How do online hotel booking services work?

Question

Python

Hello.
Tell me please.
How does www.booking.com book hotels?
How does he know which normer is free?
How much does a hotel room cost?
Does this require access to the database of each hotel? Do hotels provide this information themselves?
If I book a room in a hotel, then the information is sent to the database of this hotel and the room is automatically assigned to me?
Can you please explain how this happens?
Thank you!

Answer 1

This is a big organizational work to attract hotels to cooperate and provide information about booking places. Very clearly debugged B2B know-how. Priceline (Booking.com) was one of the first to move in this direction and now has a capitalization of $32B .
Many current companies use Booking.com's own hotel information API to reach more audiences, along with their own local database of hotels.
As of last year, for example, the notorious Ostrovok.ru used several third-party APIs in addition to its own database of Russian hotels.
The technological component of B2B cooperation can be:
– in providing hotels with a SaaS-platform of a booking service for operational (online) reservations. In this case, the booking service has all the necessary information in real time and can make reservations with a high degree of automation. The client makes an order in the interface of the booking service, and the automated back office conducts the booking transaction. If the transaction is successful, the client receives a booking confirmation, and the hotel owners are notified through the SaaS platform interface of a new reservation.
- in unloading hotel statistics after the fact (via the API of the hotel's internal booking system) at certain time intervals. The reservation itself in this case takes place with the help of operators (or a call center, or a separate unit on the side of the booking service). Operators receive an application from the client, reserve (if possible) a place in the hotel (i.e. resolve all organizational issues with the hotel) and send confirmation/information about the impossibility of booking to the booking service client.
- in some combined way with varying degrees of automation in different areas.

Answer 2

There are several large systems in the world that are intermediaries between hotels, airlines and various services that provide the opportunity to buy / book travel services.
Here is a description of several of them:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_CRS
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_ (computer_system)
All such systems provide an API, by connecting to your site you get the opportunity to provide services for booking hotels, buying air tickets and etc…
Travel agencies also use these services.
As a rule, any hotel is connected to at least one of these systems. Thus, by signing an agreement with him, you get the opportunity to work with almost any hotel.