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.

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.

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.

Priceline is no slouch when it comes to mobile, but it tapped Kayak as an acquisition target in part because of Kayak's mobile expertise.

Online booking websites are more popular than travel agencies, branded bookings, and deals websites; however, meta-search's 10 percent jump this year indicates the growing sector could soon become a more formidable competitor.

There's been so much talk about hotel rate parity, and the sameness when searching for a hotel room. TripAdvisor's invitation to often-overlooked independent hotels and B&Bs may provide some real choice.

Funded, lean and focused, Hipmunk can take its sweet, little time honing its product to get ready for a larger profile. Whether it ever emerges from beautiful product to major player is a very open question. There is plenty of money to be made even as a relatively small company, but Hipmunk's ambitions are huge.

With Priceline buying Kayak, Expedia investing in Trivago, and TripAdvisor launching hotel metasearch, all the big players have a piece of the pie, and this will have many delightful twists and turns.