Travel Booking APIs for Tourism Providers [Onix's Overview]

The high competition drives established travel companies, startups, and those only planning to build a booking website for a tourism business to embrace new technologies and join the global digital ecosystem. There, travel APIs enable information sharing between travel, hospitality, and other service providers and travel search engines over the cloud.

 

As a travel software development company, we are experts in travel booking APIs and integration thereof. If you have any questions, Onix team is here to help!

 

Modern customers expect from travel portals the ability to search for and compare travel products and complete end-to-end travel bookings on the same platform. Travel agents can't create an appealing personalized offering without accessing a broad range of information from international providers.

 

If your travel business aims for an excellent customer experience, it can't go on without multiple travel booking API integrations. 

 

Read also: The Tech Advantage: Trends Reshaping Hospitality and Guest Engagement

 

Here's Onix's overview of APIs in the travel industry, from the definition to the intricacies of integration.

 

What Is a Travel API and How Does It Work?

An application programming interface (API) is a set of protocols, routines, and tools that connect data streams and functionalities between disparate systems, devices, and software.

 

A travel app API connects its front-end with global distribution systems (GDSs) and databases of travel businesses, such as airlines, hotels, railways, cruise and tour companies, and car rentals. This way, a website, mobile app, or Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform may retrieve their service information that updates in real time.

Travel APIs are built by entities intending to offer others limited access to their systems via a request-response mechanism (Client-Server architecture). Leading GDS providers like Amadeus and Sabre aggregate and provide information on schedules, availability, and prices of flights, trains, buses, cruise liners, ferries, hotel rooms, car rental services, and more.

 

A travel agency booking system can access these data on their servers through corresponding APIs. 

 

Learn more: Onix’s Guide to Car Rental App Development

 

Smaller travel agencies and startups may use large online travel agency APIs to sell travel products without paying the GDS integration and licensing fees they may find prohibitive.

 

Learn more: How much does it cost to start an online travel agency (OTA)?

 

When website visitors or app users enter their travel requirements, they are transmitted via an API as 'requests' to the appropriate endpoint database. The website or app draws on data from several APIs, searching through millions of records, and displays the results through an easy-to-understand user interface.

 

Once the customer has made a decision, a travel booking engine API handles the reservation process and the accounting with the customer and suppliers. It sends a reservation request to each supplier's API, which confirms the availability and completes the booking. An API will also handle the financial transactions in the background.

 

Read also: How to integrate a payment gateway in a mobile app

 

The Benefits of Travel Booking APIs    

APIs empower everyone: travelers, service providers, travel portals and travel agents, travel booking API providers, and even travel software developers like Onix.

 

They facilitate mutually beneficial relationships between travel agencies and suppliers and foster a symbiotic ecosystem where all parties benefit from increased exposure and business opportunities.

 

Here are some of the benefits:

 

Improved customer experience

Travel API integrations empower brick-and-mortar and online travel agencies to offer their customers a comprehensive range of travel services beyond traditional flights-hotels.

 

Moreover, APIs ensure real-time data synchronization between travel agencies and service providers and facilitate access to exclusive deals, discounted rates, and unique offerings. 

 

This enables travel agencies to be creative, put together appealing packages, and always provide the most relevant current information for their customers to make informed decisions. 

 

In the case of OTAs, a flight booking API, for example, will help streamline the booking process, enabling customers to search available flights and seats based on destination and departure date, compare prices and ratings, and book flight tickets from one platform without browsing multiple websites or calling airlines.

 

Read also: How to Choose a Payment Gateway for Travel Businesses?

 

APIs can also handle payment processing, ensuring secure transactions between customers and travel businesses.‍

 

New Distribution Capability (NDC) API integration and each opportunity to book more travel services in one place may enhance and personalize the trip planning experience while generating revenue for the platform. APIs providing real-time information on flight delays and cancellations further improve customer experiences. 

 

An easier and more time- and cost-efficient personalized travel-planning process will improve conversion rates and customer satisfaction, which may lead to better customer retention and repeat business.

 

Read also: Сustomer churn rate: What it is and how to calculate it?

‍

Improved customer engagement and online presence 

APIs enable travel companies to offer their products and services across multiple digital channels, such as Google ads, reservation network websites, and GDSs. The traffic on a travel site or app increases significantly.

