Priceline.com acquires Kayak for $1.8B • Hacker News Board

Re: Priceline.com acquires Kayak for $1.8B

#41

Post by photorized » Thu, Nov 08, 2012, 10:28 PM UTC

arbuge wrote: post #39

photorized wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am curious what their contracts with all these parties looked like... Booking providers seem to like exclusivity. Btw, anyone from Travelocity here? Would love to share some feedback about your platform.

Related: Expedia has an API... http://developer.ean.com/ . Haven't checked it in a while - looks like only hotels are available now (no flights, cars, cruises, etc.) Of course, not saying that Kayak went through this route - this is just something available to the hoi polloi.

I looked at Expedia for somewherenice.net, and didn't choose them for that reason. Needed to be able to package the whole trip, from airfare to lift tickets, so ended up working with Travelocity.

Re: Priceline.com acquires Kayak for $1.8B

#42

Post by d23 » Thu, Nov 08, 2012, 10:29 PM UTC

The title looks like it reads $1.88. I thought they had pulled some legal gimmick to screw them over.

Re: Priceline.com acquires Kayak for $1.8B

#43

Post by photorized » Thu, Nov 08, 2012, 10:30 PM UTC

jngreenlee wrote: post #33

photorized wrote: post #17

I don't like any of the existing travel sites, so even had to write one for friends and family (we like pick a random place and just go): http://www.somewherenice.net/ This was put together over several weekends, so don't be too harsh on me. :)

I like it, I've been looking for something like this. Some features (dreaded feature creep!) I'd love: 1. Map interface with little lines from my home base airport to the possible destinations - It's just fun to see. 2. Sliders to increase/decrease budget - Dynamically adding/removing routes as I change the $$ limit. Maybe these would only take another weekend to add?

jngreenlee: I was actually thinking about the map yesterday, but couldn't think about a good way to visualize so it doesn't look like another google maps mashup with pins. Your idea with air routes is interesting, hope you don't mind if I just go ahead and borrow them? :)

Re: Priceline.com acquires Kayak for $1.8B

#44

Post by jobu » Thu, Nov 08, 2012, 10:33 PM UTC

antoko wrote: post #10

Kayak is great (was?) but Hipmunk is more than up to the task of filling the void if Priceline ruin Kayak. Congrats to the Kayak folks I guess, when they got into the industry they really raised the bar. Before Kayak I remember having to use Expedia and Orbitz and just having to accept their crappy UI because there simply were no alternatives.

Hopefully Priceline will learn some improvements from Kayak and not try to force changes the other direction. Kayak has a great UI overall, but the explore interface is pure awesome: http://www.kayak.com/explore/

Re: Priceline.com acquires Kayak for $1.8B

#45

Post by bgarbiak » Thu, Nov 08, 2012, 10:35 PM UTC

duck wrote: post #11

daakus wrote: post #3

I hope this doesn't kill the current best UX that hides the junk in this industry.

There is always http://hipmunk.com , which I think has the best UX of any of them (although maybe it is lacking some features, but none I would use anyhow). Edit: Doh, fixed the link!

I'd recommend www.skyscanner.net, at least for the European users. Sure, they lack simplistic interfaces of Hipmunk or Kayak but when it comes to actually finding the cheapest tickets and best connections on the old contintent low fare airlines market they're, IMHO, the most reliable.

Re: Priceline.com acquires Kayak for $1.8B

#46

Post by photorized » Thu, Nov 08, 2012, 10:37 PM UTC

photorized wrote: post #40

zalew wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm working on a travel (many)weekend(s) project myself yet to launch, so I won't be too harsh, but... :P I put Warsaw in, and the suggested airports were Okecie (correct) and Babice (it's in Krakow), Modlin was missing. And all the result were in the USA. I like the design theme with all the backgrounds etc. and the logo, cool idea. You should leave some way to contact you with feedback on the page. Keep on, good lu…

zalew: airports - the UI lets you add your own. But I will look into Warsaw... I am currently looking at airports within a 50 mile circle, is Modlin farther than that? About the results: if there's no snow, a ski resort will most likely not be shown to you. The destinations were hand-picked, e.g. 2012 Best All-terrain, or best night life, or... But the list is growing, we just started to add European locations.

... hmm Modlin to Warsaw is 22.6 miles. You may have found a bug, thank you.

Re: Priceline.com acquires Kayak for $1.8B

#47

Post by zalew » Thu, Nov 08, 2012, 10:39 PM UTC

photorized wrote: post #40

zalew wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm working on a travel (many)weekend(s) project myself yet to launch, so I won't be too harsh, but... :P I put Warsaw in, and the suggested airports were Okecie (correct) and Babice (it's in Krakow), Modlin was missing. And all the result were in the USA. I like the design theme with all the backgrounds etc. and the logo, cool idea. You should leave some way to contact you with feedback on the page. Keep on, good lu…

zalew: airports - the UI lets you add your own. But I will look into Warsaw... I am currently looking at airports within a 50 mile circle, is Modlin farther than that? About the results: if there's no snow, a ski resort will most likely not be shown to you. The destinations were hand-picked, e.g. 2012 Best All-terrain, or best night life, or... But the list is growing, we just started to add European locations.

http://goo.gl/maps/hWc9q Modlin is a recently opened low cost airport, a few months ago. maybe your data source is not current.

oh, hand picked, I get it. I thought they were scrapped but maybe capped for US-only.

Re: Priceline.com acquires Kayak for $1.8B

#48

Post by bduerst » Thu, Nov 08, 2012, 10:54 PM UTC

antoko wrote: post #10

Kayak is great (was?) but Hipmunk is more than up to the task of filling the void if Priceline ruin Kayak. Congrats to the Kayak folks I guess, when they got into the industry they really raised the bar. Before Kayak I remember having to use Expedia and Orbitz and just having to accept their crappy UI because there simply were no alternatives.

Hipmunk has a much better interface, and considering it's also an aggregator, much better at helping me quickly find flights or hotels.

Re: Priceline.com acquires Kayak for $1.8B

#49

Post by photorized » Thu, Nov 08, 2012, 10:54 PM UTC

zalew wrote: post #35

photorized wrote: post #17

I don't like any of the existing travel sites, so even had to write one for friends and family (we like pick a random place and just go): http://www.somewherenice.net/ This was put together over several weekends, so don't be too harsh on me. :)

I'm working on a travel (many)weekend(s) project myself yet to launch, so I won't be too harsh, but... :P I put Warsaw in, and the suggested airports were Okecie (correct) and Babice (it's in Krakow), Modlin was missing. And all the result were in the USA. I like the design theme with all the backgrounds etc. and the logo, cool idea. You should leave some way to contact you with feedback on the page. Keep on, good lu…

zalew: try again, I added it.

Apparently that airport just opened in July 2012, and formerly was a disused military airfield? That's why I didn't have it. Thanks again.

Re: Priceline.com acquires Kayak for $1.8B

#50

Post by yawgmoth » Thu, Nov 08, 2012, 10:55 PM UTC

Since everyone seems to be putting in their 0.02$ on which sites they use for booking, bing.com/travel is also very good. The buy-wait prediction is fantastic.