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Travel metasearch engine owned and operated by Booking Holdings From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kayak (styled as KAYAK) is a metasearch engine for travel services, including airline flights, hotels, rental cars, and vacation packages. It is owned and operated by Booking Holdings.[3]
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Type of site | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Available in | 18 languages |
Founded | January 14, 2004 |
Headquarters | Stamford, Connecticut, U.S. |
Area served | Global |
Founder(s) | Steve Hafner Paul M. English |
Key people | Steve Hafner (CEO) Ko Baryiames (CTO) Amy Wei (CCO) Peer Bueller (CFO) Tore Pein Jensen (CMO) |
Industry | Travel Technology |
Products | Travel agency Metasearch engine |
Revenue | US$292.7 million (2012)[1] |
Parent | Booking Holdings |
Subsidiaries | SWOODOO Checkfelix Mundi Hotels Combined |
URL | www |
Launched | February 7, 2005 (Public)[2] |
Native client(s) on | iOS, Android, watchOS, Amazon Alexa, Facebook Messenger |
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,[4] Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Australia, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Belgium, Korea, Japan, and Singapore.
Kayak was founded in January 2004 by Steve Hafner and Paul M. English.[5][6] 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.[7]
The company was originally named Travel Search Company, Inc. and the name was changed to Kayak Software Corporation in August 2004.[8]
The website launched in February 2005.[2]
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, 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]
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:
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]
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]
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