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FrançaisWhat is Travel API?
An API (Application Programming Interface) is a web service that is used for communications to access data. We can understand APIs as structured procedures and functions that define various requests to be made in order to acquire data from different sources. When we talk about Travel API – it simply means the APIs that helps us to access data related to travel (e.g. Flights, Fares, Hotels, rental cars etc.) from the Airlines, GDS or other consolidators.These are the simplified mode of communications among travel channels to exchange information to service the travel industry.
What is Travel API?
An API (Application Programming Interface) is a web service that is used for communications to access data. We can understand APIs as structured procedures and functions that define various requests to be made in order to acquire data from different sources. When we talk about Travel API – it simply means the APIs that helps us to access data related to travel (e.g. Flights, Fares, Hotels, rental cars etc.) from the Airlines, GDS or other consolidators. These are the simplified mode of communications among travel channels to exchange information to service the travel industry. Travel APIs act as a connecting link between the OTAs (Online Travel Agencies), GDS, Airlines, Corporates, TMC (Travel Management Companies) and Travel agents. There are standard rules for requests/responses with which the travel service providers can fetch data from travel sources and offer it to the customers. In general, the adoption of technology has made our lives easier. The power that everyone drives from digital technology is the choice and time efficiency – you don’t have to visit multiple storefronts to find the best value to serve your needs when you can have options and power to choose.
Types and Advantages of Travel APIs
Now, when we understand that what the Travel APIs are? It’s apparent to make a guess on various types of them. We have some major companies that offer these services, however, it can be distinguished based on the travel channels e.g APIs to access flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises, railways etc. The information exchanged is not just limited to the availability and cost of the services rather allows you to handle changes, cancellations, add-on services as well. This technology has proved to be a boon for the travel industry as it not only provides access to the real-time itineraries but also considerably helps in reducing the time to the market. It works on efficient user-friendly models that can be customized as per the business requirements. The updated technologies have made it a secure platform to run your travel business and also allow businesses an online market front to expand their reach.
Major GDS and API Services
GDS(Global Distribution System) undoubtedly is the backbone of the travel industry. They are the primary bridge among the various Travel industry service providers like Airlines, Hotels, Car Rental Companies and the travel agencies/agents. All major travel service providers share their service catalogue with a GDS which in turn allows travel agencies and agents to access this information for booking airline tickets, hotels, rental cars, cruises and railways etc. A single GDS system comprises of hundreds of airlines and other service providers who act as an intermediary and yearns through the booking and license fees, which obviously is a win-win situation for both the parties.
Major GDS and API Services
GDS(Global Distribution System) undoubtedly is the backbone of the travel industry. They are the primary bridge among the various Travel industry service providers like Airlines, Hotels, Car Rental Companies and the travel agencies/agents. All major travel service providers share their service catalogue with a GDS which in turn allows travel agencies and agents to access this information for booking airline tickets, hotels, rental cars, cruises and railways etc. A single GDS system comprises of hundreds of airlines and other service providers who act as an intermediary and yearns through the booking and license fees, which obviously is a win-win situation for both the parties. The three major GDS in the market are Sabre, Amadeus and Travelport and farenexus is fully experienced in help business in GDS integration using their API services.GDS(Global Distribution System) undoubtedly is the backbone of the travel industry. They are the primary bridge among the various Travel industry service providers like Airlines, Hotels, Car Rental Companies and the travel agencies/agents. All major travel service providers share their service catalogue with a GDS which in turn allows travel agencies and agents to access this information for booking airline tickets, hotels, rental cars, cruises and railways etc. A single GDS system comprises of hundreds of airlines and other service providers who act as an intermediary and yearns through the booking and license fees, which obviously is a win-win situation for both the parties. The three major GDS in the market are Sabre, Amadeus and Travelport.Farenexus is fully experienced in help business in GDS integration using their API services.
Amadeus API Services
Operating since 1987, Amadeus is a member of IATA and SITA, operated by the AmadeusOperating since 1987, Amadeus is a member of IATA and SITA, operated by the Amadeus IT group headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest GDS systems with a full inventory of API suites to access information on various travel itineraries.
“ Amadeus gives access to bookable content from 435 airlines (including 60 low-cost carriers), 29 car rental companies (representing 36,000 car rental locations), 51 cruise lines and ferry operators, 280 hotel chains and 87,000 hotels, 200 tour operators, 103 rail operators and 116 travel insurance companies”
– Amadeus IT Group
Amadeus has really simplified the process to avail their API services and has provided all the necessary details on Amadeus for Developers. Their API suite offers services in two major categories – Self Service APIs and Enterprise APIs. IT group headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest GDS systems with a full inventory of API suites to access information on various travel itineraries.
