What Is a Stop Sell in Hotels?
In hotel distribution, a stop sell closes a room type and rate plan to new bookings on specified dates. It closes sales only where it is applied: other room types, rate plans or channels keep selling, and bookings already made are not cancelled (OTA_HotelAvailNotifRQ (Hotel Prices, Google for Developers)) (Stop Sell Control (Scale My Hotel Hospitality Glossary)).
Last updated: October 2026
How a stop sell works
In Google's hotel price feed, a stop sell is coded as a restriction on a room type and rate plan for a date range: RestrictionStatus with Status="Close" and Restriction="Master" (OTA_HotelAvailNotifRQ (Hotel Prices, Google for Developers)). The Master value controls whether the room rate can be booked at all on a date, while the Arrival and Departure values block only stays that check in or check out on those dates (OTA_HotelAvailNotifRQ (Hotel Prices, Google for Developers)).
The same codes appear outside Google. The availability push of the SynXis central reservation system shows the same Master, Arrival and Departure close values in its XML samples (ARI Push - Availability (SynXis Developer Portal, Aven Hospitality)).
Booking.com's connectivity API uses a "closed" flag instead. It closes either every room of a room type or a single room type and rate plan combination on a date, depending on whether the update names a rate (Create or update inventory, rates and restrictions (Booking.com Connectivity APIs)).
Booking.com sets the close at more than one level. With "Closed" active on a date at rate plan level, reservations can't be created for that date, and "Closed on room level" does the same for the room. "Closed on arrival" stops only reservations that arrive on that date. Booking.com marks "Closed" and "Closed on arrival" as restrictions that connectivity providers must support (How can I implement the Rates & Availability API and Reservations API? (Booking.com Provider Help Center)).
Why a stop sell matters for hotel distribution
In a 2016 worked example, a hotel that typically sells out on Tuesdays and Wednesdays would issue a stop sell on those nights to wholesalers and receptive operators beyond their guaranteed room nights, or raise their minimum stay, so higher-profit channels can take the rooms (Are Your Promotional Investments Performing? (Hospitality Net, Richard Evans, 26 Jan 2016)).
Channel settings can reopen what a hotel closed. Booking.com's "Reopen closed rooms" option, which applies to all rooms by default, puts cancelled rooms back on sale even on dates the property has closed; with the option switched off, cancelled rooms stay unavailable (How can I implement the Rates & Availability API and Reservations API? (Booking.com Provider Help Center)).
Stop sell compared with other restrictions
| Control | What it blocks | Where the detail comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Stop sell (Master close) | Any booking of the room rate on the date | Google Hotel Prices; Booking.com "Closed" |
| Closed to arrival (CTA) | Stays that check in on the date | Google Hotel Prices; Booking.com |
| Closed to departure (CTD) | Stays that check out on the date | Google Hotel Prices; Booking.com |
| Minimum length of stay | Stays shorter than the minimum; used in a 2016 example as an alternative to a stop sell for wholesalers on sell-out nights | Hospitality Net, 2016 |
| Blocked nights (Airbnb) | All bookings on the night; the closest equivalent for a short-term rental host, though Airbnb does not call it a stop sell | Airbnb Help Center |
Stop sell, CTA and CTD: OTA_HotelAvailNotifRQ (Hotel Prices, Google for Developers) How can I implement the Rates & Availability API and Reservations API? (Booking.com Provider Help Center) Minimum length of stay: Are Your Promotional Investments Performing? (Hospitality Net, Richard Evans, 26 Jan 2016) Blocked nights: Airbnb hosts mark nights as blocked to make them unavailable, and some blocked nights, such as those reserved through synced calendars or blocked for legal or regulatory reasons, cannot be unblocked by the host (Updating your host calendar (Airbnb Help Center)).
Frequently asked questions
What is a stop sell?
Is a stop sell the same as a close out?
Does a stop sell cancel existing bookings?
Is a stop sell the same as zero availability?
Related terms
See all termsWhere Jetstream fits
Each channel takes a stop sell in its own format, as the Google, SynXis and Booking.com examples above show, and Booking.com adds its own rules for reopening. Jetstream builds an AI channel manager that connects a property's systems to the channels where guests book, and keeps rooms, rates and availability accurate on each one, managed from one place.