# Expedia Group Rapid API vs ETG API (RateHawk)

> ETG API (RateHawk) scores 53 (D) on agent readiness against Expedia Group Rapid API's 42.8 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do travel stays. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/expedia-rapid-vs-ratehawk
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/expedia-rapid-vs-ratehawk.md (~2,250 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/expedia-rapid-vs-ratehawk.min.md (~580 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/expedia-rapid-vs-ratehawk.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

ETG API (RateHawk) scores 53 (D) on agent readiness against Expedia Group Rapid API's 42.8 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do travel stays.

- Expedia Group Rapid API: grade E, 42.8/100, rank #674 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/expedia-rapid.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/expedia-rapid.json
- ETG API (RateHawk): grade D, 53/100, rank #554 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ratehawk.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ratehawk.json

## Which one, for what

### Expedia Group Rapid API (E)

Good for: An established travel business that already holds Rapid keys and wants Expedia's hotel inventory behind its agent.

Watch for: Partner application and site review before production, no self-serve keys

### ETG API (RateHawk) (D)

Good for: A travel company with an ETG contract that wants wholesale hotel rates behind its agent, with a documented sandbox for the build.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 45 against 25
- Schema & documentation, 85 against 78
- Maintenance & community, 65 against 25
- Transparency & trust, 56 against 42

Watch for: No self-serve key. Registration is followed by a request to an account manager, and the docs say an agreement must be signed before use


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Expedia Group Rapid API | ETG API (RateHawk) | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 25 | 45 | ETG API (RateHawk) +20 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 85 | ETG API (RateHawk) +7 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 69 | even |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 39 | 41 | ETG API (RateHawk) +2 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 10 | 10 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 25 | 65 | ETG API (RateHawk) +40 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 42 | 56 | ETG API (RateHawk) +14 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **42.8 · E** | **53 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Expedia Group Rapid API | ETG API (RateHawk) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Expedia Group | Emerging Travel Group |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.ean.com` | `https://api.ratehawk.com` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Your plan | Your plan |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | Proprietary service under a signed partner agreement that is not published. The Python and PHP SDKs on GitHub are MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | none | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-01-30 | 2026-05-08 |
| Customer content may train models |  |  |
| Terms restrict automated access |  |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  |  |
| Popularity | none | 9 stars, 12 PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 1.5/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**Expedia Group Rapid API.** Expedia's lodging inventory with shop, price check, book, change and cancel in one API. Partner application and site review before production, no self-serve keys.

**ETG API (RateHawk).** Hotel search and booking are documented in a public Swagger 2.0 file, an llms.txt index and a changelog with 64 dated entries in 2026. Access is by contract. Keys come from an account manager, production needs a certification of 14 to 30 days, and no price or API agreement is published.

## Before you call either

### Expedia Group Rapid API

1. Build the SHA-512 signature from key, secret and the current epoch seconds in that order, per request
2. Send `Customer-Ip` and the session headers the docs ask for, since fraud checks use them
3. Point everything at test.ean.com until the site review is through; the paths match api.ean.com
4. Follow the `links` in each response rather than building URLs; price check and book links carry tokens
5. Read the `Rate-Limit-Minute-Remaining` and `Rate-Limit-Day-Remaining` headers, since the docs publish no ceilings

### ETG API (RateHawk)

1. Call `/api/b2b/v3/overview/` first. It lists the endpoints the key may use and each one's request limit.
2. Keep sandbox IDs, keys and hashes inside `api-sandbox.ratehawk.com`. Sandbox region IDs are limited to 2011, 2395, 2734 and 6053839.
3. Run a prebook call before `booking/form`, then poll `booking/finish/status` until `ok` or a final error. Treat `timeout`, `unknown` and 5xx as still in progress.
4. Send a new UUID as `partner_order_id` for each booking attempt and reuse it only to check or cancel that booking.
5. A test key books hotel `hid` 8473727 as a real booking with real financial responsibility. Cancel it afterwards.

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Expedia Group Rapid API or ETG API (RateHawk)?

ETG API (RateHawk) scores 53 (D) on agent readiness against Expedia Group Rapid API's 42.8 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.

### Do Expedia Group Rapid API and ETG API (RateHawk) need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Expedia Group Rapid API and ETG API (RateHawk) without installing anything?

Yes. Expedia Group Rapid API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.ean.com and ETG API (RateHawk) at https://api.ratehawk.com.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/expedia-rapid-vs-ratehawk.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/expedia-rapid-vs-ratehawk.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "expedia-rapid", "b": "ratehawk"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare expedia-rapid ratehawk`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/expedia-rapid.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ratehawk.json

## Other comparisons with Expedia Group Rapid API or ETG API (RateHawk)

- [Booking.com Demand API vs Expedia Group Rapid API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/booking-demand-api-vs-expedia-rapid.md)
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