Travel Fare Aggregation: Real-Time Data Collection for Better Deals
This case study shows how a global travel aggregator approached 3i Data Scraping to extract fare data from a competitor’s website. This project aimed to develop an automated solution that detects and notifies of flight schedule changes. Our team successfully helped the client collect real-time insights to make data-driven decisions and ensure compliance, with a focus on region-specific accuracy.
About Client
The client is a global travel fare aggregator with a business focus on multi-modal fare aggregation. They are offering core budget travel discovery services in Japan, Canada, Brazil, Germany, India, and 15 other countries. The client’s market coverage includes flights, trains, buses, and ferries. Their core mission is to discover real-time fare and the surfacing of live & lowest fare. They are using global travel access to enable cross-border itineraries.
Client Requirement
The client reached out to us to scrape continuous fare data. They requested 3i Data Scraping for geo-targeted, rotation location-aware proxy routing. The client’s further requirement was as follows:
- Fare bundle detection by identifying bundled pricing options.
- Segment travel class that involves categorizing passengers into groups such as economy, premium, and business.
- Extract stopover durations by employing a robust layover time parsing method.
- Booking flow monitoring that allows tracking of multi-step checkout paths.
- Identify high-demand travel corridors using route popularity signals.
- Employ seasonal fare patterns to effectively identify peak vs off-season pricing.
- Multi-leg linking that enables merging connected itinerary pricing.
- Sync currency conversion and align multi-currency fare displays for a seamless user experience.
- Develop a tool that automatically detects and notifies of flight schedule changes.
- Build a historical pricing curve by performing fare trend analysis.
Challenges
The client encountered the subsequent challenges:
Solution
To address the above challenges, 3i Data Scraping provided the following solution:
3i Data Scraping developed a scraper that extracts data from competitors’ sites in real-time. It helps clients to monitor volatile dynamic pricing strategies.
To address the issue of route coverage gaps, we developed multi-modal route scraping modules.
We solved personalization deficiency through behavioral fare alert triggers.
Implemented bundle component extraction logic to streamline processes and reduce fare bundle complexity.
Used multi-step checkout path scraping to identify and mitigate flow friction.
We implemented flash sale DOM monitoring to address the identified deal visibility gaps.
To tackle the multi-currency confusion issue, we employed currency-normalized fare scraping to compare prices accurately.
Incorporated funnel-aware strategies to identify and mitigate conversion drop-offs at each stage of the customer journey, from initial interest to final product receipt.
Impact
By using our solution, the client could improve booking rates by 18%. With our extensive deal coverage, the client benefited from more flash sales. The client was able to see live fare updates for real-time visibility. They maintained a competitive edge by faster price tracking. Strategic Insights helps the client to make data-driven decisions. The client could achieve compliance assurance with a focus on the region-specific accuracy.
