Unavailable-after-Click RCA Playbook

Unavailable-after-click occurs when an offer looks selectable in metasearch but cannot be purchased after handoff or repricing. The objective is to prove where availability disappeared, not to label every case as stale pricing.

Trigger / symptom

An offer renders, the traveler clicks, and landing shows sold out, unavailable, a different rate or an error.

Evidence needed

Capture search context, offer fingerprint, provider source reference, observedAt, click time, deep-link parameters, reprice/landing result, availability state and provider response ID.

Triage order

1. Compare search and landing context.
2. Measure offer age at click.
3. Validate provider source-reference lifetime.
4. Reprice the same room/rate.
5. Confirm property/room mapping.
6. Check whether provider inventory genuinely closed.

Decision tree

Changed context indicates propagation failure. Old offers point to freshness. Invalid source references indicate lifecycle problems. Different room/rate implies mapping or deep-link issues. A current provider response showing unavailable may be genuine inventory change.

Fix and stop condition

Fix TTL, pre-click repricing, deep-link context, source-reference handling or mapping as appropriate. Close only after search → click → landing preserves offers within the target accuracy threshold.

Metrics

Track unavailable-after-click, offer age at click, provider failure rate, repricing success and context-preservation rate.

Prevention

Persist offer fingerprint, observation time and provider reference on every click.