Kelkoo looks to be trying to reposition itself as a must-go-to travel search engine again after bringing in Chris Nixon, former boss of rival engine TravelSupermarket.
Nixon left his brother Simon Nixon's business Simonseeks in September this year, claiming to be looking for new opportunities. He joins Kelkoo as managing director for travel across Europe.
Both Nixons were behind the rise of the TravelSupermarket metasearch site in the mid-2000s, culminating in the successful IPO for the parent MoneySupermarket brand in 2007 - Nixon left as managing director of the travel division in 2008, eventually joining Simonseeks after a year-long sabbatical.
The appointment is the first major development for the travel end of Kelkoo for many years, signalling that it is perhaps preparing to try and reclaim its once strong position in the marketplace around Europe.
The cross-vertical metasearch site was launched in 1999 and was later sold to Yahoo in 2004. It was synonymous in many markets and amongst consumers as one of the early pioneers in Europe for metasearch, especially in travel.
But as other metasearch sites launched and established a market, Kelkoo Travel appeared to miss out. In the meantime, the company went through a sale of its own in 2008 after Yahoo offloaded the business to Jamplant.
Certainly bringing in a relative heavyweight from the travel search sector indicates a willingness to re-establish the business.
Perhaps one of the first jobs for Nixon will be to re-form some of the alliances Kelkoo used to have with key portals around the web, not least its former owner Yahoo, which switched Kelkoo for Expedia earlier this year to run its travel search section.