Integration Requirements

Technical standards, security protocols, and compliance requirements that apply across all Channels Plus API components.

This page defines the technical standards, security protocols, and operational requirements that apply across all Channels Plus API components. These requirements ensure reliable, secure, and efficient connectivity between your booking channel and the SiteMinder platform.

Compliance Policy

All integration partners must adhere to these requirements. Due to the growing number of partner integrations, SiteMinder can no longer accommodate exceptions.

Non-Compliance Timeline:

• Partners have 90 days to remediate non-compliance issues after notification.

• Failure to comply may result in interface deactivation.

• Critical issues affecting production stability may result in immediate temporary suspension.

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Technical Foundation

Channels Plus is a REST/JSON API. All requests are standard HTTPS using JSON payloads.

Item	Detail
Protocol	REST over HTTPS
Format	JSON
Authentication	Two-header channel-level (x-sm-api-id + x-sm-api-key)
API Specification	OpenAPI (YAML available for download)

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Security

Transport Layer Security

Minimum Standard: TLS 1.2 or higher

• All communication must use HTTPS

• Self-signed certificates are not supported

• Ensure your systems comply with PCI DSS requirements when handling credit card data

Authentication

Channels Plus uses channel-level authentication. Both headers are required on every request:

Header	Description
x-sm-api-id	Your assigned channel identifier
x-sm-api-key	Your channel secret key

Credentials are generated from the Partner Portal. Missing or invalid credentials return HTTP 401.

Server-to-server use only. Never expose your x-sm-api-id or x-sm-api-key in front-end or client-side code, or in logs. Doing so risks credential exposure and rate limit exhaustion.

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Rate Limiting

Channels Plus enforces a rate limit on a rolling time window per channel. Responses include rate limit headers you should monitor:

Response Header	Description
ratelimit-policy	Requests allowed per window, e.g. 100;w=60 means 100 requests per 60 seconds
ratelimit-limit	Total requests allowed in the current window
ratelimit-remaining	Requests remaining in the current window
ratelimit-reset	Seconds until the window resets

On HTTP 429: Wait for the window to reset before retrying. Implement exponential backoff — recommended pattern: 1s → 2s → 4s, maximum 3 retries. Do not retry immediately.

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Deals

Deals are promotional offers that provide access to better rates from participating properties. Implementing Deals increases the likelihood of bookings and is central to how Channels Plus partners compete effectively.

Two deal types are available:

• Direct Agreements — a deal between a single property and your channel, with an active date range, discount rate, and commission rate

• Campaigns — a deal between your channel and one or more properties, with defined Stay Dates and Book Dates

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Booking Flow Requirements

Pending Reservation Expiry

Pending reservations expire approximately 10 minutes after creation.

Your confirmation flow must complete within the 10-minute lock window. Expired reservations release held inventory back to the platform immediately.

Card Type Validation

Before confirming a reservation, check the property's acceptedCardTypes to verify the guest's card is supported. Using an unsupported card type returns a 400 error.

Cancellation Policy

Before presenting cancellation options to guests, always verify the policyType and freeCancellationUntilDays on the rate:

Policy Type	Description
free-cancellation	Can be cancelled up to N days before check-in
non-refundable	Cannot be cancelled; freeCancellationUntilDays is null

Only reservations with policyType: "free-cancellation" can be cancelled via the API, and only within the free cancellation period.

Commission

All pricing includes a commission breakdown. Your integration must correctly account for commission in all pricing and payment flows:

{
  "totalCommissionPercentage": 18.0,
  "siteminderCommissionPercentage": 3.0,
  "channelCommissionPercentage": 15.0
}

totalCommissionPercentage = siteminderCommissionPercentage + channelCommissionPercentage

For full details see Invoicing: Gross vs. Net.

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Data Constraints

These constraints are enforced by the API and must be respected in your integration logic.

Constraint	Value
Date format	yyyy-MM-dd
Max advance booking	500 days
Length of stay	1–30 nights
Max rooms per reservation	10
Max date range (Reservations List)	31 days
Max lookback for fromDate	365 days

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Pagination

All list endpoints return paginated responses. Your integration must iterate correctly through pages and must not assume all results are returned in a single response.

• Use page and perPage query parameters to iterate

• perPage must be a multiple of 10

• Continue iterating until you have retrieved all pages

perPage limits by endpoint:

Endpoint	Max perPage
Properties search	100
Reservations List	200
Export	500

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Data Freshness

Availability and pricing change in real time as inventory is booked and configuration is updated. Do not cache availability or pricing responses for extended periods — stale data will cause booking errors.

For property content (descriptions, photos, amenities, room types), refresh your local catalog periodically to capture rate plan changes and updated content.

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