For online travel agencies
Online travel agency software for agencies that want to own the platform
Online travel agency software is the storefront, booking engine and back office behind an OTA. PHPTRAVELS gives you all three on your own server, connected to your own suppliers, for a one-time licence.
- Flights, hotels, tours, cars
- Runs on your server
- One-time licence
- Source code on every plan
Anatomy of an OTA storefront
Six parts every travel agency homepage needs
Pick a number on the sample screen. Each part is a job the software does for you, from the first search to the paid booking.
This week's deals
- Dubai, 4 nightsfrom –
- Istanbul returnfrom –
- Desert safarifrom –
Where an OTA earns
Four levers make up the margin on a booking
No single lever pays for an OTA. The mix changes by product line, and your software has to let you pull each one.
- FlightsSupplier commission 10%Your markup 25%Service fees 45%Ancillaries 20%
- HotelsSupplier commission 45%Your markup 40%Service fees 5%Ancillaries 10%
- ToursSupplier commission 30%Your markup 55%Service fees 5%Ancillaries 10%
- CarsSupplier commission 50%Your markup 25%Service fees 5%Ancillaries 20%
- Supplier commission
- Your markup
- Service fees
- Ancillaries
Illustrative split for a sample OTA, not industry data. Your supplier contracts decide the real numbers.
Supplier commission
A share the supplier pays you on each sale. Common on hotels and car hire, often thin or zero on air.
Comes from your own contracts and credentials, so the rate is the one you negotiated.
Your markup
What you add on top of a net rate. The main lever on hotels, tours and anything you contract yourself.
Set per product line, supplier or destination in the admin.
Service fees
A booking or ticketing fee per order. On flights it is often the main income, because airline commission is low.
Fold it into your pricing rules so it is part of the price shown.
Ancillaries
Add-ons sold with the trip: transfers, insurance, eSIM data, visas and tours at the destination.
Each add-on is another module in the same basket and the same booking record.
The short answer
What online travel agency software does
An online travel agency buys travel from suppliers and sells it to the public on a website. The software is everything in between: the search and checkout customers see, the connections that fetch live rates, and the admin where your team handles bookings, refunds and documents.
PHPTRAVELS is that software as one PHP application. You install it on your own server, switch on the product lines you sell, connect suppliers with your own credentials and sell under your own brand. If your main need is the back office rather than the storefront, read about our OTA management system.
Starting from zero? Our guide on Start an OTA covers licences, contracts and the first month.
- What it is
- Storefront, booking engine and back office in one application
- Who it is for
- New OTAs, agencies moving online and OTAs leaving rented platforms
- Sells
- Flights, hotels, tours and cars, with ferries, rail, visas and more as modules
- Runs on
- PHP 8.4+, MySQL or MariaDB, Apache, from 1 GB RAM
- Your data
- Customers and bookings stay in your own database
- Licence
- Paid once, no share of each booking
How a booking moves
One OTA booking, minute by minute
A sample flight and hotel booking, traced through the system. The same steps run for every product line.
Sample booking PT-20418, London to Dubai
- 00:00
Search
The customer searches LHR to DXB. The engine asks each connected flight supplier at the same time and merges the answers.
- 00:01
Price
Your markup, taxes and currency rules apply before a single result shows, so every price on screen is your selling price.
- 00:04
Basket
A hotel for seven nights joins the flight in one basket. The customer sees one total.
- 00:06
Pay
One payment through your gateway. The booking is stored under one customer and one reference.
- 00:07
Confirm
The system books each item with its supplier and records each supplier's status on the same booking.
- 00:08
Documents
E-ticket, hotel voucher and invoice go out by email once the suppliers confirm.
- Day 3
Service
The customer asks to change the hotel dates. Staff handle it from the admin, not from a supplier extranet.
- Month end
Report
The booking shows up in sales, margin and supplier payables by product line, ready to export.
