Travel Search Sites Kayak, SideStep Connect

By Doug Caverly - Fri, 12/21/2007 - 13:28

Kayak quickly spends its Christmas money

In the official press release, forms of the word "merge" are used four times, "purchasing" comes up once, and "acquire" and "buy" are nowhere to be seen. Nonetheless, the bottom line is that Kayak.com secured a spectacular round of funding, and proceeded to take over SideStep.com.

Kayak and SideStep are both in the travel search business; prior to this development, they were often seen as competitors. But in the same turning-the-world-on-its-head press release, the co-founder and CEO of Kayak insists, "With less than 10 percent overlap between existing Kayak.com and SideStep.com users, each site stands to gain millions of new users." Travel Search Sites Kayak, SideStep Connect

Which could justify why Kayak was willing to spend something in the neighborhood of $200 million on SideStep. Michael Arrington, who seems to have broken the story, puts the number nearer to $180 million. One thing we're sure of is that Kayak acquired $196 million at the same time, so large amounts of cash were definitely moving.

Data and personnel should also be shared, thereby explaining the use of the word "merge." Yet the Kayak and SideStep brands are to be kept separate, according to the company line, and appear ready to expand into various geographic locations independently.

In his coverage of the development, Om Malik added one more interesting thing to consider: "Stifel Nicolaus & Co. analyst George Askew today cut his ratings on online travel sites, saying economic weakness and increasing competition will take its toll on the business."

News Tags: Search, Deals, travel, Kayak.com, SideStep.com

About the author:
Doug is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest eBusiness news.

6 Comments

By FatPassport (WPN reader) - Tue, 06/09/2009 - 23:21

Only 10% overlap?

I am surprised that they claim only 10% overlap in their respective markets - I for one have used both (and ultimately chose sidestep because of ease-of-use) and they seem really similar. Do they have different marketing tactics perhaps?

By travel agent atlanta (WPN reader) - Wed, 06/24/2009 - 01:32

Only 10% - no way!

You're right on pointing that out. I don't think the overlap is only 10% - it must be higher. Even their sites look rather similar and they are both in the industry of online travel and flight booking so I don't see how it's only 10%.

By thekingly (WPN reader) - Sun, 12/21/2008 - 15:50

Kayak is very good website I

Kayak is very good website I like.

cheap flights from to

By jeeves (WPN reader) - Thu, 06/19/2008 - 23:17

Competition

"Stifel Nicolaus & Co. analyst George Askew today cut his ratings on online travel sites, saying economic weakness and increasing competition will take its toll on the business."

damn right it is. it's great for us marketers though, with new guys like Impulsifly ( www.impulsifly.com.au ) getting launched every month trying to carve a specific section out of the longtail.

By nicoduka (WPN reader) - Mon, 04/07/2008 - 14:43

SideStep, the travel search

SideStep, the travel search engine, has raised $15 million in a third round of funding to help it stay competitive and to venture into other areas. The travel industry is packed. Other players offer search. But they also make money from selling travel tickets, something SideStep doesn’t do. These companies include Expedia, Travelocity. There’s Kayak, which offers a similar search engine. There are niche sites too, such as fare-prediction site Farecast and user-generated site, RealTravel. Sidestep’s funding comes from Norwest Venture Partners, and continues an incestuous trend among venture firms and the travel companies they support. Besides the Santa Clara, Calif.-based SideStep, Norwest has backed Indian tavel company Yatra, and Sulekha, another Indian company that has travel features among other things. Sidestep is probably happy to take the money, even if it knows the danger of having a VC with conflicts. It learned its lesson back in 2004, when it held several meetings with venture firm General Catalyst, during which Sidestep spilled its business strategy to the firm, only to see the firm back out and invest in competitor Kayak instead. And then there’s Accel, which has invested in Kosmix, a search engine that has a travel component, and Kayak. Other investors in Sidestep include Trident Capital, Leader Ventures and Saints Capital. In a statement, Sidestep said it wants to use the money build out media and user-generated offerings. Sidestep offers a comparison-shopping Web site, with options from more than 600 airlines, 150,000 hotels and 30,000 car rental locations worldwide. It offers vacation packages and, — via its purchase of TravelPost.com — extensive hotel reviews and travel blogs. It has more than five million users a month. Also, we shouldn’t forget that Jamis McNiven, owner of the famous VC breakfast hangout, Bucks Restaurant, is launching his own travel company, Landfrog, this quarter. ________________ Submited by : Bebes

By Elliott Ng (WPN reader) - Sat, 12/22/2007 - 01:17

Shifts in the travel landscape

The point you made about the 10% overlap in traffic, demonstrates that there is still growth opportunity beyond travel booking. We think about online travel as addressing 4 stages: planning, shopping, booking, and sharing. Kayak and Sidestep address shopping, and together represent a microscopic part of the of $80 billion online booking market, which in turn represents a still small penetration against the $700 billion total US travel market. Thanks for your insights on this merger and we put our take on the Kango.com blog.