WebBeds as Supplier: Everything You Should Know Before Integrate?
WebBeds is a renowned global online marketplace that offers a platform connecting various travel service suppliers to a vast distribution network of travel buyers all around the world. As a mediator, WebBeds collects inventory from travel suppliers, aggregates the content, and displays it on its platform. This platform is then distributed to their vast network of travel trade buyers, who in turn sell it to the public, making it a convenient and accessible way to book travel services suppliers.
WebBeds marketplace offers access to more than 500,000 hotels across 39,000 locations worldwide. If you want to expand your distribution platform, integrating WebBeds marketplace’s global portfolio of hotels could be an excellent opportunity to access a diverse range of accommodation options worldwide.
Let’s understand how integrate WebBeds as a supplier with its API suite – (DOTWconnect Markup Language) or as they like to call it DCML.
The overview of WebBeds API (DCML)
WebBeds is a global travel hotelMEt wholesaler that offers a vast range of hotel products. WebBeds has developed an XML-based interface called DOTWconnect Markup Language (DCML) to manage reservations and access information on their product range. This interface provides access to a proprietary reservation system, which includes over 25,000 negotiated rate properties and standard rates at over 10,000 properties. DCML standardizes the requests and responses to the different sources, providing a coherent product with a single communication interface. By using DCML, travel companies can easily access and manage reservations for WebBeds‘ extensive product range.
Standard Protocols
Go-Live Process: To begin testing, you will need to contact the WebBeds sales department and request test credentials. Remember that all transactions conducted through the DCML Test system are solely for testing purposes. While the system functionality remains the same between the Test and Live systems, bookings made in the Test environment are not forwarded to the suppliers. Once your development is complete, kindly contact the WebBeds sales department to activate access to the Live server.
Development Phase: After receiving your test credentials, you can begin developing your application or framework. The communication process is simple and involves exchanging XML messages (request-answer/response) between your system and DOTWconnect. All requests should be posted (using the POST method) via HTTP or HTTPS protocols to xmldev.dotwconnect.com/request.dotw. The system will respond regardless of whether the request was successfully processed and will inform you of the outcome of the operation. For more information on request and response formats, please refer to the dedicated area of each request.
Hotel Communication Structure
To help you process your hotel reservations, we have compiled a list of communication methods you can use to connect with the DOTWconnect server. Each method has a detailed explanation of the corresponding request and response formats. This information will assist you in selecting the appropriate communication method that suits your needs.
DOTWconnect server has the following XML requests commands for hotels:
- searchhotels
- getrooms
- savebooking
- confirmbooking
- getbookingdetails
- updatebooking
- cancelbooking
- bookitinerary
- deleteitinerary
- searchbookings
Hotels Communication Structure General Request
Searchhotels:
This method retrieves hotel details such as starting price and availability based on specific search criteria provided in the XML request. The criteria may include the date range, city, and passenger room occupancy, among others.
When making a request through DOTWconnect, there are two sections that need to be included: bookingDetails and return. The bookingDetails section contains important information about your travel dates, room occupancy, and preferred currency for pricing. The return section includes details about filtering and room information for each hotel in the response list, but only if the getRooms element is set to true.
It’s worth noting that the company offers both serviced apartments and hotels through its searchHotels method. You can examine the ratings in their XML responses to distinguish between the two. Serviced Apartments can be identified by their rating, which will have the value 48055. If you want to filter the results and retrieve only serviced apartments in the response, you can filter the rates using the filter: rating – filters the hotels based on the classification (star rating) (fieldTest: equals, in)
Getrooms
Clients must use a specific request to retrieve a comprehensive list of all room types along with their respective rates and availability details for a chosen hotel. It is important for clients to incorporate validation checks in this step to ensure that the details returned at the property level are accurate. This is because some of the results returned in the availability response may be extracted from cache systems, which could potentially contain outdated information.
When you make a request to block particular room types in the DOTWconnect system, you will receive an encrypted string as a response. This string can be used in subsequent requests to maintain the blocked room types until the booking process is completed. However, please note that the system will hold these blocked rooms for a maximum of 5 minutes only. It’s essential to keep in mind that the 5-minute blocking time is guaranteed only for FIT contracts.
Confirmbooking
This request is to generate an itinerary that includes one or more successfully booked rooms or services. Each booked room or service will have a unique reference number or booking code, which can be modified or cancelled as required.
If multiple rooms or services are booked in one booking flow, they will be grouped together under the same itinerary number. The confirmbooking method provides the option of creating a new itinerary or adding services to an existing confirmed itinerary.
Searchbookings
This method provides details of all the bookings made by a customer on the WebBeds platform. The details include passenger names, booking status, and booking codes, which are filtered based on the criteria specified in the searchBookings request.
In Summary
If you want to partner with WebBeds, you can either contact WebBeds’ account manager and take all these decisions every step of the way while letting your developers figure it out without a complete guarantee of success or choose the easier option – contacting ZentrumHub, which already has a unified platform with APIs of 50+ global top-rated suppliers, one of which is WebBeds.
With our solution, Zentrum Connect, you can go live on day 1 with WebBeds’ API. Our experienced team can own the process, ensuring hassle-free supplier integration.
