A live result is an offer returned at a particular stage of the journey. It should not be described as a confirmed reservation before the relevant booking process has completed. Expedia Group documents separate shopping, price-check and booking operations, which provide a useful example of that distinction. Source: Expedia Group: creating a booking

The practical job for your travel business is to make each stage clear: what has been found, what has been checked and what has actually been booked. The workflow below is our recommendation for doing that. Supplier-specific rules still need checking.

What a fresh check can tell you

Expedia’s Rapid Price Check can return a matching price, a revised price or an unavailable rate. Its documentation also warns that tokenised links expire. A customer returning to an earlier offer therefore needs the current booking flow, rather than an assumption that an old result remains usable. Source: Expedia Group: Rapid shopping and price checks

Do not assign a reason to an individual change unless the supplier response supports it. In particular, avoid telling a customer that someone else bought the last room when all you know is that the selected offer is no longer available. A clear explanation of the observed result is more useful than a guessed cause.

Record the exact offer being compared

Before calling a difference a price change, check that you are comparing the same dates, party, room or product, currency and booking conditions. We recommend keeping a record of those details with the time checked. This helps distinguish a changed offer from a changed search.

For hotels, a rate plan can have its own stay and arrival restrictions. Google’s hotel specification documents restrictions at room and rate-plan level. The comparison should therefore include the conditions, not just the property name. Source: Google Hotels: availability and booking restrictions

See live availability, price revalidation and rate plan for the terms used here.

Use clear customer wording

Our suggested wording before confirmation is: “We will check the current price and availability before completing your booking.” If the amount changes, identify the new total and ask whether the customer wants to continue. Adapt the wording to the actual supplier flow and any genuine hold you have arranged.

Avoid a countdown or “guaranteed until” message unless there is a documented hold that supports it. For a real hold, record what is held, the deadline and the conditions for keeping it. A deadline for replying to an adviser should be described as a reply deadline.

A worked example

In this illustrative scenario, an adviser sends a hotel offer at £640. The customer returns the next morning. The adviser checks the same dates, occupancy and rate, then receives a revised total of £655. The adviser explains the £15 difference and asks the customer whether to proceed or review alternatives.

The useful record contains both checks, the revised offer and the customer’s decision. It should not imply that the earlier price was held or that a booking existed before confirmation. The numbers illustrate the process and are not a current price or customer result.

Test the uncomfortable outcomes

• Unchanged offer: show the final amount and follow the booking through to the supplier’s recorded result.

• Changed amount: show the difference clearly and check that the customer can make a fresh choice.

• Unavailable offer: show a useful next step without implying that payment or a booking succeeded.

• Interrupted response: ask the provider to show how the team checks the stored result before deciding whether to retry.

Expedia’s booking documentation returns links for retrieving or cancelling a successfully created booking. Its management documentation also distinguishes on-hold bookings from completed bookings. Use your supplier’s equivalent records when designing the confirmation and recovery checks. Source: Expedia Group: creating a booking Source: Expedia Group: managing a booking

Apply the right route in Quick Quote

Travelgenix documents online checkout for a quote containing one holiday saved from Travelify. Other Quick Quote offers use a request for the agent to complete the booking. Check which route the customer sees before choosing the wording in the quote. Source: Travelgenix: Quick Quote and its booking routes

Read from a travel quote to a confirmed booking for a practical handover checklist. The aim is straightforward: let the customer know what they are accepting and let the team see when the reservation is confirmed.

Written and updated by Travelgenix. Sources checked on 16 October 2026. Worked examples and checklists are editorial illustrations and recommendations, not customer results.