tripadvisor

TripAdvisor Content API

Search and retrieve hotel, restaurant, and attraction data from TripAdvisor. Ratings, rankings, reviews, photos, amenities, subratings, trip types, awards.

Base URL: https://api.content.tripadvisor.com/api/v1

Rate limit: 50 calls per second.

Monthly quota: 5,000 API calls per month. Each curl request = 1 call. A full hotel lookup (search + details + reviews + photos) = 4 calls. Budget accordingly. Prefer search + details (2 calls) and only fetch reviews/photos when specifically needed.

API limits: Up to 10 results per search. Up to 5 reviews and 5 photos per location.

Authentication

First-time setup gotcha: TripAdvisor requires whitelisting your outbound IP at https://www.tripadvisor.com/developers before the key works. Without this, every call returns User is not authorized to access this resource with an explicit deny. This is the #1 first-time failure mode. Whitelist before troubleshooting auth or quotas.

• How to find your current IP: curl ifconfig.me
• Propagation: changes take 1-5 minutes (AWS edge cache).
• Multi-IP: residential CGNAT, VPN exits, and different networks each need their own entry.
• No Referer alternative: the free tier requires IP whitelisting; HTTP Referer restriction is not available.
• Verify which key is which: the developer portal shows the last 4 chars only (e.g. "Ends in 11D7"), so you can confirm without exposing the secret.

Set TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY in your .env file:

# In .env (gitignored)
TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY=your_key_here

Then source it before calling:

export $(grep TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY .env | xargs)

Error signatures

Response	Meaning	Fix
User is not authorized to access this resource with an explicit deny	IP not on allowlist	Whitelist current IP at the developer portal, wait 1-5 min
Forbidden / 403 with no body	Bad or expired key	Regenerate key
429 Too Many Requests	Hit monthly quota (5,000 calls)	Wait until next month or upgrade tier

Endpoints

1. Location Search

Find locations by name. Returns up to 10 results.

curl -s "https://api.content.tripadvisor.com/api/v1/location/search?key=$TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY&searchQuery=NOFO+Hotel+Stockholm&category=hotels&language=en"

Parameters:

Param	Required	Description
searchQuery	Yes	Text search query (name of hotel, restaurant, city)
category	No	Filter: hotels, restaurants, attractions, geos
phone	No	Phone number filter (any format, no leading +)
address	No	Address filter
latLong	No	Lat/long pair, e.g. 59.3127,18.0716
radius	No	Radius from latLong (number)
radiusUnit	No	km, mi, or m
language	No	Default en. Supports 40+ languages.

Response shape:

{
  "data": [
    {
      "location_id": "237656",
      "name": "Nofo Hotel",
      "address_obj": {
        "street1": "Tjarhovsgatan 11",
        "city": "Stockholm",
        "country": "Sweden",
        "postalcode": "116 21",
        "address_string": "Tjarhovsgatan 11, Stockholm 116 21 Sweden"
      }
    }
  ]
}

2. Location Details

Get comprehensive info for a location by ID. This is the richest endpoint.

curl -s "https://api.content.tripadvisor.com/api/v1/location/{locationId}/details?key=$TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY&language=en&currency=USD"

Parameters:

Param	Required	Description
locationId	Yes (path)	TripAdvisor location ID from search
language	No	Default en
currency	No	ISO 4217 code, default USD

Response includes:

• name, web_url, address_obj, latitude, longitude, timezone, phone
• rating (string, e.g. "4.6"), num_reviews (string, e.g. "845")
• review_rating_count: breakdown by star ({"1": "7", "2": "10", ...})
• ranking_data: ranking (#10), ranking_out_of (168), ranking_string ("#10 of 168 hotels in Stockholm")
• subratings: Location, Sleep Quality, Rooms, Service, Value, Cleanliness (each 0.0 to 5.0)
• price_level: "$", "$$", "$$$", "$$$$"
• amenities: array of strings
• styles: array (e.g. "Family", "Centrally Located")
• neighborhood_info: array with location_id and name
• trip_types: business, couples, solo, family, friends with count values
• awards: Travelers Choice, Best of Best, etc. with year and images
• parent_brand, brand: chain affiliation
• category, subcategory: hotel/restaurant/attraction
• photo_count, see_all_photos URL
• write_review URL

3. Location Reviews

Get up to 5 most recent reviews.

curl -s "https://api.content.tripadvisor.com/api/v1/location/{locationId}/reviews?key=$TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY&language=en"

Parameters:

Param	Required	Description
locationId	Yes (path)	TripAdvisor location ID
language	No	Default en
limit	No	Number of results (max 5 on free tier)
offset	No	Index of first result

Response shape:

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": 123456,
      "lang": "en",
      "location_id": "237656",
      "published_date": "2026-03-15T00:00:00-04:00",
      "rating": 5,
      "text": "Review text...",
      "title": "Review title",
      "trip_type": "Couples",
      "travel_date": "2026-03",
      "user": { "username": "traveler123" },
      "subratings": {}
    }
  ]
}

Note: Reviews may return empty data: [] for locations with few English reviews. Try different language values for international hotels.

