Kayak (company)

History

Kayak was founded in January 2004 by Steve Hafner and Paul M. English. Before Kayak, Steve Hafner, Kayak's current CEO, helped found Orbitz in November 1999 and led its business development, advertising sales, marketing, and product marketing activities.

The company was originally named Travel Search Company, Inc. and the name was changed to Kayak Software Corporation in August 2004.

The website launched in February 2005.

In December 2007, Kayak raised $196 million in financing from a group of investors including General Catalyst, Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners, and Oak Investment Partners. Using that funding, Kayak acquired SideStep, another online travel agency.

On March 5, 2010, Kayak sold certain assets related to TravelPost.

In May 2010, Kayak acquired German travel search platform Swoodoo.

In January 2011, Kayak shut down SideStep and redirected SideStep traffic to Kayak.com.

In April 2011, Kayak acquired all of the outstanding shares of JaBo Vertrieb-und Entwicklung GmbH, or JaBo Software, operator Checkfelix, a travel search engine in Austria.

On July 20, 2012, Kayak became a public company via an initial public offering. On its first day of trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol KYAK, Kayak opened at $26 per share and closed at $33.18 per share.

On May 21, 2013, Booking Holdings, then known as Priceline.com, acquired the company for $2.1 billion.

In September 2013, Kayak announced an office move to the Harbor Point district of Stamford, aided by a $2.5 million loan from the state of Connecticut.

In 2017, the company acquired Mundi, a Brazilian flight metasearch company.

In 2018, Kayak assumed leadership of Hotels Combined, which was acquired by parent company, Booking Holdings.

In 2024, Kayak added fares from Southwest Airlines to its listings.

Awards

In 2013, Travel + Leisure included Kayak's app in its list of the Best Apps for Business Travelers as well as its list for the Best Apps for websites and travelers.

Time named Kayak on its list of the 50 Best Websites of 2009.

Mashable included Kayak in first place for the website's list, "10 Budget Airfare Tools Every Traveler Should Know in 2012".

Kayak won the following Webby Awards:

• 2008: People's Voice award in the travel website category
• 2009: The Webby Award in the travel website category
• 2011: The People's Voice award in the mobile travel app category in 2011
• 2012: 3 awards: both the Webby and People's Choice awards in the travel website category, and the People's Voice award in the mobile travel app category.
• 2013: Nominee for Best Travel Mobile & App for Handheld Devices
• 2014: both the People's Voice and Webby Award in the Travel category for Tablets.
• 2015, Kayak Mobile won again the People's Voice Award in the Travel category.

The World Travel Awards presented Kayak with the World's Leading Flight Comparison Website award in 2013 and the World's Leading Travel Search Website award in 2011.

''All-American Muslim'' advertising

In December 2011, Kayak announced that it would not renew a contract to advertise on the TLC reality television show All-American Muslim. The decision followed a campaign by the Florida Family Association, a one-man fundamentalist organization focused on “defending American values". In a statement posted to the Kayak website, Kayak Chief Marketing Officer, Robert Birge, wrote that TLC “was not upfront with us about the nature of the show”.

References

References

1. King, Danny. (April 3, 2013). "Kayak turns 2012 profit".
2. Peterson, Lucas. (2017-04-18). "Which Travel Search Site Is Best? It Depends on Your Goals". The New York Times.
3. "Kayak.com: Private Company Overview".
4. Perez, Sarah. (July 20, 2012). "Kayak Is Headed To Russia". [[TechCrunch]].
5. (January 9, 2018). "The Billion-Dollar Travel Agent". [[Boston (magazine).
6. "The Way I Work: Paul English of Kayak".
7. (26 April 2017). "A View from the Top: Steve Hafner, founder of travel comparison site Kayak". [[The Independent]].
8. "Kayak Software Corporation 2012 Form 10-K Annual Report".
9. Schaal, Dennis. (January 30, 2012). "Kayak redesign: How and why they did it". Phocuswire.
10. Arrington, Michael. (December 20, 2007). "Breaking: Kayak Raises $196 Million, Buys Rival SideStep". [[TechCrunch]].
11. Luzadder, Dan. (December 21, 2007). "Kayak.com, SideStep to merge in $196 million deal". Travel Weekly.
12. Schaal, Dennis. (February 11, 2011). "Kayak has stake in TravelPost rollout". Phocuswire.
13. Zinnagl, Lukas. (May 6, 2010). "Kayak swoops on German travel search engine Swoodoo [Updated]". [[TechCrunch]].
14. Rao, Leena. (May 27, 2011). "in-front-of-its-ipo-kayak-reports-growth-in-revenue-but-income-down". [[TechCrunch]].
15. May, Kevin. (April 5, 2011). "Kayak buys Austrian travel search engine Checkfelix". Phocuswire.
16. Empson, Rip. (July 20, 2012). "That'll Fly: Kayak Closes IPO Day With Shares Up Nearly 30% And Market Cap Over $1.2B". [[Techcrunch]].
17. "PCLN Form 10-Q".
18. (September 25, 2013). "Gov. Malloy: Kayak to Expand and Create 50 Jobs in Stamford". Connecticut.
19. O'Neill, Sean. (August 4, 2017). "Kayak Acquires Assets of Struggling Brazilian Metasearch Company Mundi". [[Skift]].
20. Schaal, Dennis. (July 9, 2018). "Booking Holdings Buys HotelsCombined as Kayak Expands Into Asia Pacific". [[Skift]].
21. Schaal, Dennis. (August 5, 2024). "Kayak Can Now Show Southwest Flights – Finally". [[Skift]].
22. (October 14, 2013). "Best Apps for Business Travelers".
23. Rop, Gideon. (2015-01-08). "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Kayak.com".
24. Fisher, Adam. (August 24, 2009). "50 Best Websites 2009".
25. (July 26, 2012). "10 Budget Airfare Tools Every Traveler Should Know". [[Mashable]].
26. (October 2025). "2008 People's Voice: KAYAK.COM".
27. (October 2025). "2009 Webby Award Winner: KAYAK.COM".
28. "Kayak Mobile For Iphone".
29. (May 1, 2012). "We Won Three Webby Awards – Thanks to You".
30. (October 2025). "2013 Nominee: KAYAK - MOBILE SITES & APPS".
31. (October 2025). "2014 People's Voice / Webby Award Winner: KAYAK Technology Team".
32. (October 2025). "2015 People's Voice: KAYAK - MOBILE SITES & APPS".
33. "Kayak".
34. Freedman, Samuel G.. (December 16, 2011). "Waging a One-Man War on American Muslims". [[The New York Times]].
35. Diaz, Johnny. (December 14, 2011). "Kayak won't renew ads on Muslim TV show". [[The Boston Globe]].
36. Elliott, Stuart. (December 14, 2011). "Kayak Defends Cutting Ties to 'All-American Muslim'". The New York Times.