“ Amadeus has really simplified the process to avail their API services and has provided all the necessary details on Amadeus for Developers. Their API suite offers services in two major categories”
– Self Service APIs and Enterprise APIs
Self Service APIs
- Air APIs – For Flight Bookings, Flight Search and airport information and flight management with access to over 400 airlines with added features like multicity search, a seat map view, cheapest flight search and the calendar view.
- Hotel APIs – To manage hotel search and bookings. Access over 1,50,000 properties with features like search, compare, perform bookings and see hotel reviews and ratings.
- Trip APIs – helps to get more information, recommendations for a better trip experience.
- Destination Content APIs – To plan tours to various destinations with access to information like activities to do and major attractions around.
Self Service APIs
- Air APIs – For Flight Bookings, Flight Search and airport information and flight management with access to over 400 airlines with added features like multicity search, a seat map view, cheapest flight search and the calendar view.
- Hotel APIs – To manage hotel search and bookings. Access over 1,50,000 properties with features like search, compare, perform bookings and see hotel reviews and ratings.
- Trip APIs – helps to get more information, recommendations for a better trip experience.
- Destination Content APIs – To plan tours to various destinations with access to information like activities to do and major attractions around.
Enterprise APIs.
This SOAP API suite is specially designed for the businesses to extract the best value from the industry and offer seamless services to their customers. Businesses can avail APIs related to air travel (Reservations and Ancillary Services), Cruises, Rail travel, Rental Cars, Booking Management, Hotels and Insurance.The set of services are not only helping the businesses to deliver more value but also helping customers to get the useful information for a well-planned trip.All the fare information is shared in real-time with a wide range of travel contents and instant booking options which makes the system more transparent and reliable. The leading transaction processor in the travel world provides technology solutions to travel providers and travel agencies. Amadeus GDS processes a high number of transactions on daily basis. Starting from search to booking completion, Amadeus booking system is a complete system.
Sabre API Services
Sabre GDS is founded by American Airlines in 1960, it is the largest air booking provider in North America, owned by Sabre Corporation. Offering an effective digital solution with innovative suite of Restful and SOAP services for the business – their product catalog can be accessed at Sabre Dev Studio.
“ We are a software and technology company that powers the global travel industry. With decades of revolutionary firsts, our team of experts drive innovation and ingenuity in the industry. Learn more about how we help customers operate more efficiently, drive revenue and offer personalized traveler experiences with next-generation technology solutions”
– Sabre website
Sabre API Services
Sabre GDS is founded by American Airlines in 1960, it is the largest air booking provider in North America, owned by Sabre Corporation. Offering an effective digital solution with innovative suite of Restful and SOAP services for the business – their product catalog can be accessed at Sabre Dev Studio.
“ We are a software and technology company that powers the global travel industry. With decades of revolutionary firsts, our team of experts drive innovation and ingenuity in the industry. Learn more about how we help customers operate more efficiently, drive revenue and offer personalized traveler experiences with next-generation technology solutions”
– Sabre website
Key services offered by the Sabre GDS: –
- Air Availability Data – Access the customized data feed for air schedules, availability and related information for your business.
- Content Services for Lodging (CSL) – New API to access to the various Hotel properties from various Consolidators and Aggregators.
- Corporate Travel Services – Best solution for business travel that enables you to shop for corporate travellers with certain travel policies in place.
- Cruise – Access Cruise itineraries with added features like information on deck plan, ship, cabin categories etc.
- Data Services – Access rich data informatin from Sabre Travel marketplace.
- Event Notification Services- Messaging services for any changes in reservations or important updates.
- Hotel Descriptive Data Services – Access more than 1,25,000 hotel properties through Sabre Travel marketplace.
- Market Fare View – Access information on airgare itineraries and prices.
- New Distribution Capability (NDC) – Sabre is at NDC level 4 capable of providing NDC services to its customers and businesses.
With a global booking and distribution system, Sabre is related to travel technology where we have an extensive series of the flight reservation system. Sabre API services is the new face of the leading travel technology, a data-driven solution provider for your business with access to all travel data in real-time. The simplicity of booking and payment to clients is conveyed through Sabre API integration by offering an excellent solution for the travel industry. Our team of Sabre certified Developers serves in the best possible way to help businesses integrate Sabre API services in their business and get the best out of it.
