Partners, and what we get paid for
Every travel system is assembled from other people's systems. This page says which ones we work with, how we are paid, and what to ask any technology supplier before you sign anything — including us.
Five kinds of partner, five different relationships
The word partner is used loosely in this industry, usually to imply an endorsement that was paid for. These are the five kinds of relationship we actually have, and what each one means commercially.
| Kind of partner | Examples of the category | What the relationship is |
|---|---|---|
| Booking platforms | Bokun and similar reservation systems | We integrate with them for clients. Our team has years of Bokun integration work behind it |
| Payment gateways | OnePay and other domestic and international gateways | We set up and integrate the gateway; the merchant contract is between the gateway and you, in your name |
| Infrastructure suppliers | Hosting, domains, mail delivery, messaging | Bought in your name where possible, so nothing critical sits in an account you cannot reach |
| Development partners | Outside teams engaged per project | They work to our written specification, and their output is reviewed by our core team before it reaches your system |
| Operators and DMCs on the platform | Tour operators and destination companies running izBooking | Customers first. Some also become distribution partners for each other, which is their arrangement rather than ours |
We are not a reseller, and we do not take referral commission
When we tell you to use a particular booking system, gateway or host, we are not paid by that supplier for saying so. There is no referral fee, no revenue share and no volume rebate sitting behind the recommendation.
This is not a moral position, it is a practical one. Advice that pays the adviser is a sales pitch wearing a consultant's jacket, and in this industry operators have usually been on the receiving end of one before. If a commercial relationship ever exists, it goes in writing in the same document as the recommendation, at the point where you are deciding — not in a footnote later.
- We do not resell third-party software with a margin added.
- We do not sign exclusivity with a platform that would stop us recommending something better for you.
- We do not receive a share of your payment processing fees.
- We do bill you for the work of integrating whatever you choose, which is where our money comes from and is stated in the quotation.
izBooking is our own product. When we recommend it we have an interest, and we say so in the same sentence. If a client is better served by a competing platform we integrate that instead, and it happens.
How a typical build is assembled
A travel website that takes bookings is rarely one system. A typical Under2 build puts four or five of the partner kinds above into one working chain, and each link has an owner you can name before anything goes live.
- The booking platform holds products, availability and prices. It is either izBooking or a system you already use, such as Bokun.
- The website reads from that platform rather than keeping its own copy, so a price changed in one place is the price shown everywhere.
- The payment gateway takes the money under a merchant contract in your name, and the settlement goes to your account, not ours.
- Hosting, domains and mail delivery sit in accounts in your name where possible, with our access granted to them rather than the other way round.
- Where the project needs extra hands, a development partner builds to a written specification and our core team reviews the work before it reaches you.
Written down like that, the chain looks obvious. In practice trouble tends to start at the one link nobody owns — the gateway contract, the domain account or the mail sender — and the fix starts with putting a name next to it.
Becoming a partner of Under2
We take on few partners and the bar is about consequences rather than logos. What we look for, whichever direction the relationship runs:
- A named person on both sides who answers within a working day. Partnerships fail in the inbox before they fail anywhere else.
- A documented interface. If we are integrating with you, an API with real documentation and a test environment, not a spreadsheet export and goodwill.
- Clear ownership of customer data, in writing, including what happens when the arrangement ends.
- No requirement that we stop recommending alternatives to our clients.
- For development partners: willingness to work to a written specification and to have code reviewed.
If you are a DMC, an operator or a technology supplier and that reads like a workable basis, the contact page is the way in. A first message that says what you do and what the integration would actually move gets a real answer.
Questions to ask any travel technology supplier before signing
Ask these of us as well. A supplier who cannot answer them in writing is telling you something.
- Who owns the data, and can you export bookings, customers and products in a standard format without asking permission?
- Whose name is on the payment gateway contract, and who receives the settlement?
- What happens on the last day of the agreement — what do you keep, and how long do you have to move?
- Is there a written out-of-scope list, or only a list of what is included?
- Who holds the API keys and production credentials, and how are they rotated when someone leaves?
- Are you being paid by anyone else for this recommendation?
- What is the escalation path when something breaks at 9pm on a Saturday, and who specifically answers?
Our answers to the same list are on the security page and in every quotation we send.
What we do not do as a partner
- We do not enter exclusive arrangements that limit what we can recommend to a client.
- We do not white-label another company's platform and present it as ours.
- We do not pass client contact lists to partners, in either direction.
- We do not take a cut of a client's bookings in exchange for an introduction.
Talk to us about an integration or a partnership
Tell us what your system does and where it would connect. You get a technical answer rather than a partnership deck.
What travel operators ask us most
Are you a Bokun agency or reseller?
We are neither. We are an integrator with deep practical experience of Bokun, gained over years of connecting it to live travel websites.
You buy Bokun from Bokun. We are paid for connecting it properly to your site, your channels and your accounting.
Will you recommend a competitor's product over your own?
It happens, and we would rather say it here than be caught pretending otherwise. If your volume, your channel mix or your accounting setup fits another platform better, integrating that is normal paid work for us.
What we will not do is recommend our own product without disclosing that it is ours.
Can we speak to a business you already work with?
Yes, for the kind of project you are running and with that business's agreement. We do not publish client names on this site; a client's name is theirs to publish.
Ask in the first conversation and we will say which reference fits your case before any quotation.
Can we resell Under2 products under our own brand?
izBooking is already white-label, so your guests see your brand rather than ours. That is a licensing arrangement rather than a reseller margin, and the terms are written before anything goes live.
Agency arrangements where you sell our build services to your own clients are possible and are agreed case by case.
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Tell us what you are trying to run
What you sell, what you use today, and what is breaking. You get a written answer with an approach and a price range - not a brochure.