Techtalks: Traveltech

Hi there,

Check out API from HitchHiker -- a SaaS solution that has direct connections to 120 airlines (including 20 NDC airlines) and six GDS. They have booking, validation, and refund features.

FlightStats also has some great APIs and their product Travel Waiver Services automates refunds of ticket cost in case of strikes, natural disasters or weather disruptions. It also automates sending waiver alerts about changes to travel agents and travelers.

We have a pretty good collection of flight APIs in this article, so have a look if you have any more questions.

Is there a solid SaaS Car Rental system that has a quality API which allows for building your own booking and checkin flows?  We've looked at a number of options.  Most seem like custom pro-serve implementations to startup up and they seem to have little to no API.

We are an OTA startup looking for an API that allows us to directly negotiate rates/inclusions with a hotel to provide unique offerings. BedBanks don't seem to be the way, and we are getting turned away from Channel Managers/Direct Connects.  If we elected to go the Amadeus Self Service API, can we integrate in a way that our negotiated rate/package with the Hotel shows up on our OTA?  If not, what are your suggestions? 

Hi Vanika,

As of today there are no car rental APIs in the Self-Service framework. For this you will need to use Enterprise.

Kind regards,
Mat

I found your essay to be really helpful, and I eagerly anticipate reading more of your work in the future. Furthermore, I have discovered a wonderful game called five nights at freddy's that you are welcome to join and play with me if you have the time. 

Hi Ivan!
Thanks a lot for your answer. I really appreciate your time and disposition ????????
I need some guidance and support here, since I am trying to solve a project my company is facing right now. 
I explain, in case you can help me out in any way.
The issue...
 
I am building an app for an airline X that shall get the booking reference of a flight booked by the client, and based on that information, the app shall get specific information: 
- Flight Information
- Personal Information of the passenger(s)
- Bag allowance ==> How many bags can be checked in
We can assume that the permissions from the airline are granted.
 
I thought this check could be done with a GDS like Amadeus. Or since I would be working directly with the airline company, I don't need a GDS in between?
 
I really appreciate your support and look forward to getting your feedback from this message!
Take care Ivan and have a nice day!
 
Cheers,
Francisco

Hi, i want to open the new channel management company. and i need the financial feasibility plan for this, please. how you many help in this regards?

thanking you

Awaiting reply

Hello!
 
Concerning the first part of a question:
 
It’s a rule of thumb that in travel no data can be accessed for free. In most cases, you’ll need to contact either a booking platform, or a metasearch to access travel data API, if there is one. 
 
Which is currently a big question: few platforms offer such APIs. 
 
For example, Scyscanner has an API for sourcing pricing data dynamically. Scyscanner states that the API includes flight, hotel, and car rental data. So you may request the access by contacting them. 
 
There is also an unofficial API on KAYAK that also offers hotel information. 
 
So, to wrap it up, the best way is probably reaching out to other meta searches/hotel websites, to gain access to their APIs, source rates, and probably get the deeplinks.
 
A less recommended way is web scraping. You can monitor web pages to receive pricing and other information on booking using crawler programs. However, this isn’t reliable, as prices won’t be updated dynamically. Moreover, the use of a crawler may cause legal issues, as travel content providers forbid the use of such programs. 
 
As for the second part of the question. The secret prices, or “Private Rates” are usually visible for authorized partners of a given hotel. These rates are shipped via a paid subscription or membership in the private rate group. 
 
So for entering such a group, there is no other way then contacting the provider directly. 

But, pay attention that private rates are not allowed to be publicly exposed. So for the metasearch business model, it’s probably not possible to use them. They are primarily intended for bed banks and other types of distributors.

Hi Muhammed,
We don’t have a confirmation that any GDS provides bus booking capabilities. But you can look into software providers such as Travelopro or Etravos to integrate bus APIs. Alternatively, you can contact Sabre, Amadeus, or Travelport for more information.

I want to store multiple travelers information during booking using loop , i am using Amadeus Nodejs sdk please guide me.

We are India based searching ePower API for our travel website. In Indian Amadeus office nobody knows details of ePower.

Say I have two flight segments A to B and B to C with three hour overlay. A to B is by (say) United and B to C is by another Airline where United may or not may not have a codeshare.

