The biggest battle coming in online travel: Tripadvisor Vs. Kayak
Skift Take
In between four acquisitions so far this year, TripAdvisor has found the time to begin to give Kayak a run for its money in launching hotel metasearch. Kayak isn't going to roll over and play dead, but there will be a huge alternative for travelers to consider.
Google who?
That's what the people at Kayak, who so feared the impact of Google Flight Search, must be saying as they watch events unfold at TripAdvisor, which likely is a much larger threat to Kayak's business.
Consider that there is a lot more money in hotel metasearch (TripAdvisor) than flights (Google Flight Search), and Google Hotel Finder has yet to create a ripple.
Now TripAdvisor, which began rolling out hotel metasearch on mobile, tablets and desktops late last year, announced yesterday during its first-quarter earnings call that half of its branded sites around the world now feature hotel metasearch, and that it will be in place on 100% of its sites, with 200 million monthly unique visitors, by June.
The U.S. site isn't fully rolled out yet, but TripAdvisor sites in the UK, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Ireland and Singapore already have the full treatment.
Once hotel metasearch, which brings TripAdvisor higher CPC rates and conversions than non-transactional traffic, is fully in place, TripAdvisor plans to launch its first global, offline advertising campaign, starting in the U.S. this summer.
Given TripAdvisor's power and skills, the Kayak folks are definitely watching what TripAdvisor CEO Stev
