Question 1

Can I change the dates on a hotel booking after my customer has already booked?

Accepted Answer

Sometimes, and it depends on the supplier rather than on your portal. A few hotel suppliers accept a change request through the API, so your staff can move the dates or swap a guest name from inside the booking screen and get an answer back within a minute. Many others do not offer that at all, and the only way to move the dates is to cancel the booking and make a new one at whatever the rate is on the day you rebook. That second route is where the money is lost, so it is worth understanding before you promise anything. If the booking is still inside its free cancellation window, cancelling and rebooking usually costs nothing beyond the difference in price, which can go up or down. If the window has passed, or the rate was a non refundable one, the hotel is entitled to keep the charge and your customer pays twice. Your portal can show the deadline and the rate type on the booking, so your staff can see which situation they are in before they touch anything. Guest names and small details are often easier than dates. Correcting a spelling, adding a late arrival note or changing the lead guest can frequently be passed to the hotel as a request, although a request is not a guarantee and the property can decline it. Ask each of your suppliers which changes they accept through the API and which need an email to their support desk, then write that into your own booking process so your staff quote the right answer to the customer the first time.

Question 2

Can a flight booking API handle bookings for children and infants travelling with adults?

Accepted Answer

Yes, a flight booking API can usually handle children and infants travelling with adults. The search can use each passenger's age and date of birth to request the correct fare category, then return suitable flight options for the whole party. The booking details must be entered carefully because airline rules are based on the child's age on the travel date. The available choices depend on the airline and the flight supplier. An infant may need to travel on an adult's lap, while a separate seat may be required or allowed in other cases. Some airlines also limit how many infants can travel with one adult. The fare, taxes, baggage allowance and seating options can differ for adults, children and infants, so these details should be shown clearly before payment. Not every supplier returns the same information or supports every request through its API. Services such as adding an infant after a booking has been made, requesting a cot or choosing nearby seats may need separate airline confirmation. The API should not treat these requests as guaranteed unless the airline has confirmed them. Before offering these bookings, check which passenger types your chosen flight suppliers support, what information they require and how special requests are handled after booking.

Question 3

Can I use my own website address for my white label travel portal?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you can usually use your own website address for a white label travel portal. This helps customers recognise your agency and keeps the booking experience connected to your brand. The exact options may depend on your glideFares plan and how your current website address is managed. You can use an address created especially for bookings, or you may be able to connect the portal more closely with your main website. Your existing website can remain where it is while the travel portal handles searches and bookings. Customers can move between the two without needing to know that separate systems are involved. To connect the address, the person or company that manages your website settings may need to make a small change. A secure connection must also be prepared before customers use the portal. The time needed can depend on how quickly those settings are updated and confirmed, so the address may not become active immediately. Before choosing an address, make sure it is easy to read, clearly belongs to your agency and will not confuse customers. You should also check whether your plan supports the type of website connection you want, then ask the person who manages your website address to confirm that they can update its settings.

Question 4

Can travel agency software create invoices and receipts for my customers?

Accepted Answer

Yes, travel agency software can usually create invoices and receipts for bookings made through your agency. The documents can show the traveller details, booking information, payment status, taxes and the total amount collected, so your staff do not have to prepare every document by hand. The exact options depend on your plan and how the booking and payment were recorded. Some setups can produce a document as soon as payment is confirmed, while others may require a member of staff to review it first. Details received from a supplier or an API may also affect what can be shown, especially when taxes or service charges are not returned separately. Your agency name, contact details and branding may be added where the document settings allow it. However, a standard invoice from travel agency software may not meet every local tax or accounting rule. Your accountant may require particular wording, tax information or document records that need a separate accounting system or an approved process. Before using the documents for customers, check which booking types are supported, what payment information appears, whether changes and refunds update correctly, and whether the format meets the rules that apply to your travel business.

Question 5

Can my staff make a booking on the portal for a customer who has phoned in?

Accepted Answer

Yes, your staff can make a booking for a customer who has phoned in, using the same portal your customers use online. Most white label portals come with a staff login, sometimes called an agent or back office login, that opens the same search and booking screens with a few extra powers. Your agent searches while the customer is on the line, reads the options out to them, and completes the booking in the passenger's name. The useful part is what that staff login adds on top. Your agent can usually see the net rate as well as the selling rate, adjust or remove the markup on that one booking if you allow it, and type the passenger details in by hand. Payment is where portals differ. Some let staff take a card over the phone, some let them mark the booking as paid by cash or bank transfer against your agency account, and some do both. Which of these you get depends on your plan and on what your payment provider permits for telephone orders. It is worth being honest about the risk on cards taken over the phone, because a charge made without the cardholder present is easier for them to dispute later. Many agencies avoid that by sending the caller a secure payment link from the booking, so the customer types their own card details and the booking only confirms once the money is in. Whether that link is available to you depends on the payment gateway your portal is connected to. Before you promise phone bookings to your customers, ask to see the staff login in a demo and watch a booking made from start to finish, and check with your payment provider which telephone or link payments they will accept on your account.

