Articles tagged “kayak”

The acquisition of the Momondo Group is the Priceline Group's largest since buying OpenTable -- and subsequently having to take a write down -- in 2014. Through the acquisition, Kayak gets a strong brand in parts of Europe and ensures that no other rivals step in to take Momondo away from it.

Just because your company is paranoid doesn't mean Google Flights is not out to get you. Google Flights is making gains, albeit incrementally and seemingly unceasingly.

It's clear there is going to be further consolidation in online travel in Europe after Ctrip swooped in and acquired Skyscanner. Momondo would be a nice addition – not a game-changer for Kayak – and a deal could happen if the number-crunchers on both sides have a meeting of the minds.

In mid-2015 Kayak opted to go dark on U.S. TV and to put more investment into broadcast advertising in Europe. Companies have to make such hard choices sometimes. Kayak's Hafner claims, however, "the sky didn't fall" in the U.S., although one could surmise that Google Flights is "knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door."

While the world is transitioning to mobile, there are still issues to work on when it comes to monetizing mobile search.

When it comes to new tech platforms and technologies such as voice-activated search with Amazon Alexa, the advantage, in the short term, goes to the big travel tech and marketing companies, including online travel agencies and metasearch companies, because they have the engineering staff and other resources to address these disruptions.

Ctrip didn't acquire the largest metasearch engine in Skyscanner but one that is very strong in Europe. Ctrip will now turn Skyscanner into a flight-booking site and will also focus Ctrip on growing domestically, in greater China and Southeast Asia first.

Slim margins and complex technology have turned travel metasearch into a contact sport. Identifying the winners and losers in this space takes a keen understanding of the economics and mechanics that power these businesses. Luckily, we've produced the definitive resource for understanding and forecasting the trend lines.

There's a lot of wisdom in this video. Find out why Lola CEO Paul English believes travel startups should get as close as possible to the booking instead of going out and trying to create what he calls the "blah blah blah of travel."

Google may not be on the road toward becoming an online travel agency, but the search engine is inserting itself more aggressively in the travel research and hotel-shopping process.