What this article covers
When Parity Monitoring captures screenshots of OTA (Online Travel Agent) prices, and what each label in the Screenshots column means.
Overview
Parity Monitoring checks the prices guests see on OTAs and compares them with your direct price. When an OTA undercuts your direct price, we also try to capture a screenshot of that price as evidence you can use with the OTA or your distribution partners. Because of challenges acquiring this data not every price in the table will have one, and an empty Screenshots cell doesn't mean anything is wrong with the price data itself.
How it works
Every price in the Current Prices table is checked and recorded in the same way, whether or not it has a screenshot. The Screenshots column then shows one of four things:
See screenshot — an image of the OTA undercutting your direct price at the time of the check. Click through to view it. In Parity Monitoring, screenshots are currently available for Booking.com, Agoda and HRS.
No undercut — the OTA's price didn't beat your direct price at the time of the check, so there was nothing to capture.
Not supported — some OTAs limit access to their websites, which prevents us from reliably capturing screenshots. The prices shown here are still sourced and verified in the same way; they just come without a screenshot.
Capture failed — the OTA is supported and an undercut was found, but the screenshot couldn't be captured on that occasion. The price record itself is unaffected, and the next check will attempt a fresh capture if the price is still being undercut.
Common questions
Q: A price is missing a screenshot, can I still trust it?
A: Yes. Prices are sourced independently of screenshots, and every price in the table reflects what we found at the time shown. The screenshot is additional supporting evidence, not the source of the price.
Q: I can see an undercut on the OTA right now, but Parity Monitoring says "No undercut" — why?
A: Each check records what the OTA was showing at the time shown in the table. OTA prices change frequently, so a price that's undercutting now may not have been at the time of the last check. The next check will pick it up if the undercut is still live.
Q: A capture failed, will the screenshot appear later?
A: Not for that check. Screenshots are captured at the moment the price is found, so a failed capture isn't retried afterwards. Each new check makes a fresh attempt whenever it finds an undercut