How to get and use Booking.com API: partnership and integration
What is Booking.com API?
The Booking API is a programming interface that enables its users (Connected Partners or hotel owners, listed on the platform) to send and retrieve data for the content available on Booking.com. This way they can handle their availability, prices, and other information.
How to get Booking API key
There is no Booking.com public API available, and the service grants access to its API solutions only to the Connectivity Partners. At the moment the platform is not accepting new registrations on the partner portal. This is due to the updating of terms and conditions for new connectivity partners. Nevertheless, they aim to re-open the application and registration procedure once their terms and conditions are released. If interested, you can keep track of that on the official Booking Connectivity Portal.
How do I integrate with booking.com
If booking.com approves your partnership application, you’ll have to present your project of integration with the booking.com platform, be it on a website or application. Only after this multi-stage approval your partner account will be activated and you will get Booking.com integration API. This will let you start developing your solution. The service also promises a personal support manager for each Connectivity partner.
Booking API examples
- Guest Review API
Booking.com Review API serves to access the reviews of a property listed on the platform. This kind of API lets a user render these in his interface and leave the reply on behalf of your hospitality facility. Note that this API solution is for the service internal use only! Guest reviews pulled by this API may not be displayed on your landing page or hotel website.
Elfsight Booking Reviews widget gives you an option of showing your Booking.com reviews on your public webpage!
- Rates and Availability Booking API
The Rates & Availability API gives the users an opportunity to set rooms availability, pricing, and restrictions for a property displayed on Booking.com. Restrictions stand for the amount of days that can be set for in advance booking and length of stays.
- Reservations Booking API
The Reservations API module serves to retrieve and update reservations info available on Booking.com. It makes reservations management a lot easier for any hospitality facility, as it gives an opportunity to monitor and confirm new reservations, see the modification made for existing ones, and also know about all the cancellation made by the users.
- Booking.com Affiliate API
Booking.com platform offers an Affiliate Partner Program for a wide range of applicants: from large companies and on-line portals to travel bloggers. This kind of Booking.com API also suits travel agents, who are working independently. After submitting an online form and getting approved you will get access to Booking.com customer-facing software (representing hotel booking API) and be able to integrate them into your website. This is an API for making reservations through your web resource.
You will earn commissions for each booking made through it.
Booking API pricing and limits
Booking.com doesn’t charge any API commission, but this also means, that the simplest way to just pay some money in order to buy Booking.com API is not an option. Even though all the kinds of Booking.com API access are provided for free, they are granted only to the approved Affiliate and Connectivity Partners. This means you have to be approved for partnership first. What concerns API limiting, there are no actual numbers presented in the official API documentation. Nevertheless, it claims that there is a certain limit of calls per minute that cannot be approached under normal API use.
Latest API changes
The service has been constantly improving its partner software for user convenience. The first version of Booking.com API was disabled in 2018 with the version 2 released the same year. All the versions carry the improvements in booking and availability details, expanding the hotel unit data.
In 2018, for example, hotel email, licence number, room info, length of stay and availability were added in Booking.com dev API versions 2.2 and 2.3 released.
In 2019 versions 2.4 and 2.5 introduced the modifications in booking and reservation, hotel details – description and types of hotels, bedroom configurations.
In 2020 were also released two versions of API – 2.6 and 2.7 with the latter being the operating one at the moment. Here a lot of improvements were implemented in the process and details of booking, hotel and room availability, children and additional policies.
Booking API documentation
The service provides its affiliates and partners with an API documentation section. This is an library of Booking.com developer API materials. It contains extensive articles about the existing kinds of Booking.com API, tutorials and sample requests.
FAQ
Does booking.com have an API?
Yes, this service has developed a range of API solutions for various partner categories. With them they are able to scrape Booking.com API content.
How to access Booking.com API?
Booking API is granted only to the approved partners of the service. At the moment the applications for connectivity solutions has been paused due to the Terms and Conditions update. But you still can become an affiliate Booking partner.
Why would I need an API access for booking.com?
The Booking API is normally used by the property owners in order to manage the information about their hotel availability, bookings and reservation presented on the booking.com website.
The affiliate API is used by the online booking agencies partnered with the service. This is a hotel reservations connections API that enables their users make bookings and reservations right on the partner website.
I am a hotel owner listed on Booking.com. Can I have access to API?
Booking.com doesn’t accept the direct applications from individual properties at the moment. You have an option to connect via a channel manager on your property management page to run the content displayed at the booking.com website.