 

The provision of consolidated information and direct booking opportunities on a single website means that customers will stay on the page, creating more sales and business analytics opportunities. 

 

 

 

Competitive advantage and higher revenue potential

A comprehensive range of high-quality travel service offerings expanded through various APIs allows distributors to target broader audiences and more demanding travelers, gain their trust, keep them from visiting competitors, and create opportunities for cross-selling and upselling, increasing the average booking value.

 

Travel and hospitality service providers can also enrich their offerings using travel APIs. For example, an airline can add hotel bookings, car rentals, and tours to its website's functions, and a hotel may suggest car rentals, tours, tickets to local events and entertainment, and other local deals.

 

Relevant services saving time and money will help the business attract customers and stay ahead of the competitors with traditional offerings.

 

APIs help companies customize their offerings to fit unique business models and target specific customer segments with personalized offerings. Your travel or hospitality business can create its own API to integrate with other suppliers and portals, reaching more customers and increasing sales.

 

APIs can collect massive volumes of data generated by customers. The analysis of this data can provide insights into travelers' behavior, sales trends, etc., which may lead to more customized offerings and cross-selling opportunities.

 

Read also: Anomaly detection in machine learning: Detecting the unexpected

 

Higher efficiency

With modern travel agency solutions, most agencies don't need to hire many people to maintain bookings. A wide range of services consolidated into a single platform simplifies the booking process for travel agencies, offering a unified experience and reducing manual data entry.  

 

This, combined with automated data retrieval, also reduces costly errors by employees or customers. Travel APIs also assist in issuing and retrieving Passenger Name Records (PNR), processing payments, and modifying or canceling reservations, so employees don't need to update or maintain anything after a booking.

 

By automating search, price comparisons, payments, communication, and other tasks, travel businesses can free up their employees' time to focus on better customer service and creating value.

 

Learn more: Why and how to build an automated travel system in 2024

 

Faster software development and business start

You can compare the benefits of a third-party travel API for developers with the advantages of the modular construction method in the construction industry. Instead of building the entire system from scratch, they can utilize ready-made, well-tested specialized components and use the freed-up time to develop feature-rich travel applications and seamless user experiences.   

 

This saves time and money and helps travel startups enter the market faster with a better offering.

 

Read also: How to speed up software development

 

Better security

The APIs' principle is to limit system exposure to queried data.

 

This means that software developers and clients are only exposed to as much information as requested in the API call. By limiting system exposure, servers shield sensitive code, algorithms, and data from misuse by external agents and preclude accidental leaks.

 

Third-party APIs are also system-independent, meaning an API's functionality remains the same in case of internal systemic changes.

 

Besides protecting sensitive information, limited access spares travel agents the complexities of distribution systems, which improves efficiency and conversion rates, driving revenues.

 

Revenue from collaborations and partnerships

90% of Expedia’s revenue reportedly comes from APIs allowing third-party websites to tap into their platform. You might build your own travel booking engine API to grant others access to your data, with the benefits of:

 

• a new revenue stream through affiliation fees
• collecting customer data, analyzing which you might offer more personalized services, increase your flexibility, etc.

 

The Main Types of Travel APIs 

Among the many types of travel APIs, we are primarily interested in booking APIs, so let us classify them by specialization.

 

Flights APIs

These APIs are used to search and book flights from multiple airlines and to process bookings. Flight schedules and fares APIs rely on the Official Airline Guide and the Airline Tariff Publishing Company that obtain the inventory and pricing data directly from airlines.

 

Some perform cheap flight searches and sort results by fare. Some APIs return information on existing flight bookings, such as status, delays, and cancellations.

 

Amadeus, Flightslogic, KIU, Mystifly, Sabre, and Travelport are some of the leading flight booking API providers.

 

Travel businesses may also employ NDC APIs that facilitate the sales of the airlines' ancillary services, such as seat maps, baggage allowance, and in-flight services.

 

Hotel booking APIs

These travel APIs connect hospitality businesses with travel booking websites and apps. They enable search by location, check-in and check-out dates, budget, number of guests, and preferences, accessing information on hotel amenities, room availability, up-to-date pricing, cancellation fee, and booking of hotel rooms.

 

OTAs and travel agencies access hotel inventory through hotel channel managers. Channel managers connect them with multiple hotel establishments. The latter benefit from better visibility and booking volumes, displaying their inventory across multiple portals.

 

Read also: Hotel property management systems (PMSs): Core features and benefits

 

GDSs and aggregators distribute information on hospitality services on a massive scale, connecting businesses and consumers with thousands and millions of establishments worldwide.

 

On the flip side, GDSs tend to focus on establishments for corporate travelers, leaving out smaller ones, and fail to supplement listings with high-quality images or room amenity details. Aggregators scour multiple GDSs, hotel PMSs, OTAs, and other sources to provide an extensive inventory.

 

Some hotel API providers are Airbnb, Booking.com, Cleartrip, Expedia, Google, Hotelbeds, Priceline, Travelport, and Tripadvisor.

 

Car rental APIs

Car rental services are a valuable offering on major distribution platforms.

 

 

APIs from GDSs, OTAs, aggregators, and other travel tech companies allow customers to:

 

• search for vehicles to rent from various companies based on location, rental period, vehicle category and type, etc. 
• learn about car models, availability, pricing, and rental policies
• book a vehicle on chosen pick-up and drop-off locations and dates. 

 

Amadeus cars & cars rental API, CarTrawler API, eTravos Car Booking APIs, Priceline Partner Solution's API, Rentalcars API, Sabre Car API Product Collection, Travelfusion's XML API, Travelopro Car API, and Trawex car rental API are some of the popular solutions.

 

Transfer/transportation APIs

Wandering around an airport in a foreign country looking for a cheap and secure way to get to the hotel or another destination is a stressful and often disappointing experience. Transfer APIs help provide an end-to-end travel planning experience by enabling customers to buy train, ferry, or bus tickets or hire a driver in advance.

 

What's more exciting is that they needn't necessarily search for such transportation options. It's possible to set up a system that would suggest an airport transfer or a bus or taxi ride from an airport once the customer has booked their flight and hotel stay.

 

AirportTransfer.com Transfer API, eTravos XML API, Travelopro Transfer API, and Trawex Transfer API are some examples of transportation APIs. 

 

These are just a few major use cases for travel booking APIs. Other services that travelers can look for and book thanks to modern API integrations include

 

• tour packages
• events such as local festivals, concerts, etc.
• travel insurance policies, etc.

 

You must have noticed that several names were mentioned repeatedly. The following chapter lists some of the best travel APIs on the market.

 

Leading Booking API Providers

(We couldn't list all APIs that deserve your attention in a short article like this, let alone name the best API in the travel industry without looking biased. Instead, we are presenting, in alphabetical order, a cross-section that gives an idea of what is available). 

 

Amadeus APIs

The Spanish GDS and travel IT solutions provider offers a catalog of 200+ APIs for flight search and booking, low fare search, ticketing, special offers, NDC content, hotel search and booking, car rentals, transfer booking, insurance, and much more.

 

For example, the Flight Choice Prediction API uses artificial intelligence (AI) and Amadeus historical flight booking data to identify flights most likely to be booked among search results. The API takes the results of the Flight Offers Search API and orders them by the probability of being chosen.

 

Read also: How AI will transform your business

 

Besides its signature Enterprise APIs, Amadeus offers several Self-Service APIs for free use, which is helpful for testing travel booking API integration and some extent of commercial use. However, these APIs provide narrower functionality and don't cover ticket issuing.

 

Enterprise APIs are primarily based on SOAP/XML formats, with a gradual transition to REST/JSON, whereas Self-Service APIs are available in the modern REST format.

 

Pros: Amadeus APIs, tools, resources, and support empower travel software developers to build and launch applications quickly. 

 

Cons: Amadeus APIs are expensive and not easily accessible for many travel businesses. You have to contact Amadeus directly to inquire about pricing and accessing Enterprise APIs. There will also be special requirements to access their service.

 

Booking.com API

Booking Holdings is a parent company to several industry leaders: Agoda, Kayak, OpenTable, Priceline, and Rental Cars.

 

Booking.com offers its APIs for partners to query property information and retrieve bookings and connectivity APIs for channel managers and hotel PMSs to display property inventory and prices.

 

For example, the Reservations API module retrieves and updates reservation info on Booking.com. It streamlines reservation management for hospitality businesses by enabling them to monitor and confirm new reservations, see changes to existing reservations, and track cancellations. 

