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Google Announces Major Change – Will Kayak and Travel Websites Collapse?!

Google Announces Major Change – Will Kayak and Travel Websites Collapse?!

Google announced a major change and there are fears travel websites like Kayak will collapse. The issue is centered around Google’s QPX Express API service shutdown. After the search engine giant confirmed that it will be shutting off developer access to a feed that automates data for airfare search engines, concerns about the impact on third-party travel sites grew.

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Google’s fact page for software developers has a couple of short answers…

How long can I continue to use the QPX Express API?
The QPX Express API service ends on April 10, 2018. If you have signed up for the service, you can continue to use it through that date.

Can new users sign up for the service through April 10, 2018?
No. New users can no longer sign up for the QPX Express API service.

Will usage fees remain the same for this service through April 10, 2018?
The usage fee has been reduced from $0.035 to $0.02 per query in excess of the free quota of 50 queries per day. The fee will remain at that level through April 10, 2018.

What steps should I take?
You don’t need to take any action. However, if you are actively using the QPX Express API service, you may want to find an alternate solution before April 11, 2018.

So what does all that mean? Currently, it’s unclear how and if the shutdown will impact customers like Bing Travel, CheapTickets, Kayak.com, Orbitz, American, United Airlines, US Airways, and Virgin Atlantic. The lack of the QPX Express API service could force the third party services to build their own databases by going directly to the airlines. There are strong doubt it will cause travel websites like Kayak to collapse, but it will likely cause some issues. According to The Verge, “A spokesperson for Kayak and its parent company The Priceline Group declined to comment because ‘this doesn’t affect Priceline.com or KAYAK.’” The site also mentioned a statement from Google crediting low interest for the shutdown. “We decided to no longer support the QPX Express API given the low interest among our travel partners,” the spokesperson said. “Instead, we’ll focus on our other enterprise solutions for partners and users.

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Will Google’s major change force Kayak and other travel websites into collapse? It’s possible but highly unlikely. What do you think? Have you used Google’s travel options?

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