Now I want to build a single ticket from A to C in an single PNR so that baggage is automatically transferred and missed connections will be handled.

How can I do it?

does someone know if ElAl has open api of flights and others..
and how to access it?

Hi there,
 
SeatGuru doesn’t seem to provide an open seat map API. Still, you can contact them directly and discuss a possible solution. 
 
Data scraping won’t work as there are dozens of airplane types that vary from airline to airline.
 
Meanwhile, we can advise the following APIs from Global Distribution Systems:
 
SeatMap Display API. A part of the Amadeus Self-service APIs suite, the API retrieves the necessary information pre-booking from the Flight Offer including the flight number and displays an airplane cabin plan for a traveler to choose a seat during the flight booking flow. In addition, the API can display an airplane cabin plan post-booking from an existing Flight Order.

Get Seats API. It’s an API from Sabre. Get Seats retrieves flight seat location within the aircraft, availability, and pricing in New Distribution Capability (NDC) standard format. On the other side, the API is connected to the external seat map providers which are airlines including low-cost carriers, and Airline Tariff Publishing Company database. The obtained data follows the Passenger and Airport Data Interchange Standards.

You can use the Hotel Search API to get:
1) Hotels in any city.
2) Prices from multiple OTAs like Booking.com, Agoda, Expedia, etc.
3) Search according to radius or budget.
4) Earn competitive advantage straightaway by tracking top OTAs.
 

Hello Massimo,

Thank you for your interest.

First, let’s unravel the payment processing flow.

You described the business model where a travel agency is accepting direct payments from customers and functions as a merchant of record. Adding a commission to the net-price, an OTA charges the client. Usually, an agency integrates a payment gateway to process payments.

In more detail, payment processing works like this:

When the money is on the agency’s account, it pays the supplier its share. In the case of flights, OTAs must be IATA-accredited to pay airlines directly. Small OTAs aren’t usually certified, so they leverage a consolidator as a payment mediator between them and an airline.

But if an OTA doesn’t function as a merchant, usually, it redirects to a supplier (in case of a direct distribution) or a larger OTA like Expedia or Booking.com for a transaction. According to this business model, OTAs get paid their percentage of the total price at the end of the month. Payment processing isn’t on their shoulders so they don’t owe commissions to payment gateways.

Expedia, for instance, provides EPS Checkout - a white-label solution that collects credit card data and then transmits it to EPS servers where the data is validated and stored.

Distributing hotels, some agencies list the rooms and allow customers only to book but pay already at the property. So that the hotel will pay back the OTA the contracted commission after the check-out.

Your second inquiry was about cost-efficient payment processors.

Setting up a payment gateway is lucrative in case your OTA has a large payment volume:
The more transactions a gateway processes, the less percent it charges per card. Hence, an OTA with about 5000 transactions per month will pay a higher commission per transaction than an OTA with 50000 transactions.

There’s a great number of payment gateways but they offer a similar set of services for a fairly similar price. So, we wouldn’t say that looking for a cheaper payment gateway can save you a lot of money. What really can be a game-changer is negotiating competitive rates and deals with end-product suppliers. Besides leveraging GDS generic deals, it’s necessary to extend your own pool of providers ready to work with you on exclusive conditions. You can read more marketing tips for travel agencies in our article.

All in all, defining a payment processing strategy is a complex task. So, you may want to get in touch with our sales team for further discussion.

Hi there,
 
Good question and you’re right, there’s a lot to learn and do when starting an OTA. First, let us recommend a video series we’ve been doing where our Travel Technology Competence Leader Andrey Chebotarov talks about OTAs basics, booking engines, commission engines, and so on. It should be helpful.
 
Now, there are four main things you should focus on for a new OTA.
 
First is the inventory and access to it. Contact your suppliers for exclusive prices and conditions that will make you stand out among other booking websites.
 
Second is IATA, ARC, or CLIA compliance. Here’s our detailed article on IATA accreditation that will guide you step by step and explain your options. 
 
Third is a smart marketing strategy. This covers your SEO and communication strategies, and even integration with metasearch sites. Again, here’s an article that should clear a lot of things out. 
 
And fourth is the technology. That’s your search, booking, and commission engines that should all work effectively together to bring your and your customers the most value. 
 
Let us know if you have any specific questions here or in person at solutions@altexsoft.com.