Overview
Skyscanner’s car hire vertical is releasing some large changes in January 2026. Skyscanner will offer partners the ability to configure CPCs on an increasing set of dimensions and do so as frequently as once per day. We refer to this new release as the ‘Multidimension Cost Per Click’ (MCPC) system, and the term ‘dynamic’ refers to partner’s ability to configure those CPCs according to available dimensions as often as once per day. Our objective is to ensure partners can adjust CPCs in a way that best matches their business goals and maximizes their presence on Skyscanner’s car hire vertical.
The following guide outlines how partners can configure those CPCs, how minimums are treated, and how sorting of partner quotes (the prices rendered by partners) are handled.
This is simply an option for partners to pursue if they are so inclined. Skyscanner operates in the car hire vertical as a first price auction. Partners will submit CPCs (either dynamically through this new MCPC system, or using previously negotiated deals), and pay that CPC when clicks occur regardless of position. For CPA deals, the system assigns an expected revenue amount and this is the commission signal that is factored into our current partner sorting algorithm. There is currently no possibility for a CPA partner to configure any granularity to a bid. This may change over time and we will inform you of any updates
Dimensions Definition
Dimensions are elements of a customer’s search that partners can customize their CPCs to target. For example, if a customer is searching from the UK on a mobile device, partners can specify specific CPCs to target that customer. If the partner wishes to keep CPCs broad (for example, target the market = UK across all devices with one singular CPC), they retain that right to not introduce such granularity. Only supported dimensions will be available for configuration, and Skyscanner will review and potentially enhance this list of supported definitions over time
Dimensions Available for Configuration in V1
While we plan on gradually releasing a suite of dimensions for partners to specify CPCs and customize their scope on Skyscanner car hire, we are initially releasing the ability for partners to configure to the granularity of: User Market and Device.
- User Market: A customer’s location, either determined by Skyscanner’s own detection or configured via ‘regional settings’ by the user on Skyscanner’s platform(s). Only Skyscanner supported markets will be available for configuration. Please note that only certain markets are supported in the initial release. Skyscanner account management teams will inform partners of that list, and any amendments to that list thereafter. Partners must also discuss with their account manager to ensure that any desired market is enabled prior to submitting CPCs in the system. Enabling any market requires an insertion order (IO), a process that your account manager will guide you through.
- Device: Which device a customer is using to browse car hire options on Skyscanner. There are only two possible devices available for configuration: ‘Mobile’ (covering usage of our App, or mobile browser) and ‘Desktop’.
In this release, where only device + market CPCs are configurable, for every user market available for configuration, partners can specify a maximum of two CPCs. Subsequent releases will unlock further configuration options.
Configuring CPCs With Dimensions
Partners can configure CPCs with available dimensions a maximum once per day, but can choose to configure less frequently. This process of configuring CPCs in a CSV file, as well as the upload, error reporting process, and applicability of those CPCs are described in this section. Skyscanner always takes the most recent and authenticated CPCs per dimension, which means a newer file always overrides a previously submitted file. Any CPC entry will be kept in our system until a new, valid CPC entry is processed and received.
Uploading CPC Files
Partners should create a file with the structure ‘CPC_DD_MM_YYYY.csv’, where the date of file upload is articulated in DD-MM-YYYY structure. Please ensure UTF-8 encoding and comma separation where applicable. Ask your account manager for a sample CSV file if there is any confusion on specifications.
Configuring Specific Dimensions
For all available dimensions, partners can specify as granularly (described in this section) or as broadly (described in the following section) as they’d like, as well as configuring the currency that the CPC is submitted with for that dimension. If the partner was only looking to bid in two markets (user locations) with all available dimensions, their bid file would look something like the following:
| Market | Device | CPC | Currency |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | Desktop | 1.55 | GBP |
| UK | Mobile | 1.45 | GBP |
| US | Desktop | 2.15 | GBP |
| US | Mobile | 2.05 | GBP |
Market: market where the partner looks to target user markets. The two-letter market code shared by your account manager is used to denote markets here. Note that only those markets enabled for the partner are applicable here. For any expansions into new markets, please discuss with your account manager.
Device: either ‘desktop’ or ‘mobile’ acceptable here, all lowercase.
CPC: up to two decimals allowed, regardless of currency specified. For example, 1.55 indicates a CPC of one pound, fifty five pence when currency = GBP.
Currency: currency as specified in your contract with Skyscanner, using its ISO code to delineate
Configuring Broad Dimensions
In the event that partners do not want to specify CPCs for all dimensions, but do still want to be present in any particular user market, they are able to include broad CPC designations using the * key. In the below example, this partner has specified granular device based CPCs for the UK market, but left CPCs broad (e.g. applicable to all devices) for both the US and FR markets.
| Market | Device | CPC | Currency |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | Desktop | 1.55 | GBP |
| UK | Mobile | 1.45 | GBP |
| US | * | 2.15 | GBP |
| FR | * | 2.11 | GBP |
Using the example above, any clicks that occur for that partner in the UK will have different CPCs depending on whether the click came from mobile or desktop, but ALL clicks, regardless of device in the US, and FR, will have a singular value (2.15 and 2.11, respectively). The MCPC system overwrites any CPCs based on recency: whatever has been successfully submitted most recently for that dimension is the CPC we will use until we receive a new one. So, if for example the partner uploaded granular CPCs per dimension in the UK, but then the next day uploaded broad CPCs for that market, the system would prioritize the broad CPCs and overwrite the granular ones.
