Kayak undoubtedly has an unwelcome surprise for TripIt, Dopplr, Traxo and Sabre’s TripCase, among other contenders.
That’s because Kayak has quietly introduced in beta Kayak Trips, an itinerary-sharing service, to about half of its registered users. The service also is being tested on Kayak’s UK site and in France, Spain, Germany, Italy and India.
Kayak thus becomes the first metasearch engine to get into the post-reservations management game.
Consumers can forward their travel confirmations from airline, hotels, travel agencies and other suppliers to [email protected], where they will be turned into a master itinerary.
Kayak users can then share their travel plans with friends, associates and enemies by e-mail.
The elements of the itinerary can be added to a calendar, and users can append notes and add additional events.
Kayak, of course, doesn’t book any travel itself, but will be enabling travelers to aggregate their reservations from a panalopy of suppliers.
The company will be rolling out additional functionality for Kayak Trips before an announcement.
No word yet on the business model, but I wouldn’t be surprised if an ad or two appears in itineraries along the way.