Question 6

Can I stop certain hotels from appearing on my portal?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Most setups let you keep a list of hotels you do not want to sell, and anything on that list is removed from the search results before your customer ever sees it. Agencies use this for properties they have had complaints about, for hotels in areas they would rather not send guests to, and sometimes for properties they already sell directly and do not want showing at a supplier price alongside their own. You can usually work the other way round too. If you want your portal to show only a chosen set of properties, for a corporate client with an approved hotel list or for a destination you specialise in, you can keep an allowed list instead of a blocked one, and everything outside it stays hidden. There are two honest limits. The first is that a hotel can reach you through more than one supplier, and the details each supplier sends are not always identical, so blocking a property once does not always remove every copy of it. The second is that the amount of control you get depends on your plan and on how the connection to each supplier is set up, so check what your own setup allows rather than assuming it is unlimited. The simplest way to be sure is to block one property, then search that same city on your portal as a customer would and confirm it has really gone from the results before you rely on the list.

Question 7

Can travel agency software save customer travel preferences for future bookings?

Accepted Answer

Yes, travel agency software can usually save useful customer preferences so your staff do not have to ask the same questions every time. This may include preferred airlines, seating choices, meal requests, hotel room preferences, loyalty programme details and general notes about how the customer likes to travel. What can be stored and where it appears will depend on the software plan and the booking services connected to it. Some preferences may only be shown as notes for your staff, while others may be passed with a booking when the supplier supports them. A saved preference does not guarantee that an airline, hotel or other supplier will be able to provide it. Your staff should still confirm important details with the customer before completing each booking. Preferences can change, and some requests may not be available for a particular journey. Sensitive personal information should only be recorded when it is necessary, with suitable staff access controls and permission from the customer. Ask glideFares which customer profile fields are available on your plan, then check whether the preferences you need can be saved, updated and used during the booking process.

Question 8

Can my customer fly out with one airline and return with another airline on the same booking?

Accepted Answer

Yes, a flight booking API can sometimes show an outbound flight from one airline and a return flight from another. Whether this is available depends on the airlines, the supplier connected to your portal and the type of flight content included in your plan. Some combinations are offered as one complete journey, while others are only available as separate bookings. When the flights are issued together, your customer may receive one booking reference or linked travel documents. When they are issued separately, each airline can have its own booking reference, baggage allowance, change rules and cancellation conditions. A change or cancellation affecting one flight may not automatically affect the other, and any refund will follow the rules of the airline responsible for that ticket. Your portal should make it clear when the journey uses different airlines and whether the flights will be booked together or separately. This helps your staff explain the fare conditions and check that connection times, baggage arrangements and airport changes are suitable before the customer pays. Ask glideFares which mixed airline options your connected flight supplier supports, and check how separate tickets are shown during search and booking.

Question 9

Can my customers pay by bank transfer or in cash instead of by card on my portal?

Accepted Answer

Yes, you can usually accept more than card payment, but what you are able to offer depends on the payment gateway you connect and on the supplier behind each booking. Card payment is the normal default because the money is confirmed straight away, which lets the booking go through to the airline or hotel without anyone having to check anything by hand. If you want to accept a bank transfer, or let a trusted customer pay at your office, the portal can be set up to take the booking and hold it as unpaid until your staff mark the payment as received. Your team then confirms it from the back office, and the customer gets the confirmation only at that point. The honest limit here is time. Many airline fares must be paid and ticketed within a short window, and some hotel rates are held only for a little while before the supplier releases them, so a booking waiting on a transfer can expire before the money arrives. That approach works best for quotes, group requests and hotel stays with a later cancellation deadline, rather than for cheap fares that have to be issued immediately. Whether a particular supplier allows any delay is decided by that supplier, not by your portal. The next thing to check is which payment methods your chosen gateway supports in your country, and then agree with your team which bookings are allowed to be held as unpaid and who is permitted to mark them as settled.

Question 10

Can my customers search for hotels near a particular landmark or area instead of the whole city?

Accepted Answer

Yes, most hotel booking APIs can search around a point on the map rather than a whole city, although how accurate the results are depends on the supplier's data. A hotel search is usually driven either by a place code for a city or district, or by a set of map coordinates with a radius around them. The second one is what lets your customer type in a railway station, an airport, a beach or a well known building and see the hotels closest to it, listed by distance. Many suppliers also carry named neighbourhoods, so a search for one part of a large city works in much the same way. Where it gets uneven is the accuracy of the hotel positions themselves. Most properties are mapped correctly, but some sit a little off, particularly small hotels and apartments in places where street addresses are vague. That is why a hotel can sometimes appear further from the landmark than it really is. It also helps to remember that the distance shown is a straight line on the map and not the walking or driving distance, so a hotel on the other side of a river can look nearer than it feels on the day. If searching by area or landmark matters for the trips you sell, ask your hotel supplier whether their content includes map coordinates and named districts for the destinations you sell most, and then run a few searches of your own in those cities before you put the portal live.