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Kayak.com, the world’s largest travel search engine, displays results from 404 travel sites, providing prices and itineraries for hundreds of airlines, more than 158,000 hotels, all leading rental car companies and 17 cruise lines. Kayak.com has been named “Best of the Web” by US News & World Report, BusinessWeek and Forbes.com; “50 Coolest Websites” and “25 Sites We Can’t Live Without” by TIME Magazine; “Best Travel Search Engine” by the Associated Press; and “Best Search Aid” by Travel + Leisure Magazin
e. Launched in 2005 by co-founders of Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia, Kayak.com’s investors include General Catalyst Partners, Sequoia Capital, America Online, Inc and London-based Accel Partners.

COMPREHENSIVE
Kayak.com scours the Internet for travel-related information, providing real-time prices and itineraries from hundreds of airlines, more than 145,000 hotels and all leading rental car companies.

• Prices from Over 404 Travel Sites in Just One Click: A search conducted through Kayak.com looks for matching results from hundreds of travel sites including leading airlines, low-cost carriers, hotels, online travel agencies and consolidators.
• Powerful Sorting and Filtering Tools: Kayak.com’s innovative technology allows consumers to change search parameters and view results instantly in real time.
• Every Hotel on Earth: Kayak.com strives to list every hotel on earth and is the first travel site to encourage consumers and hoteliers to add hotels directly to Kayak.com’s database. To add a hotel, click on the “Tell us” link from the hotel homepage or in the “Kayak Commitment” section. To edit a hotel’s description, click on the “Edit Info” link located on a hotel’s details page.
• Relevant Travel-Related Information and Content: Kayak.com assembles hotel and destination information from numerous sources and carefully categorizes the information in one easy-to-read display, including:
  • Hotel Descriptions: The official hotel description is listed, along with room types, amenities, policies and photos.
  • Web Comments: Visitors can read consumer reviews posted to sites such as IgoUgo.com and Epinions.com.
  • Professional Articles and Reviews: Get an expert’s opinion by reading abstracts from travel guidebooks and magazines, including Frommer’s, Fodor’s, AOL CityGuide, Gayot.com, Business Traveler, The New York Times and more.
  • Related Links: Further research a trip by clicking on related links to weather updates and Google searches.

EASE-OF-USE
Kayak.com wants to make trip planning more efficient for the consumer. Kayak.com’s easy-to-read display allows users to sort hundreds of travel options quickly to find their preferred trip.

• Simplicity: Kayak.com features a simple, clean Web site design, uncluttered by annoying banner and pop-up ads.
• Search Summary: With a glance at the top of the results page, users can see how many trips match their search preferences. Users can click on the “show all” link to see more travel options.
• Refine Your Search: Interactive tools displayed on the left slide of the results page allow consumers to change their search criteria quickly and see results instantly.
• Pin a favorite result: Only Kayak.com allows users to select and save preferred flight, hotel, or rental car results. By “pinning” a specific result, users can keep that selection atop the search results as they evaluate their options.
• Air Features
  • Itinerary type: Kayak.com searches roundtrip, one-way and *multi-city itineraries (*Kayak.com is the only meta-search site to search multi-city itineraries).
  • Sliders: Consumers can move price and time sliders to the left or right to customize the perfect itinerary. Results are sorted in real-time to fit the new search parameters–an industry first.
  • Stops: Consumers can specify non-stop, one stop or 2+ stops.
  • Airlines: Kayak.com allows consumers to refine search for airline preference. Search all airlines or use check boxes to cherry pick from a comprehensive list–an industry first.
  • Airports: In addition to major and secondary airports, Kayak.com will search airports in driving distance up to 75 miles.
  • Column Sorting: Users can sort by price, airline, departure time, arrival time and stops/trip duration.
  • Flight Details: Consumers who need more information can click on the “details” link to see flight numbers, aircraft type, trip duration and connecting airports. MultiBook™ links to booking partners and local telephone numbers.
• Hotel Features
  • Sliders: Consumers can set a minimum or maximum price to fit their budget, quickly eliminating hotels that are either too cheap or too expensive.
  • Star Ratings: Kayak.com averages ratings from across the Web to provide objective rankings.
  • Distance: Consumers can choose the distance from a point of interest up to 50 miles.
  • Hotels: Search prices and availability for one hotel or one brand or use check boxes to cherry pick multiple brands.
  • Sort Options: Sort list by price, star rating, hotel name and distance.
  • Property Type: Choose hotel, inn, bed & breakfast or search all.
  • Hotel Details: Click on the “details” link to access photos, hotel overview and a list of amenities. Need more advice? Click on relevant links to read consumer reviews and articles from guidebooks, newspapers and magazines. MultiBook™ technology links to booking partners and local telephone numbers.
• Cars Features
  • Price Slider: Consumers can set a minimum or maximum price to fit their budget.
  • Locations: Choose “near airport” or “off airport” locations. View a map of each location directly from the results page.
  • Car Class: Check boxes allow consumers to specify car class including compact, convertible, economy, full-size, luxury, mid-size, pick-up truck, standard-size, SUV and van. Minimum price for each class appears to the right of the check box so price-conscious consumers can make an informed decision.
  • Rental Agency: Kayak.com searches all major rental car brands and consolidators. Search prices across all suppliers or choose preferred brands.
  • Options: Further filter results by specifying options including air-conditioning, automatic transmission, navigation system and unlimited miles.
  • Sort Options: Sort results page by preference of price, agency, car/class or location.
• Deals Features
  • Deal Type: Refine deals viewed by searching most popular, cruise, hotel, car or a vacation package.
  • Deal Text: Search by key words such as hotel brand or destination.
  • Destinations: Carefree consumers with no destination in mind can search all deals or refine a search by country, region or city.
  • Column Sorting: Further sort the display by price, destination, details or date loaded.

