Kayak.com, launched earlier this year, is averaging between 2.5 -3 million visitors a month and has projected that it wi

Kayak.com, launched earlier this year, is averaging between 2.5 -3 million visitors a month and has projected that it will surpass 23 million for the year.

Published: 03 Oct 2005

Kayak.com, launched earlier this year, is averaging between 2.5 -3 million visitors a month and has projected that it will surpass 23 million for the year.

Keith Melnick, vice-president - business development, Kayak.com says,
"Kayak.com continues to launch upgrades and new functionality each week.
Major upgrades scheduled for the next six months include launch of hotel
search 2.0, vacation package search, improved air functionality (class,
multi-city) and industry-leading personalization tools. In addition, our
business development team continues to secure new partners and
affiliates, adding to our comprehensive search capabilities and
improving usability for the consumer."

Melnick shared more information about progress made by the company,
trends and differentiated offerings in an interview with
Eyefortravel.com's Ritesh Gupta. Excerpts:

How has the operations of kayak.com progressed since its launch? What
according to you have been the major developments?

Kayak.com launched on February 7 with the Web's most powerful integrated
air search. Since that time, Kayak.com enhanced our industry-leading
integrated hotel search, launched the Web's most powerful rental car
search and added integrated deals search to the site. Our business
development team continues to attract new affiliate and travel partners,
improving our inventory and search capabilities.

Kayak.com also launched the patent-pending KayakNetwork, a paid search
solution optimised for the travel industry. KayakNetwork has
revolutionised the travel industry by providing marketers with an
alternative to over-priced, low conversion, generic keyword campaigns.
KayakNetwork allows travel advertisers to customize their marketing
activities based on the actual search parameters from real-time consumer
searches. These search parameters include city or city pairs, trip
dates, length of stay, and specific airline or hotel brands.

Our site has received tremendous reviews from consumers and the media.
Less than six months after launch, Kayak.com was awarded the Editor's
Choice Award from Laptop Magazine (receiving the only perfect five-star
score). We also were recognized in Mastercard's first Usability
Excellence Awards.

In April, Kayak.com had announced the site had witnessed three million
hits. What are your projections for this year?

Kayak.com is averaging between 2.5 -3 million visitors a month and will
surpass 23 million for the year.

Kindly share on preference of consumers when they visit kayak.com?

About 75% search air, 20% hotel and 5% rental car.

What new trends have you witnessed from consumer perspective when they
log on to offering such as yours?

* Consumers are learning that travel search engines provide a more
comprehensive, objective search without the burdensome fees and
restrictions of the OTAs.

* Most consumers prefer to book directly from the supplier and a travel
search engine allows them to quickly compare prices and book directly
with the supplier in just one click.

* Consumers are happy to see low-cost carriers such as JetBlue and
supplier contact information such as phone and website included in
search results.

What kind of target have you set for expansion/partnering with travel
service providers?

Kayak.com's business development team continues to recruit new affiliate
and travel partners. Kayak.com strives to have the most comprehensive
products in terms of content and travel partners and we continue to make
our product more attractive for affiliates. Examples of travel providers
we have recently signed as partners include direct content from
Starwood, Solmelia and Carlson. We recently turned on XMLwith American
Airlines and we are in the process of incorporating Enterprise and
Payless into our rental car product. For affiliates, we are making it
easier for smaller affiliates to participate in Kayak.com and have
created the technical ability to have customized affiliate sites live in
a matter of days. We expect to announce at least two of these in the
next few months.

In July, Kayak.com had launched functionality that searches rental cars
the same way it scours the Web for flights and hotels, marking the first
time consumers can shop across leading rental car sites in just one
click. What are your expectations from this offering?

We are extremely pleased with our rental car search. We have received
rave reviews from consumers and travel partners. Our rental car
partners are thrilled with the qualified traffic we direct to their site
and some are enjoying conversion rates well over 10%.

How has the deal with about.com shaped up?

We are pleased to provide Kayak.com's industry leading travel search
technology to users of About.com. We appreciate the traffic generated
from About.com and all our affiliate partners. Both parties are pleased
with the product and we are investigating ways to expand the
relationship. In particular, the relationship is being rolled out to
all of their guides.

How do you assess overall progress made by meta-travel search engines in
the US? How do you think Kayak.com is an advantageous position?

It's been a tremendous year for travel search engines. Although
SideStep has been around for five years, it was the launch of Kayak,
Mobissimo and Yahoo!Farechase that introduced the term into the savvy
traveler's lexicon. Travel search engines are growing at a fast pace and
gaining market share as more and more consumers are learning about the
category from the media and from their friends and family.

According to Hitwise, the world's leading online competitive
intelligence service, the market share of visits to four of the major
travel search engines increased by 304 percent between April 2005 and
October 2004 and the contribution of Visits to the Hitwise Travel
Agencies category increased by 250 percent when comparing October 2004
to April 2005. In the same period, the market share of visits of the top
5 travel agencies (Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, Yahoo! Travel and
CheapTickets) increased by 11.3 percent, while contribution of visits to
the Travel Agencies category decreased from 65.3 percent to 62.2
percent.

Kayak.com has a technology edge over competitors allowing Kayak.com to
provide superior usability and comprehensive search results. Our
consumers are continually amazed at how easy it is to find deals on
Kayak.com and we have amassed a loyal fan base. We are outperforming
competitors in price comparison stories and winning awards.

Within a few months of launch, the travel search engine category was a
two-site race between veteran SideStep and Kayak.com. Our market share
grows each month and Kayak.com is poised to become the consumer's first
destination for travel research, surpassing SideStep's traffic within a
year.

What are your plans going forward?

Kayak.com strives to provide the most comprehensive travel search
results on the Web. You will see future functionality innovations and
new partner/affiliate announcements that improve our inventory and
content. Our goal is to be the first place consumers go to research
travel online.

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