Spread the love

Expedia Partner Solutions (EPS), the B2B brand of Expedia Group, is today announcing the upgrade of its API platform, EPS Rapid. Version 2.3 includes three major enhancements and more than 25 additional upgrades to better meet the needs of EPS’s travel partners and to drive their conversion rates.

One major enhancement is the introduction of Value-Add-Promotions, through which travel partners can increase traveler loyalty. A recent study found that 91% of consumers are asking for rewards they care about and can use [1]. EPS’s travel partners can now reward travelers with additional benefits, from free show tickets to 10% off food and drink, with the introduction of Value-Add-Promotions on more than 17,000 properties.

A second major enhancement is the Cross-Sell Recommendations API. Thanks to EPS’s machine learning models, travelers can now receive alternative property recommendations tailored to their needs, based on their flight information. The Cross-Sell Recommendations API uses data from over 3,000 airports and over 500,000 properties to train the recommendations model and to show the most relevant properties to each traveler. For travel partners, these new recommendations should result in better conversion rates and traveler satisfaction.

Finally, EPS Conversations has been introduced to provide a more seamless travel experience for travelers. EPS Conversations enables travelers to communicate directly with properties after completing a booking, an ideal solution for vacation rentals when travelers frequently need to confirm how to access the property or find the keys. One of EPS’s OTA partners has already seen a more than 10% reduction in overall cancelation rates (both traveler cancelations and property cancelations) since implementing EPS Conversations five months ago as part of a pilot.

Ariane Gorin, President, Expedia Partner Solutions brand, says: “Since we launched EPS Rapid in 2018, our unparalleled technology has fueled the success of many travel businesses. The world of travel moves fast though, and that’s why we work tirelessly to enhance our API by releasing regular version updates based on the changing needs of our partners, helping them increase traveler satisfaction and drive loyalty.”

EPS Rapid 2.3 also features more than 25 enhancements including richer content for travelers, giving them the ability to further filter their property search by room details, bed type, star rating, language spoken or chain affiliations. EPS Rapid 2.3 also enables a smoother front desk experience, as it allows for traveler and payment handling instructions to be passed through to a property at the time of booking.

Expedia Partner Solutions introduced EPS Rapid in 2018 to give companies with a travel offering access to competitive accommodation rates and availabilities from a portfolio of over 500,000 properties with 35 different property types in more than 25,000 destinations worldwide. The API allows companies across the globe to customize their travel offering end-to-end, from shopping to booking and payment.