 

Onix team integrated the Booking.com API into the MisterB&B platform.

 

 

Pros: Booking.com can provide a deep analysis of your performance, allowing for optimization and revenue maximization. 

 

Cons: Access to all Booking.com APIs is free but granted only to vetted Affiliate and Connectivity Partners, i.e., you'll have to be approved first. The standard API use also limits the number of calls per minute.

 

Kiwi APIs

This Czech OTA combines fare aggregator and metasearch engine functionalities. Kiwi is primarily known for its robust flight search engine that allows access to information on 750+ airlines, including 250 low-cost carriers (LCCs), but it also enables agents to purchase comprehensive itineraries, including transfers by train, bus, taxi, or ferry.

 

Travel website developers can use Kiwi's API to find carrier IDs and logos, data on locations, and search for itineraries (one-way and return flights, multiple city trips, most affordable routes, etc.). Travel agents can book flights and order baggage, combine bookings from multiple suppliers in a single itinerary, confirm payments, and process refunds.

 

Pros: A comprehensive range of travel products is available through one platform. 

 

Cons: The list of countries and regions where the API is available is limited. 

 

Sabre APIs

Sabre is an American GDS and travel technology provider. Its library includes nearly 300 SOAP APIs and 200+ REST APIs covering a comprehensive range of travel business processes. A worldwide reach and robust data analysis tools increase each partner's chances for success.

 

Pros: Sabre invests heavily in innovation and frequently updates its products, helping clients stay competitive and relevant. 

 

Cons: A Sabre API cost may be prohibitive for smaller suppliers or OTAs with low volumes of bookings. The system is also very complex and may require significant employee training. 

 

Skyscanner APIs

Skyscanner is a Scotland-based metasearch engine and travel agency that offers APIs for flight search, schedules, and fares, and also connects with hotels and car rentals. Airline fare search is still their strongest point.

 

For airfare search, Skyscanner provides two types of APIs. The Flights Live Prices API searches for and returns flight prices for pre-set combinations of routes and dates. The Indicative Prices API returns a list of the cheapest prices seen last by Skyscanner's travelers for given search criteria.

 

Skyscanner invites its API users to enroll in an affiliate program. They can get a set of APIs for free use if they go through a verification process. Once they reach a certain revenue threshold, prices are calculated on a commission basis.

 

Pros: Skyscanner facilitates the search for flights with the lowest prices on given dates with the most affordable routes as per the search query, making it a perfect budget travel partner. It's also easy to integrate and is available in JSON, XML response format, JSONP, and URI Query String/CRUD request format. 

 

Cons: Skyscanner may occasionally display fares that are not valid anymore or incomplete pricing for less frequently searched routes. It sometimes searches questionable OTAs.

 

Read also: Online travel fraud: Common types & prevention tools

 

Travelfusion API

The London-based company claims to have created the LCC and NDC distribution platform, with access to inventories of 400+ LCCs, nearly 60 full-service carriers, and rail and hotel operators.

 

tfFlight API is one of the most comprehensive NDC-compliant APIs. The Direct Connect XML API ensures real-time database availability and a fully automated booking process. The Fast API is a lightweight flight, hotel, and prepackaged XML API designed to facilitate rapid integration, fast, small responses, and minimal processing on the customer side.

 

Pros: One simple-to-use integration allows access to the world's largest pool of directly integrated LCC, NDC/FSC, and consolidator content, along with the highest conversion level possible.

 

Cons: The provided flight data is reportedly not always accurate or up-to-date.  

 

Travelport APIs

Three distribution systems – Apollo, Galileo, and Worldspan – merged to become the third biggest GDS player with access to the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific regions.

 

Travelport's APIs connect clients to a wide range of airline, hotel, railway, car products, and all their add-ons. The Universal API in SOAP format facilitates search, booking, and purchasing ancillary services. A REST API offers similar functionality (without ancillaries) but with ticketing and payments.

 

Pros: Travelport promises an easy integration of its industry standards-based APIs, training, and support to get your online business up and running quickly, with a lightning-fast response time.

 

Cons: Like other major GDSs, Travelport does not publish prices for its travel data services and wants clients to contact them directly to obtain current information. Rumor has it the costs are steep.

