Articles tagged “kayak”

Unless Google is playing possum and lulling competitors into submission, prognostications about the potential impact of Google Flight Search could turn out to be one of the greatest miscalculations in online travel history.

Is Orbitz's hotel supply really differentiated enough from Expedia's and Travelocity's that consumers will notice the difference when Travelocity fades away as a competitor in 2014? That's doubtful, although Orbitz may have some tricks up its sleeve.

Skyscanner has an enviable presence in Europe, and now with Kayak-experienced Sequoia Capital whispering in Skyscanner's ear, it wants to make a big splash in North America and beyond.

From Kayak's perspective, in additional to the big payday, international expansion was what the Priceline deal was all about.

Sequoia Capital's investment in Skyscanner is the latest huge endorsement of travel metasearch. But could a pivot toward hotels and a possible rebranding that goes beyond airfares be in Skyscanner's future?

TripAdvisor will talk about how its transition away from hotel search through pop-under windows to metasearch was driven by the need to improve the customer experience, and that indeed was part of the reason. But, the bottom line is it was mostly about the bottom line i.e. the economics.

Some travel companies took compare tools like Booking Buddy's and pre-checked several windows, driving up their own click revenue and exasperating consumers who unknowingly found their computer screens flush with pop-under windows when they started to search. CPC rates charged to advertisers became subject to a downward spiral, and although the model is still widely used, metasearch stole some of its thunder.

Following such a large redesign, user experience is key for each of these apps. Luckily each of them kept things simple, clean, and easy to use.

If online travel agencies are heading toward becoming a hybrid of transactions and metasearch advertising, it is ironic that Kayak, Room 77 and Hipmunk have already become hybrids, having begun to take direct booking themselves in recent years.

Kayak's digital advertising spending in the U.S. just about disappeared around the time that the Priceline's acquisition went down. It will definitely be back.