Back office
Who uses which part of the admin
One installation serves the whole company. This is how the work usually splits in an OTA.
| Admin areas by team | Commercial | Operations | Finance | IT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Markups, coupons and currencies | Owns it | Uses it | Rarely | Uses it |
| Bookings and amendments | Uses it | Owns it | Rarely | Rarely |
| Cancellations and refunds | Rarely | Owns it | Uses it | Rarely |
| Tickets, vouchers and invoices | Rarely | Owns it | Uses it | Rarely |
| Reports and exports | Uses it | Uses it | Owns it | Rarely |
| Supplier connections | Uses it | Rarely | Rarely | Owns it |
| Staff roles and access | Rarely | Uses it | Rarely | Owns it |
| Code, hosting and updates | Rarely | Rarely | Rarely | Owns it |
Owns itUses it
Own or rent
What a per-booking fee costs at your volume
Rented OTA platforms often charge a fee or share on each booking. Put in your own numbers and see when a one-time licence pays for itself.
Per-booking fees in a year
–
Months until the licence is paid back
One-time licencemonths
Your assumptions, not a quote from any vendor. Hosting and supplier costs apply either way.
For a full side-by-side, read Self-hosted vs SaaS.
Before you go live
Launch checklist for a new OTA
Tick what you already have. Most delays come from contracts and payments, not from the software.
0 of 8 ready
Pricing
Pick a plan by the OTA you run
Three one-time licences. Mobile apps and the JSON API are add-ons on any plan.
Startup
One-time licence
A new OTA testing one market and a few suppliers.
Setup: 7 to 10 business days
- Custom branding
- Single domain and currency
- Source code access
Agency
One-time licence
An agency with repeat customers and growing volume.
Setup: 1 to 2 business days
- Customer wallet
- Priority queue
- Source code access
Enterprise
One-time licence
An OTA selling across markets, to the public and to agents.
Setup: 4 to 6 hours
- Multi-currency and unlimited domains
- B2B agent portal and white label
- Code customisation rights and lifetime updates
Selling to other agencies too? See the B2B travel portal.
FAQ
Online travel agency software questions
What OTA founders and operators ask before they choose a platform.
Talk to salesIt is the system an OTA runs on: the public storefront with search and checkout, the supplier connections that return live rates, and the back office for bookings, refunds, documents and reports. It sits between your supplier contracts and your customers.
Yes. Each product line is a module on the same codebase, so they share one search box, one basket, one customer record and one admin. Ferries, rail, visas and other modules can be added as you sign more contracts.
No. PHPTRAVELS is a one-time licence. Your bill does not grow when your bookings do. You still pay your own hosting and any supplier or gateway fees.
Yes. You connect suppliers with your own credentials, so the rates and commission are the ones you negotiated. You can also load hotels, tours and transfers you contract directly and sell them in the same search.
Through four levers: commission paid by suppliers, the markup you add to net rates, service fees per booking, and ancillaries such as transfers, insurance and eSIM data. The mix differs by product. Flights often rely on fees, hotels and tours on commission and markup.
On your own server. It needs PHP 8.4 or newer, MySQL or MariaDB and Apache, with at least 1 GB of RAM. Customer and booking data stay in your database, under your own backup policy.
Platform setup takes 7 to 10 business days on Startup, 1 to 2 business days on Agency and 4 to 6 hours on Enterprise. Supplier certification and payment gateway approval usually take longer than the software.
Yes, on the Enterprise plan. It adds a B2B agent portal to the same installation, with separate rates, commissions and wallet balances for each agent.
Keep exploring
More from the platform
- Travel reservation systemOne booking record for flights, hotels, tours and cars
- B2C travel portalPublic booking site for flights, hotels, tours and cars
- OTA management systemBack office for reservations, agents and suppliers
- Start an OTAThe step-by-step playbook
- B2B travel portalAgent tiers, markup layers, credit limits and settlement
- Self-hosted vs SaaSOwnership against convenience