Travelport API Services
Travelport, a travel technology company headquartered in Georgia is a leading service provider for airtickets, hotel contents, car rentals and B2B payment solutions dedicated to offer exceptional travel experiences, the world demands. Travelport opens it commerce platform to the businesses through Travelport Universal API.
“ Travelport powers technology solutions for the global travel industry and puts the power of the platform in your hands ”
– Travelport website
Travelport API Services
Travelport, a travel technology company headquartered in Georgia is a leading service provider for airtickets, hotel contents, car rentals and B2B payment solutions dedicated to offer exceptional travel experiences, the world demands. Travelport opens it commerce platform to the businesses through Travelport Universal API.
“ Travelport powers technology solutions for the global travel industry and puts the power of the platform in your hands ”
– Travelport website
Various Travelport API Services:
- APIs & Data Feeds
- Travelport Universal API
- Travelport Trip Services API
- Travelport Agency Private Fares XML
- Travelport Booking Feed
Travelport has 3 GDS systems – Apollo, Galileo, Worldspan and it offers rich travel contents to the various online travel agencies as well as offline agents. One can access a complete set of flight information including ancillary and optional services, Hotels, Cars, Rails with full control of features like checking price, modifying or cancelling itineraries, retrieve statuses or perform bookings.
Farenexus Group offers a complete suite of Travel API services with certified developers ready to integrate your business to any of the above GDS systems. New technologies are transforming travel, and for that our solutions are effective in today’s market. We are working behind the scenes to deliver real value across every part of the travel ecosystem.
NDC Exchange
Introduced by IATA, NDC exchange is the new face of the travel retail system. From a long time, the overall travel commerce was pleading for a centralized solution for everyone and NDC exchange just seems to tick all the boxes to address such issues. It is a xml based services that serve as a direct link between the Airlines and travel service providers eliminating the need of the intermediary GDSs.
“ NDC Exchange is a community-driven marketplace that connects multiple airlines to many sellers with a single API, regardless of schema standard and version ”
– ATPCO
NDC Exchange
Introduced by IATA, NDC exchange is the new face of the travel retail system. From a long time, the overall travel commerce was pleading for a centralized solution for everyone and NDC exchange just seems to tick all the boxes to address such issues. It is a xml based services that serve as a direct link between the Airlines and travel service providers eliminating the need of the intermediary GDSs.
“ NDC Exchange is a community-driven marketplace that connects multiple airlines to many sellers with a single API, regardless of schema standard and version ”
– ATPCO
What is NDC exchange?
NDC Exchange is the new technology initiated by ATPCO in collaboration with SITA to accelerate interoperability across the airline ecosystem. NDC exchange acts as the marketplace for the travel industry in terms of offers and orders. ATPCO and SITA partnered to create a solution for this proposal which will eliminate the barriers in adopting NDC and that is the “exchange”, which uniquely acts as a dynamic platform. The ATPCO excels in management and distribution of fare data and ancillary data to ensure unbiased pricing while SITA provides the technology and infrastructure to handle these data.
Advantages of using NDC exchange:
- Time to the market
- Control over customer information
- Cutting down on third party distribution costs
- A transparent shopping experience
- More value to the customers with direct access to ancillary services.
Advantages of using NDC exchange:
- Time to the market
- Control over customer information
- Cutting down on third party distribution costs
- A transparent shopping experience
- More value to the customers with direct access to ancillary services.
How can we help?
FareNexus Group is a IATA level 3 NDC Certified company. We are experienced in developing corporate, B2B and B2C solutions fully integrated to the GDS systems and NDC platform. We are a one stop shop to help you integrate to the API services provided by various GDS or some direct airlines through NDC program. We are among the first, who joined hands with ATPCO to develop an efficient working solution on NDC exchange. Our recent product, NexusWind is bringing a revolution in the travel industry as it offers an advanced shopping experience with access to the itineraries both from NDC airlines and GDS .
“ Solving for consolidation in NDC: To bridge the technology gaps between traditional and NDC distribution channels, ATPCO and FareNexus Group are working on enhancing the consolidation and markup processes. By exploring the development of infrastructure to support both distribution methods, we aim to provide greater interoperability for the industry ”
– ATPCO
We are a one stop shop to help you integrate to the API services provided by various GDS or some direct airlines through NDC program.
“At the core of everything that we do is a reflection of our values. We pride ourselves on working collaboratively with our clients to present them with innovative solutions while ensuring that we’re accountable and transparent with our results”
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