What a travel booking API costs: how the charges are built

If you are comparing booking APIs for hotels and flights, the question to ask is not only "what is the price" but "what is charged, when, and what comes back if a booking fails". This guide explains how the cost of the Idea Holiday Partner API is built. The API gives access to 700+ airlines and 10M+ hotels. It gives no amounts, because amounts change. You see the current ones in your account when you apply.

The parts of the cost

• A setup fee, shown in your account when you apply for API access.
• The supplier price of each booking: the hotel price or the airline fare. It is paid from your wallet.
• An API fee on each confirmed booking: per room-night for hotels and per passenger for flights, plus 18% GST. Infants count as passengers for flights.

How the wallet works

Bookings are paid from your agent wallet. You can spend your wallet balance plus your credit limit. The hotel price or the fare is debited when you book. If the hotel or the airline refuses the booking, the price is refunded to your wallet.

When the API fee is charged

For hotels the API fee is charged once the hotel confirms. For flights it is charged once the ticket is issued. The fee is not refunded, even if the booking is cancelled later. Because it is charged only after confirmation, a booking that is refused before then pays no API fee.

Some hotel rooms can also be held without paying first: refundable rooms whose free cancellation ends far enough ahead. A held room costs nothing and pays no API fee. If you confirm it before the pay-by time, the wallet pays the price and the fee is charged once the hotel confirms. A hold that you do not confirm is released.

Test keys and live keys

A test key lets your technical team try the API safely, and a live key is used for real bookings. Live keys work only after your business PAN is verified. For hotels and flights, every endpoint works with a test key, but bookings are demos: no hotel or airline is called, your wallet is not debited and no API fee is charged. Flight search and fare quotes still return live fares.

Protecting yourself from double charges

Every booking request carries a unique idempotency key. If a request times out and you send it again with the same key and the same body, you get the first answer back and nothing is booked twice.

Limits and alerts

You can lock each key to your own IP addresses. Each key also has a limit on requests a minute and searches a day, set by Idea Holiday when your access is approved; ask if you need higher limits. Booking status changes and a low wallet balance are sent to your server as webhooks, so you can top up before bookings are refused.

Common questions

How do I get an API key?

Register, verify your business, then apply for API access in your account. Our team approves the request and you create your keys there.

What does API access cost?

There is a setup fee and a fee on each confirmed booking. The amounts are shown in your account when you apply.

Is there a separate test server?

No. Test keys and live keys call the same production host. A test key works on every hotel and flight endpoint but only makes demo bookings, so your wallet is never touched.