4. Location Photos

Get up to 5 recent photos with multiple size options.

curl -s "https://api.content.tripadvisor.com/api/v1/location/{locationId}/photos?key=$TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY&language=en"

Parameters:

Param	Required	Description
locationId	Yes (path)	TripAdvisor location ID
language	No	Default en
limit	No	Number of results (max 5 on free tier)
offset	No	Index of first result
source	No	Comma-separated: Expert, Management, Traveler

Photo sizes in response:

• thumbnail: 50x50 cropped
• small: 150x150 cropped
• medium: max 250px dimension
• large: max 550px dimension
• original: full resolution

5. Nearby Location Search

Find locations near coordinates. Returns up to 10.

curl -s "https://api.content.tripadvisor.com/api/v1/location/nearby_search?key=$TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY&latLong=59.3127,18.0716&category=hotels&language=en"

Parameters:

Param	Required	Description
latLong	Yes	Lat/long pair, e.g. 59.3127,18.0716
category	No	hotels, restaurants, attractions, geos
phone	No	Phone number filter
address	No	Address filter
radius	No	Radius from latLong
radiusUnit	No	km, mi, m
language	No	Default en

Response includes distance (km) and bearing (e.g. "northwest") for each result.

Common Workflows

Hotel Research (most common)

# 1. Search for hotel
curl -s "https://api.content.tripadvisor.com/api/v1/location/search?key=$TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY&searchQuery=Amerikalinjen+Oslo&category=hotels" | python3 -m json.tool

# 2. Get details with location_id from step 1
curl -s "https://api.content.tripadvisor.com/api/v1/location/1234567/details?key=$TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY&currency=USD" | python3 -m json.tool

# 3. Get reviews (optional, costs 1 call)
curl -s "https://api.content.tripadvisor.com/api/v1/location/1234567/reviews?key=$TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY" | python3 -m json.tool

# 4. Get photos (optional, costs 1 call)
curl -s "https://api.content.tripadvisor.com/api/v1/location/1234567/photos?key=$TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY" | python3 -m json.tool

Compare Multiple Hotels in a City

# Search all hotels in city
curl -s "https://api.content.tripadvisor.com/api/v1/location/search?key=$TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY&searchQuery=hotels+Copenhagen&category=hotels"

# Then get details for each location_id returned
# Compare: rating, num_reviews, ranking_data.ranking, subratings, price_level, amenities

Find Restaurants Near Hotel

# Use hotel's lat/long from details response
curl -s "https://api.content.tripadvisor.com/api/v1/location/nearby_search?key=$TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY&latLong=59.31555,18.078924&category=restaurants"

Destination Research

# Search for attractions
curl -s "https://api.content.tripadvisor.com/api/v1/location/search?key=$TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY&searchQuery=things+to+do+Stockholm&category=attractions"

# Nearby attractions from a point
curl -s "https://api.content.tripadvisor.com/api/v1/location/nearby_search?key=$TRIPADVISOR_API_KEY&latLong=59.3293,18.0686&category=attractions"

When to Use

• Evaluating hotels (ratings, rankings, subratings, review sentiment)
• Comparing restaurants near a hotel or in a neighborhood
• Finding attractions and things to do near a destination
• Getting TripAdvisor ranking data ("#1 of 168 hotels in Stockholm")
• Checking amenities, trip type breakdown, award status
• Verifying hotel chain affiliation and neighborhood info

When NOT to Use

• Pricing or availability. TripAdvisor Content API has no pricing data. Use serpapi, liteapi, chase-travel, amex-travel, or rapidapi for prices.
• Booking. This is read-only data. No booking capability.
• Bulk scraping. 5,000 calls/month. Be deliberate.

Key Data Points for Hotel Comparison

When comparing hotels, extract and present:

Field	Path	Example
Rating	rating	"4.6"
Review count	num_reviews	"845"
Ranking	ranking_data.ranking_string	"#10 of 168 hotels in Stockholm"
Location subrating	subratings.0.value	"4.7"
Service subrating	subratings.3.value	"4.7"
Cleanliness subrating	subratings.5.value	"4.8"
Price level	price_level	"$$$$"
Trip type leader	highest trip_types[].value	"Couples: 381"
Awards	awards[].display_name	"Travelers Choice 2025"
Breakfast	amenities contains "Breakfast included"	Yes/No
Chain	parent_brand	"Worldhotels"

Supported Languages

ar, zh, zh_TW, da, nl, en, en_AU, en_CA, en_HK, en_IN, en_IE, en_MY, en_NZ, en_PH, en_SG, en_ZA, en_UK, fr, fr_BE, fr_CA, fr_CH, de, de_AT, el, iw, it, it_CH, ja, ko, no, pt, pt_PT, ru, es, es_AR, es_CO, es_MX, es_PE, es_VE, es_CL, sv, th, tr, vi

Use da for Danish, no for Norwegian, sv for Swedish when searching Scandinavian hotels for local-language reviews.