directrate

Getting started

Quickstart

A key, one curl, and X-Credits-Charged on the response — about five minutes.

1. Sign in and create a key

Sign in with a magic link or Google — no password, no card. Then open Keys and create your first key. The plaintext is shown once; it starts with dr_live_. The Free plan gives the account 250 credits a month, reset monthly.

2. Shop one hotel

Every rate endpoint is a POST with a JSON body and the key in x-api-key:

export DIRECTRATE_API_KEY=dr_live_…

curl -s https://api.directrate.dev/v1/shop \
  -H "x-api-key: $DIRECTRATE_API_KEY" \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"chain":"hyatt","hotel_code":"CHIZP","checkin":"2026-11-10","los":1}'

The response is the room × rate-plan matrix for that stay — every plan the chain sells, the member rate as its own rows (member_only: true), lowest.bar / lowest.member and the after-tax twins, status, and source / cache_age_sec so you know how fresh it is. Read the price on the response itself:

X-Credits-Charged: 1

3. Points, parity, a calendar

Same body, different path:

# award nights in points, cents-per-point against the cash rate, free-night certificates
curl -s https://api.directrate.dev/v1/award  -H "x-api-key: $DIRECTRATE_API_KEY" -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"chain":"marriott","hotel_code":"CHIRL","checkin":"2026-11-10","los":1}'

# the direct rate beside Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com, Trip.com and Agoda
curl -s https://api.directrate.dev/v1/parity -H "x-api-key: $DIRECTRATE_API_KEY" -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"chain":"choice","hotel_code":"IL263","checkin":"2026-11-10","los":1}'

# lowest per night over a window
curl -s https://api.directrate.dev/v1/calendar -H "x-api-key: $DIRECTRATE_API_KEY" -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"chain":"ihg","hotel_code":"CHIMM","start":"2026-11-10","days":30}'

4. Find hotel codes

Codes are each chain’s own property identifiers (Marriott CHIRL, Hyatt CHIZP, IHG CHIMM, Hilton CHITDHX, Choice IL263) — not guessable, not shared between chains. Ask for them:

curl -s "https://api.directrate.dev/v1/hotels?chain=marriott&q=Chicago,%20IL&radius=5" \
  -H "x-api-key: $DIRECTRATE_API_KEY"

One credit however many hotels come back (Best Western 5, Wyndham 6).

5. Watch the quota

curl -s https://api.directrate.dev/v1/usage -H "x-api-key: $DIRECTRATE_API_KEY"

Free to call, answered even when the quota is spent. Errors, unknown codes and timeouts never bill.

Next: Authentication · Credits & pricing · the API reference for every field.