Uploading CPC Files
Partners can upload a new CPC file as frequently as once per day, which is done by placing their CPC file into their designated CPC folder, which Skyscanner car hire teams then retrieve automatically on a daily cadence. Those files are then checked for errors by our system (see details in section 2C), and then those CPCs go live at the daily bounce time. Bounce time is configured at 00:00 GMT (midnight), and thus any files received at 23:00 or later the previous day will not be accepted, and need to wait until the next bounce time.
File Processing and Error Reporting
Once a file is placed into the partner’s SFTP folder, Skyscanner will perform verification every 30 minutes. The partner will receive an email to the address agreed upon with their account manager that outlines either:
- File submission success: all CPCs were processed successfully and partner can either overwrite with another upload attempt by 23:00 GMT, or let the file be processed and the new CPCs go live at 00:00 GMT
- File submission with errors: some or all rows contained errors. Each row with errors will be flagged and a reason for the rejection given, all to the partner’s email address. Those errors could be any or all of the following
- Violation of minimums (described further in the section below "Minimums and Recommendations")
- Market not yet opened (only CPCs for enabled markets)
- Unsupported/unrecognizable format (partner attempted to submit a value that was not recognized.
- Other (potentially other error types might be flagged in the upload attempt).
Partners can upload a new file up until 23:00 to resolve any or all errors through re-submission in the SFTP folder. Any files containing errors will be rejected (all rows), and successful, error-free files will be processed and those with errors rejected. For all dimensions that contain an error by 23:00 of that day’s cycle, we will revert to previously submitted values, or in the event that this is the first entry for that dimension, that dimension will be disregarded.
SFTP Documentation and Setup
Skyscanner uses SFTP as a means of data exchange with partners. The CPC file are uploaded to the SFTP feed directory. In addition, our Skyscanner Car Hire Click and Insights Report are scheduled to deliver to the SFTP feed_report directory. Double check your host, username, and SSH key details against what you were issued by Skyscanner.
Upon your account creation, you will receive the following login credentials:
- Username: Issued by Skyscanner
- Authentication: SSH key (private key provided securely by Skyscanner)
- Host: s-b9160e6a5c02410e8.server.transfer.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com
- Port: 22
To ensure secure access, all partners must have their public IP authorized by Skyscanner, during the initial account setup, you're required to provided a list of your company's IPs/Ranges to your Skyscanner account manager. You can only log in to SFTP with IPs/Ranges authorized by Skyscanner.
Note: Skyscanner only supports a static, numerical IP address or range.
Here are some common SFTP Clients that can be used to access a Skyscanner SFTP:
If you are having issues accessing SFTP, please follow these troubleshooting steps:
- Double check your public IP to confirm it is authorized for access
- Restart your SFTP client/reapply credentials
- If the above steps do not resolve the issue, it is likely that there is a firewall interfering with SFTP access. It is recommended to check with your IT department for help with this. Please ask your IT department to authorize access to the following public IP/Ranges addresses:
- 54.75.148.255
- 63.33.27.207
Sorting of Quotes
Skyscanner receives quotes from partners, uses proprietary logic to allocate them to groupings, and those groupings are then rendered into ‘cards’, displayed for users following a search on a Skyscanner platform. Skyscanner sorts these quotes based on a number of factors, including (but not limited to) price competitiveness, price accuracy, and a partner’s CPC. Skyscanner uses machine learning models to determine the sorting and that consider the weight attached to each factor changes with regularity. Please refer to How Skyscanner Works for up to date information on our sorting methodology.
In the above example, the sorting algorithm would have allocated Partner 1 to the hero position . Partner 1 would pay the CPC as specified in their CPC upload. If Partner 1 had been allocated any other position (e.g. position 2, 3, etc), they would still pay the same CPC as specified in their CPC upload file.
Minimums and Recommendations
For every dimension available to configure for CPCs on Skyscanner, there will be a minimum CPC designated and communicated to partners via the partner portal. In V1, our minimums per dimension are limited to a unique minimum per user market and device. Minimums are derived and published in GBP(£), and currency conversion to assess minimums in other currencies will be handled within Skyscanner. Any CPCs that are below the published minimums will be flagged with an error (see section 2.C) and are not corrected by 23:00 GMT in that day’s cycle are considered an error, and either the last previously valid CPCs for that dimension will be maintained, or in the event that the partner has never had valid CPCs for that dimension, that partner will not appear in quotes until CPCs are provided which are higher than the minimum CPCs.
Skyscanner may also publish ‘recommended’ CPCs for partners for each dimension. These recommendations are CPCs that Skyscanner believes are sufficient to qualify for that partner to appear in the hero position, and achieve the highest level of prominence. These recommendations will be produced in an ad-hoc manner as partners request them, but will eventually feature in reporting back to partners in subsequent releases.
Reporting
Skyscanner will provide additional data to participating partners. Every day, the previous day’s data related to that partner’s activity on Skyscanner will be provided via the same SFTP folder. The details of this report, and how to interpret it are in the document ‘Skyscanner Car Hire Click and Insights Report.