Articles tagged “kayak”

A year from now, it will be interesting to see how much Priceline and Expedia alter their metasearch advertising in Kayak, TripAdvisor and Trivago.

Now that the merger has the OK, it will be fascinating to watch how the pioneer in user-generated content will be able to best leverage the metasearch operation.

Let the games begin.

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.

Kayak wants to present a single brand in every market, but an upbeat musical ad that works in France might not resonate with customers in the U.S., and Kayak could lose brand awareness if customers can’t relate.

Kayak's tagline has been "search one and done." All too often travel metasearch sites have launched and soon been "done." The biggest challenge for the new crop -- even the best ones -- is how to get their brands out there so travelers will use them.

Kayak is anxiously awaiting its move into the Priceline fold, and toward the end of the year will have to renegotiate its contract with ITA Software/Google for airfare data.

Online travel "supermarkets" Travelocity and Expedia years ago looked like winners, but hotel "specialist" Booking.com prevailed, Room 77 argues. And, it's betting that a singular focus on hotels will one day enable Room 77 to out-Kayak Kayak. It's a huge hill to climb.

The irony of Expedia and Priceline’s bloated ad and search campaigns is that they’re bumping up the bottom line of a direct competitor, Google.

This is a big year for HomeAway: It is retooling its business model, and will attempt to get its mobile products in order. Good thing it has experts to lean on.