Build a Distribution Channel

If you are an Online Travel Agency (OTA) or a Channel Manager, building an app on Xola lets you connect with sellers on our platform. This gives you access to realtime availability data and allows you to push bookings to Xola.

1. Create a Developer Account

If you haven't already, please create a developer account.

2. Register you App

Using your developer account credentials, login to the App Store Console and create your app.

Sandbox (start by creating an app in the sandbox environment only)
Production (create your app in production after you sandbox integration has been approved)

There are 7 sections in the console for each app. For a distribution channel app, you'll want to pay attention to the following sections:

Basic Info
Fill in as much information as possible on this section. The Name, Summary and Description are required.

Logo
Upload a logo. This will be shown in several screens in various sizes within the Xola Seller app. So ensure that it down-scales well.

Webhooks
Realtime availability is accessible via the Availability API. Some distribution channels update their local availability cache on a period basis via polling, and others listen to webhooks to get instant notification about any potential availability changes. If you plan to build your integration to listen to realtime availability changes, you should register for the following webhook events:

Order details when an order is created (order.create)
Order details when an order is modified (order.update)
Order details when an order is canceled (order.cancel)

These events will indicate when a booking has been created or modified. Whenever this happens, the availability for timeslots schedule in and around that booking's duration may have increased or decreased as a result of the change.

Abilities
Check the box for "Distribution Channel".

Access and Visibility
Once you submit your app, the API key for you app will appear here.

3. Talk to us

Reach out to your Xola account manager or [email protected] once you've registered your app. You'll typically need to ask for 3 things:

Schedule a kick-off call with a technical resource to go over the goals of your integration (we'll do our best to point you to all the relevant docs).
Get your app approved (so that the API key works).
Request a Seller Account for sandbox testing (so that you can see how your bookings look on Xola).
Install your app in the seller account (this grants permission to make bookings for that account using your app's API key).

4. Develop!

You now have everything you need to build your app. Head over to our API docs and start building!

Here are some important references to get you started: