Kayak (company)

Kayak

Type of site	Subsidiary
Available in	18 languages
Founded	January 14, 2004 (2004-01-14)
Headquarters	Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.
Area served	Global
Founder(s)	Steve Hafner Paul M. English
Key people	Steve Hafner (CEO) Giorgos Zacharia (President) Ko Baryiames (CTO) Amy Wei (CCO) Peer Bueller (CFO) Tore Pein Jensen (CMO)
Industry	Travel Technology
Products	Travel agency Metasearch engine
Revenue	US$292.7 million (2012)
Parent	Booking Holdings
Subsidiaries	SWOODOO Checkfelix Mundi Hotels Combined
URL	www.kayak.com
Launched	February 7, 2005 (2005-02-07) (Public)
Native client(s) on	iOS, Android, watchOS, Amazon Alexa, Facebook Messenger

Kayak is an American company. Their main product is a travel search engine for flights, hotels, rental cars, and vacation packages. Kayak's website and apps (iOS, Android, and Windows) compare flight, hotel, car rental, and vacation deals from hundreds of travel suppliers and websites at once.

Kayak's website and mobile apps are currently available in over 18 languages and more than 30 countries.

History

Kayak was founded in 2004 by co-founders of Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz with the goal of simplifying online travel searches. The alpha version was programmed on May 5th, 2004. Shortly thereafter, in October 2004, the beta version was completed and in February 2005 the website went online. In December 2007, the company managed to secure an investment of 196 million US dollars and was able to take over the main competitor in the American market, SideStep. The Americas headquarters are in the immediate vicinity of New York, while the technology center is located near Boston.

Since 2008, the service has repeatedly received the viewership prize at the Webby Awards.

In 2012, KAYAK was honored with 3 Webby Awards, including Best Mobile App in the Travel category by users.

In 2009, the American magazine Time included KAYAK among the fifty best sites of the year.