While these and other travel app APIs offer numerous benefits, entrepreneurs should still keep in mind several challenges and considerations.

 

Some Challenges and Risks of Travel API Integration

 

Compliance and security concerns

Travel portals and service providers must prioritize the security and protection of customer data, which calls for establishing secure data transmission protocols and robust security measures. Compliance with the GDPR and other data protection regulations is also critical during travel API implementation.

 

Read also: 10 best practices to promote fintech security

 

Technical complexity

Software developers integrate APIs with travel booking and reservation systems using API documentation provided by the service. These API specifications govern the request-response format and provide detailed information on the types of valid requests to send to the server and the response received for each request.

 

Unfortunately, travel booking API providers are not consistent in the quality and comprehensiveness of their API documentation and support.

 

There can be difficulties with integrating an API into a particular company's IT infrastructure. It involves several complicated processes, such as data mapping and normalization, error handling, and conflict resolution. It takes advanced technical expertise and experience to prevent data corruption and loss.

 

Learn more: How to integrate third-party APIs into a mobile app

 

Your integrated APIs will also require ongoing maintenance. 

 

Travel businesses need skilled developers or technical teams to implement and manage travel APIs. If your organization lacks the right talent in-house or locally, you may need to outsource your software development needs. The latter option actually comes with the benefits of saving money and a faster start.

Travel APIs are available in multiple programming languages and SDKs. When hiring a dedicated team or individual developers, it's helpful to scan their CVs and portfolios for references to

 

• C# (.NET)
• Java
• Node.js
• Objective-C
• PHP
• Python
• Ruby

 

Learn more: How to choose a web development company

 

Risks to system reliability

Excessive reliance on a GDS may lead to business disruption in the case of system outages or issues. Downtime or technical problems on a connected supplier's side can also disrupt a travel agency's operations and affect customer experience.

 

Despite these concerns, a travel API still provides the best way to integrate an online booking system: you needn’t spend time on something others have already devised and tested. Luckily, the market abounds in travel booking APIs, but it also brings up another crucial question: 

 

How to Choose the Right API for a Travel Website?

There are several factors to consider‍ when choosing travel APIs for your business.

 

Clear goals

Firstly, it is critical to understand the business goals the travel API or APIs should support. They should provide access to travel information vital for your application or business.

 

Some API providers specialize in flights, others in accommodations, and some bet on a broader range of travel services. A company claiming leadership in the market should have certified or affiliated with at least 20 suppliers.

 

Each travel business operates at a specific location and targets audiences from which they expect the most bookings and revenue per customer. API providers and suppliers also have their 'sweet spots.'

 

So, if you target, for example, the European market, you should be integrated with those APIs that have proven effective there and with suppliers that dominate in the region and thus can provide the lowest prices. 

 

Ease of integration

Reliable travel API providers offer well-documented APIs, robust developer tools, and technical support. This ensures a smoother integration process and easier troubleshooting. 

 

It is important to check if the API documentation is publicly available or provided only upon partnering with the API provider. In either case, it's helpful to have experienced software developers evaluate it.

 

Customer support 

Good travel API providers ensure 24/7 customer support, so affiliates should not face challenges alone due to time differences. 

 

Quality of information

The API should provide accurate and up-to-date travel data to your applications, employees, and customers. Unfortunately, the only way to evaluate the quality of information before proper travel API integration is customer reviews, developer forums, and similar hearsay sources.

 

Reliability and speed

Your partner API provider must have a robust infrastructure and reliable systems in place. The API should be good enough to show search data in a fraction of a second with clear pictures and readiness for users' actions.

 

Innovation

Best travel API providers strive for excellence and dominance in the market, which requires attention to their affiliates' and travelers' needs and goals, keeping abreast of technological advances, watching the competition closely, and predicting and easily adjusting to market trends. They should invest in cutting-edge solutions, regularly offer new products, and update and fix existing offerings.

 

Pricing and payment model

Some travel API providers charge a subscription fee; sometimes, charges are based on the number of API calls or the amount of data you access monthly. Choosing the optimal model for your business will likely be a trial-and-error process.

 

Conclusion 

As the growing tourism, travel, and hospitality industries become more digitized and connected, it's vital to work with the best up-to-date travel APIs sourcing accurate relevant data and fostering comprehensive, personalized, and seamless customer experiences.

