Search for Hotels — OpenBookings Guide

OpenBookings makes it easy to find available hotel rooms anywhere in the world. You enter a destination, pick your travel dates, specify your party size, and the platform returns a ranked list of options — cheapest first. Whether you’re using the web interface or calling the API directly, the same search engine runs behind every query.

Using the search UI

The search box sits in the bottom-right corner of the home page. It has three fields you fill in before hitting Find my trip.

Choose a destination

Click the Destination field. A search overlay opens with a text input powered by Algolia. Start typing a city name — results appear within a couple of keystrokes, showing the city name and country. Click a result to confirm your destination. The selected city’s coordinates (latitude and longitude) are stored automatically and passed to the search API.

You do not need to type a full city name — partial matches work. Results appear after just a couple of characters.

Select your dates

Click the date field (labelled From / Till). A two-month calendar opens. Click your check-in date first, then your check-out date. Both dates are stored in YYYY-MM-DD format. The number of nights between the two dates determines how pricing modifiers such as length-of-stay discounts are calculated.

You must select both a check-in and a check-out date before searching. Single-night stays are supported.

Set your guest count

Click the Guests field. A selector opens with three counters:

Adults — guests aged 13 or above (minimum 0)
Children — guests aged 0–12 (minimum 0)
Rooms — number of rooms required (minimum 1)

Use the + and − buttons to adjust each value. The search filters out any room that cannot accommodate your declared adult and child count, so you only see rooms that can actually fit your party.

Run the search

Click Find my trip. OpenBookings passes the destination coordinates, dates, and guest numbers to GET /api/query and returns a sorted list of available rooms.

How the search works

When you submit a search, OpenBookings looks for active hotel rooms within 250 km of the coordinates returned for your chosen city. It then filters those rooms so that only rooms whose max_adults and max_children capacity cover your party are included. Finally, the results are sorted by total_price ascending — the cheapest available option for each hotel appears first.

Each hotel contributes at most one room to the results list: the cheapest eligible room for your dates and party size. If a hotel has multiple room types that all fit your group, only the lowest-priced one is shown.

Calling the API directly

The search endpoint is a standard HTTP GET request. All parameters are passed as query string values.

GET /api/query

Required parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
`lat`	number	Latitude of the destination (decimal degrees)
`lon`	number	Longitude of the destination (decimal degrees)
`checkin`	string	Arrival date in `YYYY-MM-DD` format
`checkout`	string	Departure date in `YYYY-MM-DD` format
`adults`	integer	Number of adult guests (aged 13+)
`rooms`	integer	Number of rooms required

Optional parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
`children`	integer	Number of child guests (aged 0–12), defaults to `0`

Example request

The following request searches for hotels near central London for two adults checking in on 1 July 2026 and checking out on 5 July 2026.

curl "https://openbookings.co/api/query?lat=51.5074&lon=-0.1278&checkin=2026-07-01&checkout=2026-07-05&adults=2&rooms=1"

const params = new URLSearchParams({
  lat: "51.5074",
  lon: "-0.1278",
  checkin: "2026-07-01",
  checkout: "2026-07-05",
  adults: "2",
  rooms: "1",
});

const response = await fetch(`/api/query?${params}`);
const hotels = await response.json();

import requests

params = {
    "lat": 51.5074,
    "lon": -0.1278,
    "checkin": "2026-07-01",
    "checkout": "2026-07-05",
    "adults": 2,
    "rooms": 1,
}

response = requests.get("https://openbookings.co/api/query", params=params)
hotels = response.json()

Example response

The API returns a JSON array. Each element represents the cheapest available room for one hotel, sorted by total_price ascending.

[
  {
    "hotel_id": "a1b2c3d4",
    "hotel_name": "The Kensington",
    "hotel_slug": "the-kensington",
    "city": "London",
    "country": "United Kingdom",
    "room_id": "r9x8y7z6",
    "room_name": "Classic Double",
    "room_description": "A comfortable double room with garden views.",
    "base_occupancy": 2,
    "max_adults": 2,
    "max_children": 1,
    "rate_plan_id": "rp-001",
    "rate_plan_name": "Flexible Rate",
    "currency": "GBP",
    "is_refundable": true,
    "cancellation_policy": "Free cancellation up to 48 hours before check-in.",
    "min_stay": 1,
    "max_stay": null,
    "subtotal": 640.00,
    "total_price": 576.00,
    "applied_modifiers": ["early_bird"]
  }
]

Error responses

If any required parameter is missing or cannot be parsed as a number, the API returns HTTP 400 with a JSON body listing the problems.

{
  "errors": [
    "lat is required",
    "checkin is required"
  ]
}

Coordinates must be valid decimal numbers. Passing a string such as "London" for lat or lon will result in a 400 error.

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Search for Hotels — OpenBookings Guide

Using the search UI

How the search works

Calling the API directly

Required parameters

Optional parameters

Example request

Example response

Error responses

​Using the search UI

​How the search works

​Calling the API directly

​Required parameters

​Optional parameters

​Example request

​Example response

​Error responses

Using the search UI

How the search works

Calling the API directly

Required parameters

Optional parameters

Example request

Example response

Error responses