Expedia Affiliate Network (EAN) has announced EAN Rapid, a new API solution which allows EAN’s partners to provide greater choice to their customers and is built with the flexibility to adapt to evolving partner business needs and growth targets.

EAN Rapid, initially offered to new partners only, is EAN’s latest technical solution developed to help power the travel industry and offer travellers the best choice possible.

The solution gives partners faster access to competitive rates and availabilities from more than 400,000 accommodations across the globe. Built using the latest technology, EAN Rapid has been designed with a new modular architecture to allow for versatility to meet partners’ varying needs. The API also introduces faster responses for partners, providing a more efficient customer experience overall. All additional functionalities will now be introduced through fixed release schedules, making it easier for partners to plan and adopt more efficiently in the future.

EAN Rapid offers 35 different accommodation types including hotels, resorts, B&Bs, ryokans, riads, treehouses and houseboats, giving travellers access to unique and meaningful experiences across more than 25,000 destinations around the world. The platform’s new format enables the different property types to be visible to partners, allowing them to prioritise certain types according to travellers’ preferences and their own marketing activities. This will also enable partners to recognise new accommodations that are introduced as the Expedia group continues to broaden the volume and range of properties available through EAN.

Ariane Gorin (above), president of Expedia partner solutions brand, says: “In 2017, the Expedia group spent more than $1.3B in technology innovation. In our partner business, we leverage that R&D investment by advancing our products to provide our partners with the best solutions possible to drive their businesses. EAN Rapid is one of these innovations. EAN’s new API is all about speed, giving our partners faster access to our rates and availabilities in order to service their customers better.”

XML Travelgate, specialists in XML integration to the travel industry, are the first platform partner to be certified to launch EAN Rapid.

Pedro Camara (below), CEO, XML Travelgate, says: “We are excited to be the very first platform partner to integrate EAN Rapid into our system. The API will give us the ability to connect our clients to EAN’s rates and availabilities faster than ever. In turn, our clients will be the first in the world to be seamlessly connected to EAN’s unrivalled portfolio.

“Working with EAN has enabled us to expand beyond distribution to deliver innovative solutions, such as HotelX, our new GraphQL-based API for our clients and partners. We look forward to leveraging EAN Rapid to grow and scale our business even further.”

EAN Rapid provides access to more than 13 million property images, ensuring that over 85% are large scale. Research shows that images are a vital part of the booking process. TripAdvisor found that travellers are 150% more engaged on accommodation listings with more than 20 photos, which is why EAN aims to provide at least 20 photos for every accommodation listing through EAN Rapid.

Gorin concluded “And this is only the beginning. We will continue to invest in and enhance features for EAN Rapid. The API allows us to help our partners scale their businesses faster than ever before. Ultimately, we understand the power of travel and want more people to discover the world, and Expedia’s goal is to make accessing travel better for everyone – whether they come to Expedia’s family of websites or one of our partners.”