# Introduction

**Purpose and Integration Mechanism**

**RateGain's Channel Manager**:

* A premier channel management system for distributing Availability, Rates, and Inventory (ARI) to Online Distribution Systems (OTAs), and for collecting reservations from them.
* Used by thousands of the world’s most renowned hotels and chains.

**Purpose of this Document**:

* **DirectConnect**: A set of services for integrating OTA systems with RateGain's Channel Manager.
* **Updates and Notifications**:
  * **Hotel Updates**: As availability and rates change, the hotel sends updates using Channel Manager, which processes these messages and sends updates to the subscribed OTAs.
  * **Booking Notifications**: As bookings/reservations are made by consumers, the OTA sends booking notifications to Channel Manager.

**Sections Overview**:

1. **Section 2**: Specifies the interface that OTA needs to develop so that RG Channel Manager can push ARI update messages.
2. **Section 3**: Specifies the interface that RG Channel Manager makes available to OTAs to push reservations.

**Integration Mechanism**:

* **PUSH Mechanism**:
  * **ARI**: RG Channel Manager will push ARI (Availability, Rates, and Inventory) updates to OTA.
  * **Reservations**: OTA will push the reservation information to RG Channel Manager.


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://developer.rategain.com/our-products/channel-manager/direct-connect-demand-push/introduction.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.