Metasearch

PhocusWire's in-depth coverage of the metasearch sector, featuring news, analysis, interviews, research and more on the brands and their strategies, executives and positions in the market.

News / Distribution

Kayak-Priceline deal validates evolution of meta model, but Skyscanner rules out immediate IPO

By Kevin May | January 9, 2013

Two years is an awfully long time in travel technology, especially considering how quickly the landscape has changed in the flight metasearch end of the industry. Read More

News / Online

Travel startups: ditch the consumer traction and focus on data

By Alex Bainbridge | January 8, 2013

There has been plenty of digital inches written recently about the Series A crunch. Is it real? I don't know. Read More

News / Online

Desktop versus mobile behaviour in travel search [INFOGRAPHIC]

By Kevin May | January 7, 2013

Year of the mobile and all that (for the past few years at least), but how is the shift to consumers using their devices to search for travel products playing out in the real world? Read More

News / Online

Superfly’s guerilla marketing on Facebook is luring travelers to its flight search

By Sean O'Neil | January 7, 2013

Superfly's guerrilla marketing on Facebook has lured users to its fight search tool, and its new airline e-mail scanning service may let customers load up their mileage information in a single click. Read More

News / Online

Room 77 takes $30M injection, Expedia involved, as meta arms race heats up

By Sean O'Neil | January 3, 2013

Room 77 has closed $30.3 million in Series C financing with participation by Expedia, with total capital raised at $43.8 million. The US startup's metasearch tool is merely a year old. Read More

News / Online

Expedia pays $632 million for majority stake in Trivago, let the travel search games begin

By Kevin May | December 21, 2012

Expedia plans to acquire a 61.6% equity position in Trivago, a German metasearch company for a total consideration of Euro 477 million ($632 million). Read More

News / Online

OTAs outshine metasearch sites in sending traffic to air and hotel suppliers, says study

By Sean O'Neil | December 13, 2012

In the past year, traffic to metasearch sites spiked 13%, yet metasearch sites are managing only to persuade 2% of users to click through to the sites of travel suppliers, according to new research from... Read More

News / Online

WhichAirline reboots with Hipmunk-style visual flight search

By Sean O'Neil | November 28, 2012

For years, European metasearch flight booking engine WhichAirline.com has struggled to gain traction with users. Now it is hoping that a Hipmunk-style visual flight search interface will catapult it... Read More

News / Online

The world (kind of) according to Steve Hafner of Kayak

By Kevin May | November 16, 2012

Buoyed no doubt after trousering a hefty sum as a result of selling the company he co-founded to Priceline, Steve Hafner of Kayak was in waspish/humorous (take your pick) form this week. Read More

News / Online

Kayak admits being crappy outside of the US, promises new attack on Europe (thanks to Priceline)

By Kevin May | November 15, 2012

Grinning from ear to ear, post-acquisition by Priceline, Kayak CEO and co-founder Steve Hafner still found time at the PhoCusWright Conference to tell everyone exactly what they already knew. Read More

News / Online

Momondo name to carry Cheapflights into non-English speaking territories

By Linda Fox | November 12, 2012

Cheapflights Media has rebranded to Momondo Group as it prepares to extend its presence to non-English speaking destinations. Read More

News / Online

Priceline-Kayak deal: Airlines are the winners (again)

By Timothy O'Neil-Dunne | November 11, 2012

In 2008, Delta announced its long awaited marriage to Northwest Airlines. In doing so it started in motion a chain of events that continues to define the market for the distribution of air products. Read More

News / Distribution

Priceline-Kayak deal: Marketing expertise and global footprint at heart of $1.8 billion takeover

By Evan Konwiser | November 8, 2012

Priceline is acquiring Kayak for $1.8 billion in cash and stock. Yes, read it again. While unexpected, interestingly the news does not fundamentally tell us anything about the industry. Read More