Kayak.com
Encyclopedia
KAYAK is a technology company providing online travel tools through its global family of websites and mobile applications. Started by cofounders of Expedia
, Orbitz
, and Travelocity
, KAYAK allows users to compare information from hundreds of other travel websites in one display when booking travel reservations for flights, hotels, rental cars, vacations, and cruises. It also provides travel management tools and services such as flight status updates, pricing alerts and itinerary management. KAYAK services are free to use, and it generates revenue from facilitated bookings, referrals to travel suppliers, and advertising placements. KAYAK's family of websites include KAYAK.com, KAYAK.co.uk, checkfelix.com, SideStep
.com, and swoodoo.com. It operates websites in 14 countries outside the U.S., including Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
(CTO), a former VP of technology at Intuit; Terry Jones
(Chairman), founder of Travelocity; and Greg Slyngstad (Director), founder of Expedia. KAYAK is headquartered in Norwalk, CT with a majority of its engineering team located in Concord, MA. The company launched a beta site in May 2004, and launched publicly in January 2005.
In late 2007, KAYAK bought SideStep
, another travel search site.
In March 2011, KAYAK accepted a partnership with Bing
to provide results in the U.S. from multiple cities, airports and airlines in the travel search section. By partnering with KAYAK, Bing can differentiate itself from the competition and improve its position in the industry.
, Sequoia Capital
(led by Michael Moritz), Oak Investment Partners
, America Online, Accel Partners
, Norwest Venture Partners
, Trident Capital, and Tenaya Capital
. It was named one of TIME Magazines "50 coolest websites" of 2006.
In November 2010, KAYAK filed with the S.E.C. to raise up to $50 million in an initial public offering.
, Perl
, and Linux
platform. and uses XML-HTTP and JavaScript
for its user interface
.
In August 2011, KAYAK updated its flight search to include Hacker Fares™ in the search results. Hacker Fares™ refers to itineraries that require purchasing two or more one-way tickets on separate airlines.
KAYAK also makes available nonpersonal data from travel searches conducted on KAYAK to reveal sample trends on the relative popularity of flight routes and hotel destinations over specific periods of time.
Expedia
Expedia is an Internet-based travel website based in the US with localised sites for 21 countries...
, Orbitz
Orbitz
Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. is an Internet travel company headquartered in the Citigroup Center in Near West Side, Chicago, Illinois. Through its primary web site Orbitz.com, Orbitz Worldwide enables travelers to research, plan and book a broad range of travel products, facilitating 1.5 million flight...
, and Travelocity
Travelocity
Travelocity is an online travel agency and wholly owned subsidiary of Sabre Holdings Corporation, which was a publicly traded company until taken private by Silver Lake Partners and Texas Pacific Group in March 2007...
, KAYAK allows users to compare information from hundreds of other travel websites in one display when booking travel reservations for flights, hotels, rental cars, vacations, and cruises. It also provides travel management tools and services such as flight status updates, pricing alerts and itinerary management. KAYAK services are free to use, and it generates revenue from facilitated bookings, referrals to travel suppliers, and advertising placements. KAYAK's family of websites include KAYAK.com, KAYAK.co.uk, checkfelix.com, SideStep
SideStep
- Description :SideStep is a metasearch engine for travel: it searches and consolidates results from more than 200 travel websites. The site searches more than 150,000 hotels and 600 airlines in the United States and worldwide...
.com, and swoodoo.com. It operates websites in 14 countries outside the U.S., including Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
History
The company was formed in January 2004 by co-founders of leading online travel agencies, Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity. KAYAK's co-founders include Steve Hafner (CEO), a co-founder of Orbitz; Paul M. EnglishPaul M. English
Paul English is the cofounder and Chief Technology Officer of Kayak.com in Concord, Massachusetts. Kayak.com is a travel search engine that helps consumers find travel deals from hundreds of travel providers...
(CTO), a former VP of technology at Intuit; Terry Jones
Terry Jones (travel entrepreneur)
Terry Jones is the founder and former CEO of Travelocity, chairman of Kayak.com, CIO of Sabre Inc., and motivational speaker.A graduate of Denison University in Granville, Ohio, Jones entered the travel industry in 1971 as a travel agent with Vega Travel in Chicago...
(Chairman), founder of Travelocity; and Greg Slyngstad (Director), founder of Expedia. KAYAK is headquartered in Norwalk, CT with a majority of its engineering team located in Concord, MA. The company launched a beta site in May 2004, and launched publicly in January 2005.
