Retrieves a set ofRates and Vehicles.

Parameters

RatesRequest

A RatesRequest containing the nessessary request data.

Return Value

A RatesResponse containing the requestedRates.

Remarks

Use this method to queryRates and Vehicles for specific car rental data. In detail, you will need base date and time information, such as DepartureDateTime and ArrivalDateTime. Moreover, you'll have to specify the CurrencyCode for the Currency of the returnedRates.

In addition to above mentioned data, you will have to specify the departure and arrival Locations or Regions. There's a major difference in using both entities.

If you're using Locations as departure and arrival, this method will return you the vehicles and rates for given departure location.

In contrast, if you're using Regions as departure and arrival, this method will return you the best choices of vehicles and rates based on the locations assigned to the given departure region. This "Regional Rate Query" - or "Best Offer" rate calculation - is probably one of the most exciting features of this Web Service. You can find an in-depth discussion of both calculation schemes in the Carena.

Note   

Depending on which calculation scheme you are using, the overall car rental process changes significantly. Consider this when designing your client implementation of this Web Service.

Apart from above "fundamental rate caclulation" data, you may additionally specify a VehicleTypeId as well as a VehicleAirConditionPreference and VehicleAutomaticGearPreference to narrow the results from this method.

Common Use Case Scenarios

List Of Errors Returned

List Of Warnings Returned

Example

Example: Query best rates for Munich, but only returning vehicles with air condition.

[C#]
RatesRequest rq = new RateRequest();
rq.Ticket = this.serviceTicket;
rq.Operation.Target = OperationTarget.Production;

// set rate data, we are setting the region id's of munich causing
// the web service to switch into "best offer" rate calulation mode.
rq.DepartureRegionId = rq.ArrivalRegionId = 595 // region id of munich

// set air condition preference
rq.VehicleAirConditionPreference = Preference.Required;

// set rental duration - note that we will get a warning of
// W_ADDITIONAL_RENTAL_DAY_APPLIED_DUE_24HOUR_RULE, because 24 hour
// division of the duration has a remainder > 0
rq.DepartureDateTime = "2005-06-01T10:00:00";
rq.ArrivalDateTime = "2005-06-03T18:00:00";

// finally set the currency to US dollars
rq.CurrencyCode = "USD";

// go for the rates
RatesResponse rs = this.service.GetRates(rq);

// display results
foreach (Rate rate in rs.Rate)
{
    Console.WriteLine("{0}\t{1}\t\t{2} {3}", rate.Vehicle.Code, rate.Vehicle.Name, rate.Value, rate.CurrencyCode);
    // this line is like "BB1    Opel Corsa        57 USD";
    
    Console.WriteLine("{0} is {1} and of type {2}", rate.Vehicle.Code, rate.RateServiceType.Name, rate.Vehicle.VehicleType.Name);
    // this line is like "BB1 is All Inclusive and of type Small Car";
    
    Console.WriteLine("{0}{1}{2} and {3} doors. Capacity of {4} passengers and {5} baggages.", 
        rate.Vehicle.Code, 
        rate.Vehicle.HasAirCondition ? " has air conditioning" : "",
        rate.Vehicle.HasAutomaticGear ? " has automatic gear shift" : "",
        rate.Vehicle.DoorCount,
        rate.Vehicle.PassengerCount,
        rate.Vehicle.BaggageCount
    );
    // this line is like "BB1 has airconditioning and 2 doors. Capacity of 2 passengers and 3 baggages.";
    
    Console.WriteLine("");
}

See Also

CarRentalAgentService Class | SunnyCars.Services.Osi.WsReservation Namespace