Overview
Intended Audience
This document is intended for developers and assumes the reader has working knowledge of XML
and SOAP.
Introduction
SiteMinder will push reservations to SiteMinder Exchange (SMX) Partner Applications based on the partner's subscription set-up. New reservations, reservation modifications and cancellations will be sent to partner applications using an OTA_HotelResNotifRQ
.
The request will be sent as a SOAP message as per the SMX SOAP Envelope sample provided here.
Communications
Communications between both systems is via the exchange of SOAP messages over secure HTTP (HTTPS
). Operations are synchronous request/response pairs. A message is considered to be atomic and is either processed entirely or not at all by the Web Service.
Supported Functions
OTA_HotelResNotifRQ
- Used to PUSH reservation notifications to the SMX Partner Application.
OTA_HotelResNotifRS
- Returned by the SMX Partner Application to confirm receipt or failure to process the reservation message.
OTA
The SMX For Applications Reservation API is based on the Open Travel Alliance (OTA) specifications for 2017A. Although this document attempts to be technically comprehensive it is expected that the connecting system’s developers be somewhat familiar with the OTA specifications found here.
Process Flow
When a reservation is created, modified or cancelled in the partner PMS application (Reservation Uploader/Data Publisher) and is pushed to SiteMinder’s SMX platform, SiteMinder will generate a notification for each reservation event and PUSH reservation notifications to subscribing SMX partner applications. Partner applications will need to provide a webservice endpoint to receive the reservation notifications. The subscribing SMX partner applications can then use these reservations to offer value added solutions for the hospitality and travel industry.
Scenarios for Reservation delivery to subscribing SMX partner applications:
- If the
OTA_HotelResNotifRQ
message is delivered successfully by SiteMinder to the SMX partner application, the partner application's web service endpoint will need to respond with anOTA_HotelResNotifRS
success message. - If the
OTA_HotelResNotifRQ
message delivery flags an error in the SMX partner application, the partner application's web service endpoint will need to respond with anOTA_HotelResNotifRS
error message, which should include an error string. The reservation will be retained in SMX's retry cycle and resent once the error is resolved. The message resend process may need to be done manually upon expiry of retry cycle time period. - If the
OTA_HotelResNotifRQ
message is unable to be delivered to SMX partner application due to a network outage or similar connectivity issues, the reservation will be retained in SMX's retry cycle and resent once the error is resolved. The message resend process may need to be done manually upon expiry of retry cycle time period.
Endpoint Requirements
Partners will need to provide SMX with a single web service endpoint to be used for message delivery. This endpoint must be global for all hotels using the connection, not for each individual hotel.
Security
Encryption is provided by the transport layer via HTTPS
. Each message contains a WS-Security (WSSE) UsernameToken
SOAP header for authentication/authorization purposes. Each connecting SMX Partner Application will need to provide a webservice endpoint to receive the reservation notifications
SSL/TLS
SMX supports TLSv1.2 and above.
SiteMinder does not support self-signed SSL certificates.
Content-Type
The ‘Content-Type’ for all SOAP
XML messages must be application/xml; charset=utf-8
.