Kayak CEO on Gaining a Meta Advantage in Guest Experience


Steve Hafner Kayak

Skift Take

Perhaps the big hotel chains will learn that high tech doesn't have to mean a lack of hospitality and a guest experience devoid of personality.

The Skift Future of Lodging Forum will feature a wide array of future-focused leaders and new research devoted to the hotel industry. Join us March 29, 2023 in London, England.

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Steve Hafner, the co-founder and CEO of Kayak, argued that the company's under-development hotel technology can take the burden off staff at its three hotels to deliver a better guest experience.

Having a well-known brand like Kayak, and parent company Booking Holdings' resources behind the effort "doesn't hurt, either," Hafner said.

Hafner will appear in a session with Tyler Morse of MCR Hotels on the first day of the May 11-12 Skift Future of Lodging Forum on a panel discussing "What Comes Next for Hotels."

Dennis Schaal: What chutzpah makes you think that Kayak can be a disruptive force in hospitality?