Skyscanner, the Edinburgh-based metasearch giant, has begun to offer a white-labeled version of its car rental search product through its trade division, Skyscanner for Business.
The search tool covers rental car inventory at 30,000 spots in 175 countries. Besides vehicle model comparison, it shows whether cancellations are free, what mileage limits are, and other details.
The first taker for the white-label tool is in Brazil. Mundi, a metasearch site based in Rio de Janeiro, has debuted its car rental search product, and it is fully powered by Skyscanner.
Mundi is the first to use Skyscanner's white-label for car search, but it is not the first metasearch company to rely on Skyscanner's help generally. Fifty other metasearch brands worldwide rely on the British giant to backstop their search tools for flights, hotels, or car rental, through its travel API or white-label solutions.
Strange bedfellows
At first glance, the deal between the two metasearch companies is somewhat surprising. For a few years now, Skyscanner has been competing in Brazil with Mundi, which is the country's largest homegrown metasearch brand, for the top spot in traffic and bookings.
But on second look, car rental is a product that may be cost-effective for Mundi to outsource, search-wise. It is less popular in Brazil than in some other countries. So, rather than invest in the time to build its own service, outsourcing may be a way for it to quickly give locals access to inventory at foreign destinations.
The deal may also help Skyscanner and Mundi each outmaneuver their mutual rivals Kayak, Voopter, Despegar, and other players in the market.
It's yet another example of the travel industry's signature patchwork of cross-alliances among strategic frenemies.
EARLIER: In Brazil, metasearch heats up, as Mundi, Voopter, Skyscanner, and Kayak expand