Kayak (company)

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Kayak (styled as KAYAK) is a metasearch engine for travel services, including airline flights, hotels, rental cars, and vacation packages.[1] It is owned and operated by Booking Holdings.[2]

Kayak's website and mobile apps are currently available in about 20 languages and 30 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, India, China, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia,[3] Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Australia, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Belgium, Korea, Japan, and Singapore.

History

Kayak was founded in January 2004 by Steve Hafner and Paul M. English.[4][5] Before Kayak, Steve Hafner, Kayak's current CEO, helped found Orbitz in November 1999 and led its business development, advertising sales, marketing, and product marketing activities.[6]

The company was originally named Travel Search Company, Inc. and the name was changed to Kayak Software Corporation in August 2004.[7]

The website launched in February 2005.[8]

In December 2007, Kayak raised $196 million in financing from a group of investors including General Catalyst, Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners, and Oak Investment Partners. Using that funding, Kayak acquired SideStep, another online travel agency.[9][10]

On March 5, 2010, Kayak sold certain assets related to TravelPost.[11]

In May 2010, Kayak acquired German travel search platform Swoodoo.[12]

In January 2011, Kayak shut down SideStep and redirected SideStep traffic to Kayak.com.[13]

In April 2011, Kayak acquired all of the outstanding shares of JaBo Vertrieb-und Entwicklung GmbH, or JaBo Software, operator Checkfelix, a travel search engine in Austria.[14]

On July 20, 2012, Kayak became a public company via an initial public offering. On its first day of trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol KYAK, Kayak opened at $26 per share and closed at $33.18 per share.[15]

On May 21, 2013, Booking Holdings, then known as Priceline.com, acquired the company for $2.1 billion.[16]

In September 2013, Kayak announced an office move to the Harbor Point district of Stamford, aided by a $2.5 million loan from the state of Connecticut.[17]

In 2017, the company acquired Mundi, a Brazilian flight metasearch company.[18]

In 2018, Kayak assumed leadership of Hotels Combined, which was acquired by parent company, Booking Holdings.[19]

In 2024, Kayak added fares from Southwest Airlines to its listings.[20]

Awards

In 2013, Travel + Leisure included Kayak's app in its list of the Best Apps for Business Travelers[21] as well as its list for the Best Apps for websites and travelers.[22]

Time named Kayak on its list of the 50 Best Websites of 2009.[23]

Mashable included Kayak in first place for the website's list, "10 Budget Airfare Tools Every Traveler Should Know in 2012".[24]

Kayak won the following Webby Awards:

  • 2008: People's Voice award in the travel website category[25]
  • 2009: The Webby Award in the travel website category[26]
  • 2011: The People's Voice award in the mobile travel app category in 2011[27]
  • 2012: 3 awards: both the Webby and People's Choice awards in the travel website category, and the People's Voice award in the mobile travel app category.[28]
  • 2013: Nominee for Best Travel Mobile & App for Handheld Devices[29]
  • 2014: both the People's Voice and Webby Award in the Travel category for Tablets.[30]
  • 2015, Kayak Mobile won again the People's Voice Award in the Travel category.[31]

The World Travel Awards presented Kayak with the World's Leading Flight Comparison Website award in 2013 and the World's Leading Travel Search Website award in 2011.[32]

All-American Muslim advertising

In December 2011, Kayak announced that it would not renew a contract to advertise on the TLC reality television show All-American Muslim. The decision followed a campaign by the Florida Family Association, a one-man fundamentalist organization focused on “defending American values".[33][34] In a statement posted to the Kayak website, Kayak Chief Marketing Officer, Robert Birge, wrote that TLC “was not upfront with us about the nature of the show”.[35]

References

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External links

Template:Booking Holdings Template:Travel ticket search engines Template:Authority control

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