I Built a Travel Booking Platform in India: Here's What Nobody Tells You About Travel APIs

Source: Dev.to

Every Travel API is Different (And Annoying)

The Problem:
Each provider has its own authentication method, request format, and error handling. There’s no standard, so you end up writing custom adapters for every integration.

Speed Makes or Breaks You

Day 1: Calling 15 APIs one by one took 12 seconds.

Lesson: In travel booking, anything over 2 seconds kills conversions. Cache aggressively (search results, fare rules, availability) and parallel‑fetch where possible.

APIs Will Fail at the Worst Times

Lesson: Build for failure, not success.

• Keep 3–4 backup providers for every service (flights, hotels, buses).
• Implement retry logic with exponential back‑off.
• Surface graceful fallback messages to users instead of raw errors.

India‑Specific Challenges Nobody Mentions

• Bank success rates vary widely; some gateways reject travel‑related transactions more often.
• GST complexity:
  • Domestic flights attract 5 % GST.
  • Train bookings via IRCTC have their own tax rules.

Understanding these nuances is essential for accurate pricing and compliance.

The Real Costs (What I Didn’t Expect)

Honest ROI: Travel margins are thin; profit comes from volume, not per‑transaction fees.

Key Strategies

• Start small: Begin with 5 reliable APIs and add more gradually as you validate performance and pricing.
• Aggressive caching: Store search results for the typical user session length.
• Monitoring & alerts: Track latency and error rates per provider in real time.
• Cost tracking: Log every API call to identify hidden expenses early.

Should You Build One?

• Capital required: ₹30–50 lakhs.
• Don’t build if: You expect quick returns or lack the bandwidth to manage multiple integrations and their failures.

Final Thoughts

If you have questions about any specific integration, cost‑optimization technique, or scaling strategy, feel free to drop them in the comments. Happy to share more details!