Best Travel APIs to Help You Build a Great Product

Travel API, or Application Programming Interface, allows travel companies to offer comprehensive booking services via a single platform. Instead of creating separate apps to book flights, hotels, or car services, API allows businesses to combine all options from different travel providers to offer customers a seamless user experience and increase client loyalty.

As a travel software development company with 12+ years of experience, we at Cleveroad are here to share our comprehensive knowledge of the best travel APIs, explain how to choose the one that suits your needs, and unveil the benefits of booking API integration.

A travel API is a web service set that allows travel businesses to access real-time data from various third-party services aggregators, such as flight bookings, hotel room reservations, car rentals, and other travel-related services, extracting them from a broad list of providers. The key function of travel APIs is data transferring across travel agencies.

Travel API serves as a bridge between travel service providers, enabling businesses to integrate external data directly into their platforms, offering seamless booking experiences and up-to-date information for customers. Travel portal API raises usability, value, and engagement in your travel platform and allows you to present the most relevant available flight or hotel variants to the audience.

To understand what exactly gives the implementation of travel booking API solutions, et's consider how the network of travel API works:

• Request API: When a customer searches for flights, hotels, or car rentals on your platform, the system sends a request to the travel API suite, which connects to the service provider's database.
• Data retrieval: The travel site API receives up-to-date information (availability, prices, schedules) from the service provider and transmits it to your platform.
• Data processing: Your system processes and formats the data into a user-friendly interface, displaying the available booking options.
• Option selection: Once the user selects an option, the system sends a new API services request to confirm the booking, and the service provider's system processes it.
• Booking confirmation: The customer instantly receives confirmation and details, allowing the transaction to occur without leaving your platform.

Thus, using travel APIs provides you with the ability to link your platform directly to travel providers' services, allowing you to provide customers with a convenient and comfortable way to book all the services they need in a comprehensive solution for travel activities.

Travel booking APIs bring a wide range of benefits for travel services providers, allowing to open up new opportunities for business growth. Let’s explore them in detail.

No standalone availability management and control

Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) and mature businesses building large travel applications provide online travel API through which software developers can extend the solution to include airline reservations, available apartments, or any other useful travel data. In this way, individual tour operators and travel agents worldwide are freed from managing and maintaining their own travel assets. Moreover, travel API empowers self-service and customized booking for customers.

Maximum client attraction and retention

Travel API enables you to retain customers without redirecting them to external travel software. Integration of travel API ensures that your travel agency takes out all customer payments using secure payment gateways. This way, flight and hotel booking APIs can help your travel and tourism website become trustworthy for all parties involved in the process.

Accelerated integration, seamless customer journey

Travel APIs can be added smoothly to the existing travel website or app and have perfect compatibility with external solutions. It enables travel agencies to implement any existing type of APIs available on the market with no influence on the functional flow. Travel API offers rapid integration, which is a way to advance the functionality at a decreased time-to-market.

Cost-saving development

The most vital advantage of working with API is that it saves time when developing or enhancing your travel application. APIs allow developers to employ ready-to-use solutions from corporate travel management companies and do not need to spend time designing code for features that have already been implemented. Thus, you can significantly reduce expenses for building your travel application.

We have accomplished thorough research and collected the best travel APIs for different tourist needs - from booking flights and taxis to detailed travel planning and finding entertainment and activities. Let's take a look at the best travel API providers for each service:

Flight booking APIs are essential for travel companies that offer flight booking services. Such API gives access to up-to-date flight schedules, prices, seat availability, and fare classes. In addition, flight API providers can utilize site data from multiple airlines worldwide, allowing your customers to choose the suitable option without leaving your travel platform and get the best travel experience.

Best flight booking API list:

1. Amadeus Flight API – Offers comprehensive global travel data, including flight search, booking, and seat selection
2. Skyscanner Flights API – Provides real-time flight prices from multiple airlines, with advanced search filters for best deals
3. FlightAware API – Specializes in live flight tracking, providing real-time flight status updates and operational data
4. Travelport Flight API – A powerful tool that integrates with airline databases for seamless flight booking and fare management
5. Sabre Flights API – Delivers flight availability, ticketing, and ancillary services with connections to multiple global airlines

Hotel API providers give your app access to extensive hotel databases, allowing users to search for rooms, compare prices, check availability, and book accommodations. Hotel content API simplifies the booking process by automating room search and reservation management, providing convenience to travelers, and increasing the efficiency of travel platforms.

