Yep, you read that right. Just over a year after Viator announced that they released its API for in-destination activity suppliers at Phocuswright 2014, Expedia has done the same, releasing its API for suppliers and technology providers to connect their reservation systems directly to Expedia.
The announcement was part of the Expedia Local Expert event at the Expedia Conference 2015 in Las Vegas earlier this month.
Although not a total surprise to many in the audience who have been working with Expedia on building and testing the API, the announcement was exciting nonetheless because it marks a very important milestone in the evolution of distribution for the tours and activities segment.
The horse is finally pulling the cart
In 2012 I wrote an article titled "Putting the Supplier Cart before the Distributor Horse in Travel" about the then-current state of supply and online distribution in the tour and activity segment specifically.
In the article, I speculated that the best way for an OTA to automate supply availability and deal with real-time bookings in a space dominated by small operators was to develop an inbound API that would...
"connect with an unlimited number of third parties with only a single API build.
If the API were built using Open Travel Alliance Schema, the potential to reduce build time and improve the likelihood of connectivity would also increase.
The burden to connect and maintain compliance would shift from the OTA and land firmly in the lap of the supplier or the supplier’s reservation system provider."
Since I didn't have much luck pushing for an Open Travel Alliance Schema for tours and activities (that's a whole other article), that part doesn't count.
But for the most part, the supplier API that both Viator and now Expedia have built, follow this model.
But this isn't a revolutionary idea, nor is the idea of an inbound API new.
I speculated almost four years ago that this was the way to go because it is how almost every other segment has progressed. In my mind, we (as a segment) don't need to be re-inventing the wheel.
We just have to look at what air, car, and hotel have done before us and use the parts that make the most sense to the in-destination activities vertical.
Building distribution side APIs for connectivity just makes sense.
Since Expedia has since acquired both Travelocity and Orbitz since the article was first written, it also means that the number of supplier APIs that need to be developed has been reduced.
With one API, Expedia can integrate in-destination activity shopping into all their brands including the newly acquired ones. Needless to say, that also reduces the amount of work reservation technologists and suppliers have to do.
What does the Expedia Supplier API look like?
Beginning in the spring of 2015, Expedia has been working with the first set of reservation systems to connect a set of initial suppliers.
These reservation systems include, in alphabetical order; BookingBoss, Rezdy, Rezgo, and TourCMS.
From a structural standpoint, the API is built using JSON and follows the aforementioned model.
Expedia has created an inbound supplier connector that, to begin with, allows for the checking of availability, confirmation of bookings, and processing of cancellations.
Future enhancements are currently under discussion including the streamlining of non-paper voucher redemption.
Final testing and launch of the various reservation platforms is currently in progress and on-boarding of more suppliers is in the works for Q1 of 2016. The Local Expert team will also be releasing documentation and testing scripts so that other reservation systems can connect to the API in the future.
The goal, as should be expected, is to allow as many reservation systems and therefore connected suppliers to interact with Expedia as possible. This is in keeping with the Expedia open marketplace strategy.
Why the Expedia Supplier API is different
Some will ask why Expedia releasing a supplier API is any different than Viator releasing an API.
It's true that Viator paved the way by being the first out the door with a supplier API, but Viator is the leading in-destination only OTA, so to some degree, it was expected.
Expedia, however, is a full service OTA, so releasing an API signals that in-destination activities are now a part of the overall strategy for OTAs.
The difference is that Expedia has re-engineered their entire travel platform over the past few years and has made Expedia Local Expert part of the ecosystem not an afterthought.
Unlike Viator, GetYourGuide, BeMyGuest, and other activity only OTAs, the upsell, cross-sell, and integrated sales opportunities with Expedia are much more diverse.
It can be argued that the reseller APIs for the activity only OTAs can be integrated to provide a similar experience to the one that Expedia is embarking on, but providing a fully integrated shopping experience with a single check-out is difficult to accomplish without duplicating customer information.
In addition, since Expedia already knows the customer based on air or hotel shopping or through their Expedia membership, selling activities at various stages in the travel life cycle is easier and more intuitive when you control the full travel shopping experience.
Sufficed it to say, Expedia is diving into the activity pool head first and with a strong desire to win big.
NB If you're interested in reading more about the Expedia Local Expert strategy, you can take a look at this article.