Travel Tech Solutions: Sell Seamlessly with Hotelbeds' Content API
As a valuable travel tech solution, content APIs (Application Programming Interface) allow applications and systems to access and communicate with each other, and with content stored in a CMS (Content Management System), or alternative content repository, such as all the information on our hotels available in our Booking API as part of our comprehensive API solutions suite.
The content API, therefore, acts as a ‘bridge’, facilitating connection between these systems and applications and enabling developers/users to retrieve, manage and deliver content across various platforms, devices, and even digital assistants.
At Hotelbeds, as part of HBX Group, we offer a content API for hotels and an activities content API, which work in conjunction with our accommodation booking API.
But before we look at the critical benefits that a content API brings to your effectiveness as a travel distributor, let us look at the important features and functions of our hotel content API and activity API, and how these travel tech solutions improve the daily efficiency of travel distributors across the industry.
How does the Hotelbeds Content API for hotels work?
The information returned by our content API can be classified as:
- Static information: information not directly related to the booking process but which is still crucial - comments, descriptions, hotel pictures, and address information.
The core concept of our content API is to ensure that valuable information related to the whole travel booking process is returned in a simple, easy to access, decipher and deliver format, in the shortest possible time.
Our content API, for both accommodation and travel experiences, is designed to return all the basic and required information needed to operate our booking API in a fast, effective manner. Quicker, for example, than having the information on an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server.
To achieve this, we limit the size of the response messages to return just the static information of the hotel booking process.
Roles and operations the Content API tool can perform
Managing hotel contents
Our Content API has been designed to retrieve all the details of the hotels available in our Booking API, and allows users to obtain these vital details through several different methods. This enables users to easily and quickly retrieve information associated with our global portfolio of accommodation options, such as room types, accommodation types, alongside lists of destinations, countries and promotions on available rates.
The information returned through the Hotel Operation – the main function of the content API for hotels – is made up of four different categories of information, all requiring a different method of retrieval:
- Hotel descriptive operations
- Hotel location operations
- Hotel complementary operations
- Other operations
Hotel Descriptive Operations
This includes all operations that can be used to describe each hotel, such as accommodation types, segments, categories and category groups, chains, image types, and facilities.
Hotel Location Operations
This group includes all operations that can be used to locate each hotel, and which are split into locations (destinations and zones) and countries.
Hotel Complementary Operations
These are categorised as all operations that can be used to complement the information of the hotels, as well as the information returned in our Booking API, such as descriptions of the room and board types, issues, and terminals associated with the hotel.
Additionally, rate comments inform users of the comments the hotelier might want clients to know before confirming the booking. These rate comments are returned in our Booking API, so it’s important to ensure that your database is regularly updated to serve this information correctly and quickly.
Other Operations
Included in this group are all the operations that are not directly related to the hotels but can be used to complement the information returned in our Booking API, including the descriptions of currencies and promotions that each rate can have.
Activities API for travel experiences
The content API contains a set of calls returning useful information regarding:
- Auxiliary data (countries, destinations, for example).
- Content for activities (images, commercial descriptions, and specific details).
The content factsheet available in our Booking API is built using a set of attributes, which contain all the information required to accurately describe a product or set of products. Some of this information is presented to final customers when offering products or services, and so forms valuable, vital information for the booking process.
Retrieving content factsheets can be done in two ways:
- Simple: a single content factsheet retrieved by its service code, and optionally, its modality. In our content API, this is called a ‘GET’ call.
- Multi: the content factsheet for a set of products, retrieved by a set of service codes and, optionally, their modalities. In our content API, this is called a ‘POST’ call.
Both the service codes and modalities are returned by the Search operation!
What benefits do Content APIs Offer?
Now, function aside, here’s why content APIs are so valuable, and why utilising one from a B2B travel expert like Hotelbeds, and our parent company HBX Group, as a leading travel ecosystem player, can ensure that your business is performing at its most optimised:
Dynamic content delivery
Content can be updated and displayed in real-time across a wider range of channels and platforms, without the need to be manually updated.
Omnichannel content management
By facilitating the creation, update and delivery of valuable content and information across multiple channels, content APIs can help ensure consistency and efficiency in the selling of travel products by streamlining the collection and dissemination of this content.
Reducing operational and development time
Standardising the methods of accessing important content in relation to booking and availabilities helps to streamline development processes and save time on performing custom integrations.
Greater scalability
Ensured by the increased ease of access for content, and the streamlined distribution to a larger number of platforms, users and channels.
Improved user experience
By better empowering the delivery of personalised content to users, refined by their preferences and context, which results in a more connected (and more profitable) user experience.
Better integration with third-party services
Such as e-commerce platforms or social media networks, alongside the more ‘traditional’ web-based booking interfaces, allowing for expanded reach and functionality.
Future proofing
By ‘decoupling’ important content from specific platforms, content APIs can help to prepare this content for increasingly prevalent tech advancements, such as voice assistants or even augmented reality. This helps distributors stay ahead in the ever-evolving travel industry.
Hotelbeds, part of HBX Group, is a B2B travel expert, offering innovative and intuitive TravelTech solutions to travel players across the industry. By facilitating valuable and frictionless connections between businesses, we work to expand the growth, visibility, competitiveness and profitability of our partners in the ever-evolving travel industry.
It’s our mission to empower choice for our partners and travellers worldwide:
- Presence in 170+ countries worldwide – with 250,000+ hotels and 23,000+ in-destination experiences, global transfer route coverage and car hire.
- Access to dedicated Account Managers, whose goal is your growth.
- 1000 sourcing and destination experts, negotiating vital rates and availabilities.
- Seamless API integrations tailored to your business needs.
- Intelligent campaigns – to assist in the capture of seasonal demand.
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