FAQ

General Questions

What is the liteAPI?

liteAPI allows programmatic access to the Hotel content and the booking engine to build travel solutions and applications. The goal of the liteAPI is to facilitate a wide range of uses, from super-apps, fintech, to loyalty points and more.

Who should use the liteAPI?

You may benefit from using the liteAPI if you match one of these profiles:

As a developer, you provide solutions to clients who are interested in launching hotel products.
You manage an existing product and look to horizontally grow and monetize the users with hotel booking features within your application or product.

Why is the liteAPI being offered?

Like many organizations, we hope to encourage innovation through collaboration. liteAPI is based on the Open API based specifications which makes it easy for any developer to build an application. No prior domain expertise in the travel industry is needed.

Does liteAPI charge for the API calls?

liteAPI only charges for any excess usage of the API calls beyond the 5000:1 search to book ratio.
For more details refer to the Pricing Page

What kind of data can I access with the liteAPI?

Broadly we have segmented the liteAPI into 5 groups:

Search and Availability
Booking
Booking Management
Static content
Guest Management

For more information regarding individual groups, please refer to the API - documentation page

How can I get access to the liteAPI?

To sign up and gain access to the liteAPI, you can follow these steps:

Sign up for an account. The sign-up process usually involves providing your basic information, such as your name, email address, and a password.
Once you have signed up and logged into your account, you can navigate to the Profile settings on the dashboard. In the Profile settings, you will find the Sandbox key. This key is used to access the Sandbox environment and make API calls for testing and development purposes.
With the Sandbox key in hand, you can now integrate the liteAPI into your application and start making API calls in the Sandbox environment. This allows you to test and fine-tune your integration before moving to the Production environment.
After successfully integrating and testing your application with the liteAPI in the Sandbox environment, you can proceed to the Production level. To access the Production key, you will need to add a valid credit card to your account. This is typically done by navigating to the Payment Methods page on the dashboard and following the instructions to add and verify your credit card.
Once your credit card information is verified, you will be able to access the Production key. This key is used to make API calls in the Production environment, where live data and actual transactions are processed.

How can I test the liteAPI?

With the Sandbox key, you can integrate the liteAPI into your application and start making API calls in the Sandbox environment. This allows you to test and fine-tune your integration before moving to the Production environment. Developer SDK for different platforms are also available for even faster integrations.

Access Questions

How can I get access to the liteAPI within my application?

The liteAPI provides two environments: Sandbox and Production. API access keys for both environments are available in the dashboard. To get started with the liteAPI, you can follow these steps:

Integration in the Sandbox environment: Begin by integrating the liteAPI into your application using the Sandbox API key. You can find the Sandbox API key within the dashboard. This key allows you to make API calls and test your integration in a simulated environment.
Successful integration: Once you have successfully integrated the liteAPI in the Sandbox environment and thoroughly tested your application, ensuring everything is working as expected, you can proceed to the next step.
Adding a valid credit card: To gain access to the Production API key for live environment usage, you need to add a valid credit card to your account. This step is usually done through the dashboard, where you can navigate to the appropriate section for adding payment information.
Accessing the Production API key: After you have added a valid credit card and it has been verified, you will be able to access the Production API key. This key is used when you are ready to transition your application from the Sandbox environment to the live Production environment, where actual transactions and real data are processed.

How do I develop, build and test an application?

Use the Sandbox key with the API and SDK to develop, build, and test your application. You should use the Sandbox key to:

Test the API and gauge technical complexity
Scope resources to build your app
Project return on investment
Share prototypes with stakeholders to secure resources

Are there any rate limits?

Sandbox keys have a rate limit of 5 requests per second.

Production keys have a rate limit of 27,000 requests per minute. If you need a higher rate limit, contact us about custom rate limits.

How can I get support?

You can use the intercom widget in the bottom right of the page to contact our team.
A lot of questions can also be answered through our developer community channel on Discord. Click to join our Lite API discord community.

Payment Questions

What kind of payment methods are supported?

Supported payment methods are credit cards and wallets. We plan to add additional modes of payments in the near future.

How do you make a booking in the production environment?

A Production API key is required to make a booking. A valid credit card in the dashboard is needed, and you must fund the wallet with the credit card on file.

What is a wallet?

A wallet is a secure digital storage system that allows you to store, manage, and transfer currency for use with the liteAPI to make live bookings.

How do you fund the wallet?

The wallet can be funded with the credit card on file. The option to fund the wallet is available in the dashboard.

How often are the invoices generated?

Invoices are generated on a daily basis, depending on the number of excess requests for the day, a managed content fee per booking, and the total number of bookings for the day.

How do you pay the invoice?

Payment is automatically deducted from the wallet the same day an invoice is generated. If there are not enough funds in the wallet, the remaining charge is applied to the credit card on file.

What happens if there are insufficient funds in the wallet when paying an invoice?

In this scenario, the funds in the wallet will be used first, and the remaining balance will be charged to the credit card on file.

What happens when there are no funds in the wallet?

In this scenario, the invoice will be charged to the credit card that is on file.

What is the payment method supported while making a booking?

During the booking step of the API, a valid credit card information needs to be sent in the request to make a successful booking.

Are there any additional charges while making a booking?

A transaction fee of 2.9% or 3.9% is added to the total amount while making a booking. The fee is based on the currency and the type of credit card—local or international.

What happens when the booking is cancelled?

Depending on the cancellation policy, the appropriate refund amount will be credited back to the credit card that was used for booking, immediately upon booking cancellation.

What happens when the credit card on file is declined or becomes invalid?

If an additional card is available in the dashboard, it will serve as a backup option. In case the primary card fails or becomes invalid, the backup card can be used for transactions and payments. This ensures continuity of service and prevents any disruptions.

If no backup card is available and the primary card becomes invalid or inaccessible, the production API key will be disabled. No API requests will be processed until a valid credit card is added back to the system.

Once a valid credit card is added, the API key can be re-enabled, allowing API requests to be made again.

How many currencies are supported?

The currency API returns all supported currency codes along with the list of supported countries that the currency applies to. For more information, refer to the API documentation.

What payment gateway will be used?

The payment gateway is dependent on the currency and country code combination. The appropriate payment gateway will be automatically used. Please contact us if you require more information by submitting a support request.

What happens when I cancel a booking?

For details on canceling a booking, visit our canceling a booking documentation.

Static Content

How can I get access to the static content of the hotel?

Hotel content can be retrieved with the Static Content group of APIs. Hotels are identified by a unique identifier - hotelID. These identifiers can be searched by city, country, or using geo-coordinates (latitude/longitude).

The response includes all the information regarding the hotel including the name, description, address, currencies supported, and images.

Do you also provide images for the hotel through the liteAPI?

Yes, the hotel images are part of the API response body of the Hotel Details API. For more information, refer to the Hotel Details API documentation.

What languages are supported?

Currently, the only language supported is English. We plan to support all major languages in the near future.

Testing Content

What kind of tools are available to analyze the performance of the API?

The dashboard for the liteAPI includes a dedicated section for developers. Within this section, you can find valuable analytics that provide insights into the usage of the APIs and webhooks. Some of the analytics typically available in this section are:

Error rates: The dashboard provides information on the rate of errors encountered during API calls or webhook interactions. Error rates help you identify and address issues that may arise during the integration or usage of the liteAPI.
Response times: The dashboard also displays response times for API calls and webhooks. This data gives you an overview of how quickly the liteAPI is able to respond to requests made by your application. Monitoring response times helps ensure optimal performance and identify any latency issues.

These analytics provide developers with important information about the performance and usage of the liteAPI, helping to track the health of the integrations, identify potential issues, and optimize the overall experience.