Kayak.Com Undergoes Extreme Makeover

NORWALK, Conn., Aug. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Kayak.com, the world's largest travel search site, is taking a sip from the fountain of youth with a series of design enhancements and functionality launches based on user feedback. Kayak.com reinforces its position as the top travel site for airfare with a new "Weekend Search" that allows users to compare prices for upcoming weekends or all weekends within a specified month.

"Several recent studies show travelers all over the world are taking shorter vacations, typically opting for long weekend trips," said Steve Hafner, Kayak.com co-founder and CEO. "Yet, no travel site has effectively offered a search specifically for the flexible weekend warrior until now. Only Kayak.com's Weekend Search allows the user to specify days of the week and preferred times in the search parameters, resulting in relevant search results."

To compare fares for weekend travel, users simply select "Weekends" on the flight homepage and specify destination, month of departure or upcoming weekends, day of the week and time. Core results are organized by price while an interactive Weekend Snapshot box offers an overview of dates and prices for all five weekends. Check boxes allow users to compare prices for two or more weekends. Only Kayak.com allows consumers to save favorite itineraries to the top of the search results for easier comparison by clicking on the heart icon within the itinerary details box.

Design Nip and Tuck

Kayak.com launched a new display for flights and hotels after testing more than 300 mocks for Travel 2.0 functionality. The result is Kayak 2.0, approved by several focus groups and loyal Kayakers.

"Kayak.com has a reputation for innovation," said Hafner. "That's why we continually enhance our site each month and why after only two years, we've completely redesigned the user experience to unveil Kayak 2.0. We are the only site to offer personalized search results for different types of users- from our Google Loyalists who wanted a bigger map to people begging for more photos and those who love our signature clean, clutter-free look and feel."

    Flights results are now displayed in the following views:
    -- Traditional List View displays itinerary information and offers users a
       choice of where to book, supplier direct or from an online travel
       agency.
    -- For those preferring an overview of results from all airlines, Matrix
       View has been added.  Users can filter results by clicking content in
       the Matrix or by interacting with the filtering and sorting tools.
    -- Chart View is the new home of Kayak's Best Fare Trend Graph, which
       charts pricing for city/date pairs found by Kayak.com users over the
       past 90 days.  Travelers will benefit from two charts, one that
       displays pricing for the selected departure date and another graph that
       presents pricing for all dates within the specified month for flexible
       travelers on a budget. Travelers needing more pricing information can
       click on the link to browse Best Fare History, which lists the best
       prices found by other Kayak.com users searching the same route over the
       past 36 hours.

    Kayakers can now compare hotel results from the following views:
    -- Traditional List View displays more hotels above the fold than any
       other travel site. A checkbox has been added to include or hide hotel
       thumbnails.
    -- For travelers crying "location, location, location," Map View
       integrates search results on a Google Map. Users can compare a hotel's
       distance from a landmark or enter a "custom location" such as the
       address of a friend's home or business meeting. Kayak.com will then
       display up to 15 hotels near the selected landmark or address. Hover
       over a pushpin to see a hotel's price and star rating, or click on the
       pushpin to see full details. Users can also check the satellite image
       to see exactly how close they really are to the beach or airport, or to
       a custom address.
    -- Photo View offers slideshows of properties using Ajax navigation,
       allowing for quick scrolls through hotel pictures for those who won't
       buy sight unseen.

About Kayak.com

Kayak.com, the world's largest travel site, 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 "100 Best Products of 2007" by PC World; "25 Sites We Can't Live Without" by TIME Magazine; "Best Search Engine" by the Associated Press; and "Best of the Web" by BusinessWeek, Forbes.com, and US News & World Report. 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 Accel Partners. For more information, visit http://www.Kayak.com.