INDUSTRY LEADING FUNCTIONALITY

• Flexible Search: Kayak.com is the only meta-search site to offer users the ability to search up to three days before and/or after their preferred travel dates for the best fare and itinerary combination.
  • To use Flexible Search, click on the “My dates are flexible” link on the Kayak.com homepage.
  • To compare prices and availability for a range of dates using Flexible Search, users simply input preferred travel dates and use the drop down menus to specify up to three days before and/or after their desired travel dates.
  • Results are displayed in order of price, but consumers can use the sorting and filtering tools to change results instantly. Check boxes are provided for each date of travel, number of stops, airlines and airports while sliders are used to filter results for departure/arrival time and price. To save time, Flexible Search allows users to further specify number of travelers (up to six), cabin class (first, businesses and coach), itinerary type (roundtrip, one-way or multi-city) or number of stops.
• Kayak Buzz and Buzz Alerts: Kayak Buzz displays the lowest fares to the 25 most popular destinations from a consumer’s hometown.
  • To get the Buzz, click on the Buzz tab and input a departure airport or city. Within seconds, Kayak Buzz displays a list of 25 cities organized by popularity with an interactive map that displays all routes color coded by price.
  • Consumers can further personalize Buzz by region: World, US, Europe, Caribbean, South America, Asia, Africa and Australia/Oceania; departure date by month or specify “upcoming weekend”; maximum price and number of stops.
  • Consumers can receive customized Kayak Buzz Alerts by email.
• Best Fare History and Best Fare Trend Graph: Kayak.com offers more historical airfare data than any other travel site by allowing users to track and identify the cheapest airfares found within a specified time period.
  • Best Fare Trend Graph charts pricing for city/date pairs found by Kayak.com users over the past 90 days. The chart is available for searches that have been queried five or more times, covering the most heavily traveled markets.
  • Best Fare History displays the 100 best prices found by other Kayak.com users searching the same route over the past 36 hours.
• Trip Ideas: is a community-based forum that encourages users to create and share travel destination “wish lists” with other users.
  • Unlike static lists found on the Internet, Kayak.com is the first travel site to provide real-time fares and availability for every destination listed, which makes the leap from research to booking just a simple click away.
  • Similar to popular hotel review sites, Trip Idea lists are third party endorsements of destinations, hotels, events and more. Consumers will use Trip Ideas to research vacation options, share favorite destinations, or discuss travel plans with friends and family.
• RSS (Really Simple Syndication): Internet-savvy travelers can receive Kayak.com feeds for Kayak Buzz, Kayak Deals and new postings from Kayak’s favorite travel blogs.
• KayakBot: Kayak.com is the first travel site to launch Instant Messenger functionality. KayakBot lets travelers search prices and availability for air, hotel, rental cars and flight status directly from their AOL Instant Messenger and without the inconvenience of launching an Internet browser screen.
  • As with other bots, KayakBot responds to simple commands, “fly”, “room”, “status”, airport codes and numerical dates. For instance, type: “fly bos 2/20 sfo 2/28″ in your AIM window to execute a Kayak.com search for flights from Boston to San Francisco on February 20, returning February 28.
  • Users can download the KayakBot from www.kayak.com and/or simply add it to their AIM Buddy List by selecting “Add a Buddy” and typing in “KayakBot.”

RELEVANT
Kayak.com strives to be relevant by focusing on a consumer’s search preferences. Traveler Profiles enable the site to provide more personalized services than any other travel site. The My Profile section is divided into the five following tabs:

• My Profile: General information including nickname, name, email address, email preferences, password and home airport.
• Preferences: Specify preferences for airlines, hotel brand, hotel stars and hotel amenities
• Email Alerts: Create a new Fare Alert or Buzz Alert or manage existing alerts
• Search History: Saves all searches and click thru history for air, hotel and car. This information is also used by Kayak.com to help personalize a user’s search results.

OBJECTIVE
Kayak.com is a search engine, not a retailer or travel agency. The site does not actually sell anything — rather, it helps consumers find products and services from more than 100 travel sites.

• Complete Results: Unlike other travel sites, Kayak.com will never suppress or hide results from consumers.
• Total Pricing: Kayak.com is committed to displaying “total pricing,” for all air and hotel searches including all relevant service fees, taxes and other channel costs so there are no surprises at the time of booking.
• Booking Choice: Kayak.com’s proprietary MultiBook™ technology allows the consumer to choose where to book — directly from an airline or hotel, through a travel agency or consolidator and soon, by telephone through an offline travel agency.

FREE TO USE
Just like Google, Kayak.com makes its money by connecting interested
consumers with the entities providing the travel services. The user
never has to pay a dime.