 

Best travel APIs cover the entire spectrum, from flight search and fare comparison to making and modifying bookings of all types of transportation, ancillary services, tours, entertainment, or whatever modern travelers book.

 

Travel agencies investing in skilled professionals, prioritizing data security, and ensuring system reliability can fully unlock the benefits of travel APIs, such as more returning happy customers, better operating margins, and higher conversion and sales volumes.

 

However efficient a travel API may be, don't discard custom development altogether. A piece of code that is a part of your website's source code ensures a seamless integration of an online booking system. It minimizes the issues of conflicting or bloated code and gives you total control over your business website's content.

 

If you're not sure which API or integration method is right for your travel website or need assistance with building a unique solution for your business — don't hesitate to contact Onix! We bring to the table:

 

• years of experience in the industry
• a deep understanding of travel businesses' needs
• a thorough knowledge of API integrations and other technicalities of travel software development

 

FAQ

 

Why is a travel API necessary for a business?

Various travel APIs enable modern companies to:

 

• offer their customers various reservation and purchase opportunities directly on their portals
• compile and display their own services inventory, pricing, and availability, and review data on their own website
• put together complex customized travel experiences and quickly translate them into a detailed, well-planned itinerary 
• perform, retrieve, and modify bookings and issue tickets
• gain control over their back office
• streamline booking and accounting processes

 

What types of services can be booked using travel booking APIs?

 

• Flights
• Ancillary services
• Hotel rooms and other accommodations
• Car rentals
• Airport transfers 
• Cruises
• Tours
• Entertainment and events
• Travel insurance

 

What are the benefits of using a travel booking API for business?

Some of the benefits of travel booking APIs include:

 

• expanded offerings and reach in the marketplace
• enhanced comprehensive and intuitive user experiences
• improve relationships with customers and industry partners
• competitive advantage
• shorter time to market for startups
• optimized workforce, increased efficiency, and cost savings
• server systems protection from overexposure of sensitive data through limited access
• collaboration opportunities

 

Are there any specific requirements or qualifications for accessing and using travel booking APIs?

Yes. Some leading travel API providers, such as Amadeus, Booking.com, and Skyscanner, have such specific requirements.

 

Are there any free APIs for travel businesses?

Yes. For instance, Skyscanner's Travel API is free. Amadeus offers several self-service APIs for smaller travel businesses and startups. A site owner gets a monthly quota of free requests, generally sufficient to build and fine-tune their system. When it moves to production, the site owner retains the monthly free quota and pays only for additional requests.

 

Are there any alternatives to a travel API for developers?

Yes. There are three more ways to connect a travel agency booking system with other travel business websites, each with its pros and cons:

 

1. Link to an external website. Linking an online travel business to an external website isn't a real integration, but it's cheap and easy. You basically create a link that will send your site visitors to another destination (something most site owners don't want, though). The external website with a different branding could be slow or offer a sub-par user experience. User behavior analysis and strategizing will suffer as well.

 

2. Inline frame (iframe). Iframe allows embedding an external website into your travel site without sending site visitors away, and often for free. Iframe integration is basically copying and pasting some ready-made code into your website.

 

Some of the issues with the iframe are that you have no control over how it is displayed, can't apply your branding, and can't track your users' activity. Iframes are often displayed incorrectly on mobile devices, unless the external booking system is also mobile.

 

Moreover, an iframe may malfunction without being granted certain rights, whereas granting it extended rights may cause security vulnerabilities for your website. The main security threats to iframes are cross-site and cross-frame scripting attacks, iframe injection, iframe phishing, and clickjacking attacks. 

 

3. Plugin. Popular CMS platforms like Drupal, Joomla, or WordPress have quality plugins. Website owners can use them for free or get a yearly license at the price of hiring a programmer for a couple of hours.

 

Getting a plugin up and running takes a few clicks. They are also typically optimized for different devices, so online booking works equally well on a laptop or smartphone. However, too many plugins from disparate developers installed into a website can start conflicting and slow down your website.

 

The choice of the optimal method depends mainly on your content management system (CMS) and budget. If your website is made with drag-and-drop builders, external links or iframes are the only options. If your website was built on WordPress, well-developed plugins might provide the best value for money, excellent for small businesses.