Price Drop Protection

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What it covers

• Hotel stays paid at booking, for one room, on a rate that can be cancelled for a full refund. For any other stay, get_booking_ancillaries says why it cannot be protected (see When protection cannot be added).
• Jinko searches the hotel once a day (terms.check_interval_minutes) until shortly before free cancellation of the stay ends (terms.ends_at), so that the original stay can still be cancelled for a full refund.
• A rebook needs the same hotel, room, board, dates and guests, free cancellation until at least the same date as the original booking, and a price lower by more than terms.min_saving_money (USD 10). For a booking in another currency, USD 10 is converted at the rate of the day of each check.
• A stay is rebooked at most once. The new booking cannot be protected again.
• When the original booking also holds a flight, the new booking holds only the hotel. The flight stays on the original booking.

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Add protection to a booking

const api = async (method, path, body) => {
  const response = await fetch(`https://api.gojinko.com/v1/${path}`, {
    method,
    headers: {
      'X-API-Key': process.env.JINKO_API_KEY,
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
    body: body ? JSON.stringify(body) : undefined,
  })
  if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`${response.status}: ${await response.text()}`)
  return response.json()
}

const catalog = await api('POST', 'get_booking_ancillaries', {
  booking_ref: 'JNK-A7B3X9',
  last_name: 'Doe',
})

{
  "booking_ref": "JNK-A7B3X9",
  "items": [
    {
      "booked_item_id": "itm_aaaaaaabxqxwycyaborn5f4cd6zh6",
      "domain": "hotel",
      "summary": "Hotel Example Paris, 2026-12-12 – 2026-12-14",
      "purchasable": true,
      "catalog_status": "ready",
      "catalog_expires_at": "2026-11-03T09:30:00Z",
      "purchase_deadline": "2026-12-09T10:00:00Z",
      "available_ancillaries": [
        {
          "trip_item_token": "pbh_254a7bcc4dd4fb497855daac8ea0cee5",
          "type": "price_drop_protection",
          "display_label": "Price Drop Protection",
          "description": "Until 2026-12-09 10:00 UTC, shortly before free cancellation ends, Jinko searches this hotel again once a day. If the same room, free to cancel until at least the same date, becomes more than $10.00 cheaper, Jinko books it as a new booking, cancels this one and refunds the difference.",
          "price_per_unit_money": { "value": 0, "currency": "USD", "decimal_places": 2, "display": "USD 0.00" },
          "terms": {
            "min_saving_money": { "value": 1000, "currency": "USD", "decimal_places": 2, "display": "USD 10.00" },
            "check_interval_minutes": 1440,
            "ends_at": "2026-12-09T10:00:00Z"
          }
        }
      ],
      "already_held": []
    }
  ]
}

const trip = await api('POST', 'trip', {
  add_item: { trip_item_token: 'pbh_254a7bcc4dd4fb497855daac8ea0cee5' },
})

const checkout = await api('POST', 'checkout', { trip_id: trip.trip_id })
// checkout.status === 'fulfilling', checkout.payment_type === 'none'

• Send add_item without a trip_id: the protection is a trip of its own. The trip takes the travelers and contact of the booking; you do not add them.
• A trip that holds only free products has nothing to pay. Checkout answers status fulfilling and payment_type none, with an empty checkout_url and no expires_at. There is no payment step.
• The offer’s trip_item_token is valid until catalog_expires_at. Protection can be added until purchase_deadline.

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Follow the protection

{
  "booked_item_id": "itm_aaaaaaabxqxwycyaborn5f4cd6zh6",
  "domain": "hotel",
  "status": "completed",
  "price_drop_protection": {
    "status": "active",
    "last_checked_at": "2026-11-03T09:00:00Z",
    "next_check_at": "2026-11-04T09:00:00Z"
  }
}

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When the stay is rebooked

• The original hotel item is cancelled and shows price_drop_protection.status rebooked, with the new booking in rebook. When the original booking held only this stay, its status is cancelled too; a flight on the same booking stays booked, so do not stop tracking it:
  "price_drop_protection": {
    "status": "rebooked",
    "last_checked_at": "2026-11-03T09:00:00Z",
    "rebook": {
      "new_booking_ref": "JNK-B7Q2M1",
      "new_booked_item_id": "itm_aaaaaaabxqxw4ya3l4z3zgnq5l3kn",
      "refund_money": { "value": 35648, "currency": "USD", "decimal_places": 2, "display": "USD 356.48" },
      "rebooked_at": "2026-11-03T09:01:10Z"
    }
  }
  
• The new booking holds the stay. Read it with get_booking on rebook.new_booking_ref and the same last name. Cancel it as any hotel booking; a refund goes to the original payment.
• refund_money is what the traveler paid for the original stay minus the price of the new booking. It is refunded to the original payment. Nothing new is charged: the original payment covers the new booking.
• The traveler receives one email, hotel-price-drop-rebooked, with the new booking and the cancellation of the original stay. Jinko sends no separate booking confirmation or cancellation email for a rebook.
• Jinko sends the servicing.price_drop_rebooked webhook event. See Webhooks.

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When protection cannot be added

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Test on sandbox