Travel businesses all around the world heavily rely on APIs in their daily work: they provide real-time inventory data, allow for seamless bookings, and enhance travel websites’ functionality in general. APIs have become the backbone of the industry as a whole, which makes integrating them correctly extremely important for almost any travel company.

The problem is that the integration process is not necessarily straightforward, and there are lots of potential pitfalls that can lead to inefficient systems. Before you begin your travel API integration process, make sure to check these five most common mistakes so that you can avoid them!

Caching availability data

To start the list, caching availability data — like hotel room availability or flight seat inventory — is something you should avoid at all costs. This is the type of data that changes very frequently, and caching it for too long leads to increased risks of displaying outdated information. This, in return, results in booking mistakes, a lot of hassle with fixing them, and generally poor experience.

Imagine seeing an available hotel room and deciding to book it only to find out that it isn’t available. This frustrating experience can be avoided by updating availability data frequently enough to keep it accurate. There is an obvious downside to it though: frequent API calls lead to higher costs and increased server load, so finding a balance is key.

You can implement a practical approach by using short-term caching for availability data. Depending on the API provider and the data itself, this might mean caching data for a few minutes rather than hours. A mechanism for re-checking availability upon user interaction (for example, before finalizing the booking) is also something we would highly recommend.

Not caching static data

The cache is a double-edged sword, so balancing it correctly is key. In the case of travel API integration, caching availability data may be problematic, just as much as not caching static data. Failing to store hotel descriptions, images, and location details leads to multiple unnecessary API calls, increased costs, and slower response times.

Consider implementing a strategy to periodically update cached data — once a day or week, depending on what the data is. This way, you can ensure that it remains accurate and up-to-date without the need for continuous API calls.

Poor error handling

Unfortunately, APIs can fail for a lot of different reasons — from network issues and server downtime to rate limits and incorrect request parameters. Errors are going to happen, so the most important thing you should do is handle them correctly while providing meaningful feedback to users.

Imagine yourself being an inexperienced user. You try to make a booking through a website and encounter an error message: “Something went wrong”. Even if you know a thing or two about APIs, this message still doesn’t help at all. At this point, the only reasonable thing to do is to leave the website altogether and look for a different option. An error message should provide enough information for users to understand what the issue is and what they can do to still use the API.

However, handling errors correctly doesn’t stop here, and you can implement a lot of other practices. For example, recording detailed logs of API requests and responses is invaluable for diagnosing issues, while implementing fallback mechanisms like displaying cached data or alternative options can help a lot when the primary API fails.

Not caring about look-to-book ratio

This one is pretty straightforward: comparing the number of searches to the number of bookings tells a lot, and you need to check this metric and learn from it. A high look-to-book ratio means that a lot of users don’t complete their bookings for some reason, and your goal is to figure out why.

The most common issues are poor search result relevance, slow response times, and a cumbersome booking process. Improving the ratio requires analyzing user behavior and identifying pain points in their booking journey.

There are certain universal solutions to increasing the efficiency of your booking process. First of all, utilize filters and sorting tools to help users find what they need quickly, and ensure that search results are relevant and tailored to user preferences.

Secondly, you can speed up the process by optimizing API calls and reducing load times with the help of caching and optimizing server performance. Finally, you can minimize the number of steps and the information required for the booking by offering guest checkout options and autofill features.

Relying on one provider only

As in most other types of businesses, relying solely on a single provider is very risky — APIs are no exception. It may seem simpler to manage one provider, but in reality, it just leaves your platform vulnerable to disruptions: the provider may experience downtime, change their API, or even simply increase costs, and if you don’t have another option ready, you’re in a bad spot.

Luckily, you can mitigate risks and enhance your platform’s reliability by diversifying your data sources. This is a win in multiple ways. For example, you get to diversify and enrich your offers by using one provider for flight data and another for hotel information. Another bonus is getting to manage costs more effectively and choose the most economical option for each type of data or service. Finally, If one provider goes down or experiences issues, you can reliably fall back on another provider to ensure continuous service.

Integrating multiple providers comes with its challenges, like managing different API formats and ensuring data consistency, so you might want to consider some solution for that — for example, an API aggregator.

Conclusion

Integrating travel APIs is a necessity for most travel companies, so it is not a matter of whether you should do it or not, but rather of how to do it correctly. When you decide to start the process, remember to properly cache data, correctly handle the errors, learn from the look-to-book ratio, and diversify your providers. Avoiding these pitfalls alone can get you ahead of some of your competitors, so make sure to remember our advice!