What’s DerbySoft Content Distributor API?

The DerbySoft Distributor API is a standardized solution designed to access hotel content in GHR and is based on the OTA 2016B specification. Two (2) message types are used for this: OTA_HotelSearchRQ/RS and OTA_HotelDescriptiveInfoRQ/RS. 



Who are the target customers?

This API caters to key players in the property distribution landscape:

  • Online Travel Agencies (OTAs): Require real-time access to bookings.
  • Metasearch Engines: Depend on accurate, live data to compare across multiple sources.
  • Corporate Travel Platforms: Need standardized property content to enforce travel policies and simplify bookings for business clients.
  • Traditional Travel Agencies: Automate content updates to replace outdated manual processes.
  • Niche Travel Platforms: Focused on specific markets (e.g., luxury stays, boutique properties) and require tailored data feeds.



What does Content Distributor API have?

  • OTA_HotelSearch: Used to request and receive a list of hotel codes that have had changes since the date/time specified in the request.  Multiple suppliers can be requested in a single request.
  • OTA_HotelDescriptiveInfo: Used to request and receive the current descriptive content and images for each hotel returned in the HotelSearchRS message.



Notes

For the initial download of properties, either by a new distributor beginning to use the API or an existing distributor with access to a new supplier, the initial OTA_HotelSearchRQ can be used with a @LastModifyDateTime that is well in the past, such as 2 years ago, to ensure all Hotel IDs are returned. Since this will result in a very large number of Hotel IDs, this means there will also be a very large number of subsequent HotelDescriptiveInfoRQ messages sent in order to gather the content for all of those hotels. Therefore, DerbySoft will allow up to 5 concurrent OTA_HotelDescriptiveInfoRQ messages to be sent to speed up the content download process. Because each OTA_HotelDescriptiveInfoRQ message can contain up to 25 hotel IDs, that means content for 125 hotels can be requested at one time.       

**PLEASE NOTIFY DERBYSOFT AT CONTENTSERVICES@DERBYSOFT.NET PRIOR TO STARTING AND IMMEDIATELY AFTER COMPLETING A LARGE PROPERTY DOWNLOAD SO THAT WE CAN MONITOR THE PROCESS.**"



Download the API Excel attachment (updated to 2025.5.28) below.