Should you build your own B2B travel portal or use an existing platform? After 10+ years of working with travel technology, here's the honest breakdown - including the stuff vendors don't usually tell you.
Let me start with something most articles on "B2B travel portal development" won't tell you: building a travel booking platform is significantly harder than it looks. I've seen companies underestimate it, blow budgets, miss deadlines by years, and in some cases, abandon projects entirely.
Not trying to scare you - just setting expectations. Because the development agencies selling these projects don't always tell the full story.
A typical web application takes data, processes it, shows results. Simple enough. Travel booking adds layers of complexity:
And that's just hotels. Add tours, transfers, flights - each with their own quirks - and you see why this gets complicated fast.
"We'll just connect to a few hotel APIs and build a nice frontend." I hear this a lot. The reality is that supplier integration is maybe 40% of the work. The other 60% is booking management, edge case handling, reconciliation, support tooling, and all the stuff nobody thinks about upfront.
This is the big question. Let me lay out both sides fairly:
| Factor | Build Custom Portal | Use Existing Platform |
|---|---|---|
| Upfront Cost | $50,000 - $200,000+ | $0 - $5,000 |
| Ongoing Cost | $10,000 - $30,000/year maintenance | Per-booking or monthly fees |
| Time to Market | 6-12 months | Days to weeks |
| Customization | Complete control | Limited to platform features |
| Risk | Higher - project can fail | Lower - proven solution |
| Supplier Relationships | You negotiate directly | Platform's existing suppliers |
| Technical Expertise Needed | Full dev team required | Minimal |
For 90% of travel businesses, using an existing platform is the right call. Custom development only makes sense if you have a clear differentiator that requires custom technology. Most companies that say they "need" custom development actually just haven't found the right platform yet.
Alright, if you've decided to build, here's what you're actually looking at:
There's no single "right" stack, but here's what works well for travel portals:
| Component | Recommended | Alternative |
|---|---|---|
| Backend | Node.js, Python (Django/FastAPI), PHP (Laravel) | Java, .NET, Go |
| Frontend | React, Vue.js | Angular, Next.js |
| Database | PostgreSQL + Redis | MySQL, MongoDB (for logs) |
| Search | Elasticsearch (for hotel search) | Algolia, PostgreSQL full-text |
| Queue System | Redis Queue, RabbitMQ | AWS SQS, BullMQ |
| Hosting | AWS, Google Cloud | Azure, DigitalOcean |
This handles communication with hotel/tour suppliers. Expect to build:
For hotels especially, you need fast search across potentially millions of records:
The actual reservation flow:
Admin tools for your team:
For your travel agent customers:
| Cost Type | What It Means | Annual Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Maintenance | Bug fixes, security patches, minor updates | 15-20% of build cost |
| Server costs | Hosting, databases, CDN, monitoring | $500-5,000/month |
| Supplier API fees | Some suppliers charge for API access | Varies widely |
| Payment processing | Per-transaction fees | 2-3% of GMV |
| Security/compliance | SSL, PCI compliance, audits | $5,000-20,000 |
| Support tooling | Ticketing system, chat, phone | $2,000-10,000 |
A "standard" $120K portal will cost roughly $25-35K/year to maintain and operate. Before it generates a dollar of revenue, you're $150K+ in. That's 10-15% margins on $1 million in bookings just to break even on the tech investment.
When a development agency says "6 months," mentally add 50%. Here's what a realistic timeline looks like:
Requirements documentation, supplier selection, technical design, API access setup. Most teams underestimate this - getting supplier API credentials alone can take weeks.
Basic booking flow, supplier integration (first supplier), database design, user authentication. This is where you start seeing something working.
Additional suppliers, search optimization, admin panel, payment integration. The "fun" part where things come together.
QA testing, bug fixes, performance optimization, security hardening. Always takes longer than expected. Always.
Limited release to internal users or friendly agents. Real-world testing reveals issues you didn't anticipate.
Public release, scaling adjustments, rapid bug fixes. You'll be putting out fires for the first few months.
Total realistic timeline: 10-14 months for a standard B2B travel portal. I've seen faster, but those projects usually had experienced teams and clear scope. I've also seen 2+ year timelines when scope keeps expanding.
This is where most travel portal projects hit unexpected delays. Connecting to hotel and tour suppliers isn't plug-and-play.
Some use REST, others SOAP XML. Response formats vary wildly. Rate structures differ. You'll build custom adapters for each supplier.
Getting API access from major suppliers takes 2-8 weeks. Some require contracts, deposits, or minimum volume commitments.
Same hotel, same room, different names. "Deluxe King" from one supplier is "Superior King Room" from another. You need matching logic.
Some suppliers have rock-solid APIs. Others timeout regularly, send malformed data, or have undocumented behaviors. Build for failure.
| Supplier | Strength | Integration Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Hotelbeds | Broad global coverage | Medium - good documentation |
| DIDA | Strong Asia inventory | Medium - Chinese company, response times vary |
| W2M | European/Middle East | Medium |
| RateHawk | Competitive rates | Easy - modern API |
| Viator/TripAdvisor | Tours & activities | Medium |
Getting 2-3 good suppliers integrated and working reliably is a 3-4 month project in itself. Don't underestimate this.
If full custom development doesn't make sense for your situation, here are the alternatives:
Platforms like ours (DMC Quote) give you immediate access to suppliers without building anything. You get wholesale rates, booking tools, and support. No development, no maintenance, no supplier negotiations.
Best for: Agencies that want to start immediately with minimal investment.
Some providers offer white-label platforms you can brand as your own. You get a turnkey solution without custom development, though customization is limited.
Best for: Companies that want their own branded platform without building from scratch.
Build a custom frontend/booking experience but use existing platforms or aggregators for supplier connectivity. You get branding control without the hardest integration work.
Best for: Companies with specific UX requirements but standard booking needs.
Use a platform's API (like ours) to power your own booking site. You build the customer-facing experience; we handle supplier integration and booking processing.
Best for: Tech-capable companies that want customization without full backend development.
Start with an existing platform. Learn what works, what doesn't, what you actually need. If after 12-18 months you genuinely have requirements that can't be met, then consider custom development. By then you'll have real data on what matters.
Technical details on using our API to power your own booking platform.
Overview of our complete booking platform - the "buy" option.
Complete guide to launching your travel business.
Our hotel booking platform in action.
Why spend months building when you can start immediately? Free access to 50,000+ hotels, no development required.
Questions about API integration or white-label options? Call +65-8948-0242