What are XML/ API in Travel Portals?

Travel industry is the fastest growing industry these days because traveling is an essential part of globalization. To make one globalized people travel from one place to the other. Also travel industry is the one which has provided backbone to the IT industry by introducing the concept of E-commerce where sellers and buyers are well connected online for selling and purchasing the products. In this XML plays an important role many business owners who are running E-Commerce portals may hesitate to make you understand what exactly it is. Multilink has answer for this and will make you understand in a simple way.

Well XML stands for Extensible Markup Language. It is a markup language which defines a set of rules for encoding document in a format which is both human and machine readable. It is defined by the W3C’s XML 1.0 specifications and by several other related specifications, all of which are free open standards.

Let us make it simpler to understand:

XML is a way of writing messages and sending data to remote computers and can talk to each other. It’s far simpler than it sound. Your website will talk via XML’s messages to talk to your supplier’s computer and get result to perform an action , the process will be like this:-

• User make Search on your website e.g., LHR to JFK (London, united kingdom to New York, USA)
• Your website creates an XML message that it sends to your suppliers, requesting search results relevant to the users search.
• The supplier uses an XML response to send you back their results, which usually include all details especially, price.
• The user selects one of these results to book and the website sends another XML message to the supplier with the customer details and the flight id, this is then booked by the supplier, who replies with a booking reference.

Importance
 XML in your website jumps up the price of your site and somehow makes it a best bookable website. Using XML technology, you can create a flexible, modern travel site with your own look and feel without having to invest in costly and complicated design plans. Multilink provides you such solutions.

What Is XML integration?

An XML integration is basically a connector, that acts as a "translator" between customers and suppliers allowing different formats or programming languages (usually XML) to be compatible. This way the information can appear from a flight ticket provider in the website of an online travel agency, even if they have the databases information differently structured.

XML INTEGRATIONS ALLOWS:

• Centralize inventory management
• Increase distribution channels
• Personal savings

What is API? (Application Program Interface)

API stands for application programming interface, commonly known as web services which are accessed via hypertext transfer protocol and execute a remote system hosting the requested services.
Application Programming Interface, and in simple terms is a way for one company to legitimately access the products of another. At MULTILINK, when we provide you with access to our flight API, and once it is integrated into your website, it will allow your customers and your business access to a great variety of services.

MULTINK, a leading B2B portal company, experts in implementing third party API XML integration and XML integration for global travel companies , in travel trade we provide end to end API integration solution and build travel booking system through the XML connectivity of many flight ticket booking provider company.

Benefits of XML / API integration

· API integration helps in quick development and easy maintenance of the projects as end data (inventory / information) is managed at the end of API owner’s end.

· APIs Integration benefits the branding & marketing related initiatives as it hides the information about the actual provider, whose system is accessed to fetch the data.

· Multiple APIs can be integrated into a single web based system to bring the better inventory for the end users.