address2>
<city>Anytown</city>
<region>MA</region>
<country>US</country>
<postalCode>12345</postalCode>
<latitude>42.460105</latitude>
<longitude>-71.390874</longitude>
<airport/>
<locationType>N</locationType>
<phone1>+1 123-456-7890</phone1>
<phone2>+1 123-456-7890</phone2>
<fax>+1 123-456-7890</fax>
</location>
<location>
<locationId>BOS1</locationId>
<agency>Hertz</agency>
<provider>Hotwire</provider>
<address1>Boston Logan Airport</address1>
<address2/>
<city>Boston</city>
<region>MA</region>
<country>US</country>
<postalCode>12345</postalCode>
<latitude>42.460105</latitude>
<longitude>-71.390874</longitude>
<airport>BOS</airport>
<locationType>S</locationType>
<phone1>+1 123-456-7890</phone1>
<phone2>+1 123-456-7890</phone2>
<fax>+1 123-456-7890</fax>
</location>
</locations>
Note: if you choose to dump your full catalog into a single file, please compress it.
Attention: we have no support for spreadsheets (XLS, XLSX, CSV, TSC, etc.) nor do we plan to implement it.
Required Fields for Integration
- Location ID (used for availability requests)
- Agency Name
- Provider Name (if feed combines multiple providers)
- Location info (as separate fields):
- Country (ISO3166-1 alpha-2, FIPS 10-4 or country name)
- Region (ISO3166-2, FIPS 10-4 or region name)
- City
- Street name and street number
- Postal code
- Latitude/ longitude (WGS84)
- Other (please don’t hesitate to provide all the available location data as this might greatly improve car agency location match rate)
- Location Type:
- T - In terminal location
- S - Shuttle to the car
- N - Non-airport location
- P - Renter must call for a pickup or the car is delivered to the airport
- Phone number (with country calling code). Alternative phone and fax are also accepted.
- IATA Airport Code (if associated with an airport location)
Attention: if we receive low quality car agency location data and we are unable to match it
against our catalog, such property will not appear in search results.
Optional Fields
- Operating Hours (in 24h format):
- General:
- Monday: [830-1800]
- Tuesday: [730-1900]
- etc.
- Seasonal: ...
- Holidays: ...