In late 2007, KAYAK bought SideStep
SideStep
- Description :SideStep is a metasearch engine for travel: it searches and consolidates results from more than 200 travel websites. The site searches more than 150,000 hotels and 600 airlines in the United States and worldwide...
, another travel search site.
In March 2011, KAYAK accepted a partnership with Bing
Bing
Bing is a web search engine from Microsoft.Bing may also refer to:* An onomatopœia of a bell sound* Bing cherry, a variety of cherry* Bing , Chinese flatbread* Bing , a German company that manufactured toys and kitchen utensils...
to provide results in the U.S. from multiple cities, airports and airlines in the travel search section. By partnering with KAYAK, Bing can differentiate itself from the competition and improve its position in the industry.
Financing
KAYAK has raised $230 million to date; its investors include General Catalyst PartnersGeneral Catalyst Partners
General Catalyst Partners is a private equity firm focused on venture capital investments in early stage technology-based companies including software, infrastructure software and applied technology businesses. The firm has also includes a growth capital team that focuses on later stage...
, Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital is a Californian venture capital firm located on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California. The Wall Street Journal has called Sequoia Capital "one of the highest-caliber venture firms", and noted that it is "one of Silicon Valley's most influential venture-capital firms"...
(led by Michael Moritz), Oak Investment Partners
Oak Investment Partners
Oak Investment Partners is a private equity firm focusing on venture capital investments in companies developing communications systems, information technology, new Internet media, healthcare services and retail....
, America Online, Accel Partners
Accel Partners
Accel Partners is a global venture and growth equity firm funding companies from inception through the growth stage.The firm is based in Palo Alto, California with major offices in Bangalore, Beijing, London, and Shanghai....
, Norwest Venture Partners
Norwest venture partners
Norwest Venture Partners is a global, multi-stage investment firm focused on investments in early to late stage venture and growth equity investments in U.S...
, Trident Capital, and Tenaya Capital
Tenaya Capital
Tenaya Capital is a venture capital firm with offices in Menlo Park, California, and Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1995 as Lehman Brothers Venture Partners, Tenaya spun out to become an independent firm in 2009 following Lehman's bankruptcy. To date, Tenaya has raised five funds representing...
. It was named one of TIME Magazines "50 coolest websites" of 2006.
In November 2010, KAYAK filed with the S.E.C. to raise up to $50 million in an initial public offering.
Technology
KAYAK is built on a Java, ApacheApache HTTP Server
The Apache HTTP Server, commonly referred to as Apache , is web server software notable for playing a key role in the initial growth of the World Wide Web. In 2009 it became the first web server software to surpass the 100 million website milestone...
, Perl
Perl
Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...
, and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
platform. and uses XML-HTTP and JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
for its user interface
User interface
The user interface, in the industrial design field of human–machine interaction, is the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine, and feedback from the...
.
Travel Search
KAYAK compares hundreds of travel sites, allowing users to see available offers on one display. KAYAK supplies the ability to search by flights, hotels, car rentals, vacations, travel deals, and cruises. Both the website and mobile app provide the ability to filter search results by price, specific brands, timing, and other decision factors. Once users find their desired offer, KAYAK sends them to their preferred travel supplier or online travel agency to complete their purchase. When booking hotels, KAYAK offers the option to make a facilitated booking directly through KAYAK.com.In August 2011, KAYAK updated its flight search to include Hacker Fares™ in the search results. Hacker Fares™ refers to itineraries that require purchasing two or more one-way tickets on separate airlines.
Trip Management and Travel Reference Tools
In addition to its travel search, KAYAK offers trip management tools to store trip plans in one place, set alerts for price changes on specific flight routes or hotels over a certain timeframe, and keep track of reward program points.KAYAK also makes available nonpersonal data from travel searches conducted on KAYAK to reveal sample trends on the relative popularity of flight routes and hotel destinations over specific periods of time.
Consumer Focus
KAYAK employees respond to consumer inquiries and thereby stay in touch with how design decisions affect users, including having engineers answer a "hotline".External links
- America Online aims to be in vanguard of Internet travel, Associated PressAssociated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
- Online shopping sites fight customer bailouts, International Herald TribuneInternational Herald TribuneThe International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
- Struggling upstream, Forbes.com