Best hotel booking APIs:

1. Booking.com API – Provides access to one of the largest online hotel inventories with extensive filtering options
2. Expedia Hotel API – Allows businesses to search, book, and manage hotel reservations from a vast global network
3. Amadeus Hotel API – Offers global accommodation options with real-time availability and instant booking confirmations
4. TripAdvisor API – APIs provide access to hotel reviews, ratings, and availability to assist in booking decisions
5. HotelsCombined API – Compares prices across major hotel booking platforms for the best rates and deals

Car rental APIs are useful for businesses that want to offer customers access to car hire services. These APIs are designed to provide real-time information about vehicle availability, pricing, and location. Users can search and book rental cars at various destinations, compare prices from multiple providers, and receive instant booking confirmations. This travel content API is designed to offer additional travel services and improve customer retention.

Top travel APIs for car rental:

1. Rentalcars.com API – Offers access to rental car options from hundreds of providers, with pricing and availability information
2. Avis Car Rental API – Provides real-time vehicle availability and booking services from Avis
3. Hertz API – Enables seamless booking of rental cars with access to Hertz’s global inventory
4. Amadeus Car Rental API – Offers integration with multiple car rental services with real-time availability and pricing
5. CarTrawler API – Connects travel companies with car rental options worldwide, enabling smooth booking experiences

Transportation API allows travel agencies and businesses to combine bookings of various transport (.g., taxis, buses, trains, and ridesharing) into their platform. Such travel API provides real-time data on routes, pricing, schedules, and availability, helping travelers efficiently plan their journeys. Integration of transportation APIs ensures that customers can access various commuting options, making it convenient for travelers to manage all phases of their trip from a single solution.

Best online travel APIs for transportation:

1. Uber API – Integrates ridesharing services, allowing customers to book rides directly through the platform
2. Google Maps Directions API – Provides optimized routes and real-time traffic data for multiple transportation modes
3. Rome2rio API – Allows users to plan multi-modal journeys combining flights, buses, trains, and ferries
4. BlaBlaCar API – Offers carpooling options for travelers looking for budget-friendly transportation
5. Lyft API – Facilitates ride-hailing and integration of transportation services for end-to-end travel solutions

Tour and activity API enables travel management companies to provide customers access to local tours, attractions, events, and other travel activities. These APIs are used to enable users to browse, book, and pay for tours and activities during their trip. Integrating these travel site APIs for tourist app development enhances the customer experience by offering additional travel services.

Top tour and activity travel APIs:

1. Viator API – Provides access to various tours, activities, and excursions, with real-time availability and booking
2. Tiqets API – Specializes in ticket booking for museums, theme parks, and attractions worldwide
3. GetYourGuide API – Offers an extensive range of tours and activities, allowing seamless booking and payment integration
4. Klook API – Provides diverse travel experiences and tours with instant bookings and mobile vouchers
5. TourRadar API – Focuses on multi-day tours and activities, providing various travel experiences

Travel planning API offers businesses the ability to provide trip-planning services by aggregating travel-related data into one place. These travel APIs can be used to build itineraries, plan routes, book multiple services, and optimize travel plans. By integrating such travel data API, you will transform your application into a free travel agent and offer an all-in-one solution for trip planning.

Best API for travel planning:

1. TripIt API – Helps users organize and manage travel itineraries, integrating flight, hotel, and rental information
2. Rome2rio API – Allows users to plan comprehensive travel routes with multi-modal transportation options
3. Sygic Travel API – Offers detailed travel itineraries, location guides, and points of interest for personalized trip planning
4. Google Travel API – Provides personalized travel planning services with data-driven recommendations based on user preferences

If you are considering travel app development, you can integrate any travel API type that suits the services you are targeting or even go beyond one to build a comprehensive solution with a set of APIs that will allow you to master the tourism niche in your region.

Despite the fact that implementing travel booking APIs brings numerous advantages and significantly simplifies and accelerates travel software development, there are certain challenges that are important to be aware of before deciding to use them and moving on to selecting the best options. Let's take a look at the key nuances and ways to address them.

One of the most common challenges businesses face when integrating travel APIs is dealing with complex or insufficient documentation. Without clear guidance, it may be difficult to understand how to implement the API correctly, which leads to delays and misconfigurations. Furthermore, poor or slow customer support from API providers can exacerbate these issues.

Solution: Partner with an experienced IT provider like Cleveroad with expertise in travel software development. The team of experts can navigate any technical complexities efficiently, even when API documentation is unclear. A trusted software vendor will also offer ongoing support, helping to resolve any issues quickly, minimizing disruptions, and ensuring a smooth integration.

As travel businesses often rely on a variety of services (flights, hotels, car rentals, etc.), integrating multiple travel APIs becomes a necessity. However, managing different APIs from various providers can lead to compatibility issues, data fragmentation, and inefficiencies. Coordinating numerous services into one seamless system is a major challenge.

Solution: Turn to a travel software development company for assistance in building a travel app with multiple API integrations. Experts in the travel domain will seamlessly implement travel booking APIs into a unified platform, ensuring compatibility and smooth data flow across all services. Cleveroad experts are ready to help you manage these diverse APIs without investing excessive time and resources in coordinating them with your in-house team.

Ensuring that all travel information APIs work together and provide accurate, real-time updates is another common challenge. If data is not synchronized properly, your customers might see outdated information regarding availability or pricing, which could lead to booking errors.

Solution: Engage only those travel API providers who can guarantee real-time data access for your platform. You can also ask your IT partner to build robust systems for real-time data synchronization, ensuring that all your services provide accurate and up-to-date information. Cleveroad experts can implement advanced caching mechanisms and real-time update protocols, giving customers reliable access to the latest travel data while reducing lag or inconsistencies.

Travel businesses handle a vast amount of sensitive customer data, so it is crucial to prioritize security and regulatory compliance. Most travel applications must adhere to such regulations as GDPR, PCI DSS, PSD2, IATA, TSA, ADA, and HIPAA. Integrating APIs introduces potential vulnerabilities that can compromise this data and make GDPR or PCI DSS compliance more challenging.

Solution: An IT partner with expertise in the travel industry and a solid understanding of data security protocols will ensure that your travel app meets industry standards for security and compliance. Experts will choose secure travel APIs and implement additional data protection methods to ensure client data safety. For example, we at Cleveroad ensure data security in travel applications using such measures:

• Industry-standard data encryption
• Data encryption at rest and on client devices
• Activities tracking
• Role-Based and Permission-Based Access Control (RBAC/PBAC)
• MFA, automatic logouts

There is a wide variety of travel booking API providers, so it is quite challenging to select the one that suits you best. In this section, we’ve gathered some valuable tips that will help you to make the right choice among multiple travel APIs.

When looking for travel API, the type of data it handles is the first thing to consider. Determine whether the API provides full coverage of the travel services you need, such as flight data, hotel information, car rentals, or local events. Data quality and depth are critical to ensure that you can offer your customers accurate and up-to-date information that will improve their overall experience.

Explore pricing and subscription plans of several travel APIs offering the same functionality to plan your budget effectively. Compare cost structures, including subscription fees, usage rates, or potential discounts. Understanding the API provider’s pricing model is important to manage app development cost and ensure you can provide the features and data coverage you need without exceeding financial boundaries. Choose the API that allows you to access the required functionality within your budget.

Real-time data quality is a critical factor in the effectiveness of a travel API. Ensure the API will allow to access accurate and up-to-date information on availability, pricing, and other important details. Reliable real-time data helps prevent inconsistencies and ensures that your customers receive up-to-date and correct information, which is critical to maintaining trust and satisfaction.

Pay attention to the ease of integration with existing systems. Look for travel website APIs with comprehensive documentation, clear instructions, and compatibility with your current technology stack. A simple integration process minimizes disruption and ensures a smooth implementation. Evaluate how well the hotels and travel API integrates with your existing workflows and infrastructure.

Customization capabilities are important to tailor the travel deals API for your travel business requirements. Evaluate whether the API allows you to modify features and data presentation to meet your needs. Customization ensures that the API fits your unique business model and increases the relevance of the information provided to your customers. Look for APIs that offer flexibility in customization and integration.

Cleveroad is a travel app development company with more than 12 years of experience in the domain. We deliver professional travel and hospitality software development services to help travel agencies, airlines, and hotel chains automate business management and improve client engagement. Among the tourism solutions we build are hotel management systems, travel portals, booking engines, travel agent software, hotel CRMs, etc.

Cleveroad's software engineers have vast experience integrating 3-rd party travel tools, such as Google Maps, GPS, Mastercard/Visa, Paypal, Stripe, Amadeus, Sabre, Gallileo, OTAs, Oracle Hospitality, Hotel-Spider, and others.

To demonstrate our experience in travel software development with API integration, we would like to present one of our cases — Web platform for searching travel activities: Our client, a Singapore-based company, needed a solution that would bring together travelers looking for a place to stay and hospitality service providers, enabling travelers to find the right fit.

To address the client's business needs, we developed a web platform that allows travelers to search for services and apartments based on user profiling filters and vendor offers posted online. In addition, we created a sophisticated proprietary search and ranking system to calculate Personal Value (PV) scores and enhance the user experience.

We provided extensive platform functionality through API integrations:

• Elasticsearch API for efficient search and analytics, enabling quick retrieval of data and real-time filtering capabilities.
• OXR API for accurate and up-to-date currency exchange rates, ensuring precise financial transactions and global pricing in your application.

As a result, the client received a travel platform with unique search algorithms that enabled them to attract investors to expand their business through a unique selling proposition (UTP) and value-added product. Customer's web solution is also popular among users. The platform has more than 900 reviews from 30 different destinations for now.

Here’s our client’s opinion about cooperation with Cleveroad on travel activities platform development. You can read full review on our Clutch page.