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Travel Search Site Hipmunk (YC S10) Cuts Yahoo Deal

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Re: Travel Search Site Hipmunk (YC S10) Cuts Yahoo Deal

#11

Post by jakozaur »

forrestthewoods wrote: post #3

I've used Hipmunk several times. The interface is fantastic. The ipad app is also great. It does immensely suck that you leave Hipmunk to actually buy the tickets. I had to redo my entire search and purchase because the Safari view of Delta's website in the ipad Hipmunk app crashed. I also had to recently buy my cross-country Christmas tickets through Expedia. For whatever reason Expedia had far, far better selection…

Unfortunately got similar experience. Love searching on hipmunk, but got a few times problem with buying tickets there, so I redo my searches at other website.

Re: Travel Search Site Hipmunk (YC S10) Cuts Yahoo Deal

#12

Post by jeffbr13 »

maxerickson wrote: post #10
whopa wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I try Hipmunk every so often, the last time being about a month ago. Every time, Kayak shows more flight options for the same query than Hipmunk, and often cheaper ones. I don't get it, they both use ITA on the backend. I'd use Hipmunk more often if they actually fulfilled their functionality promise as an aggregator. A pretty UI isn't enough.

Kayak has additional data sources. I don't know the details, but the additional sources is clear enough. This lists a whole bunch: http://www.tnooz.com/article/kayak-to-google-bring-it-on/

Skyscanner (http://www.skyscanner.net/), who are bigger here in Europe, do the same thing as Kayak, only more-so - they have close to a thousand separate data-sources which they can query for prices, and they fall back on ITA and Amadeus only when necessary, because those queries cost more. Tends to result in better prices for the end-user, because the level of competition between vendors is phenomenal.

(source: was a Skyscanner employee for a bit.)

Re: Travel Search Site Hipmunk (YC S10) Cuts Yahoo Deal

#13

Post by clairity »

whopa wrote: post #9
forrestthewoods wrote: post #3

I've used Hipmunk several times. The interface is fantastic. The ipad app is also great. It does immensely suck that you leave Hipmunk to actually buy the tickets. I had to redo my entire search and purchase because the Safari view of Delta's website in the ipad Hipmunk app crashed. I also had to recently buy my cross-country Christmas tickets through Expedia. For whatever reason Expedia had far, far better selection…

I try Hipmunk every so often, the last time being about a month ago. Every time, Kayak shows more flight options for the same query than Hipmunk, and often cheaper ones. I don't get it, they both use ITA on the backend. I'd use Hipmunk more often if they actually fulfilled their functionality promise as an aggregator. A pretty UI isn't enough.

i just used hipmunk to book a stay this past weekend in the phoenix area. they had comparable or better prices to other sites and i was able to book directly on hipmunk (although technically it was done through booking.com). was a relatively integrated experience for me.

Re: Travel Search Site Hipmunk (YC S10) Cuts Yahoo Deal

#15

Post by gavinballard »

jeffbr13 wrote: post #12
maxerickson wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kayak has additional data sources. I don't know the details, but the additional sources is clear enough. This lists a whole bunch: http://www.tnooz.com/article/kayak-to-google-bring-it-on/

Skyscanner ( http://www.skyscanner.net/ ), who are bigger here in Europe, do the same thing as Kayak, only more-so - they have close to a thousand separate data-sources which they can query for prices, and they fall back on ITA and Amadeus only when necessary, because those queries cost more. Tends to result in better prices for the end-user, because the level of competition between vendors is phenomenal. (source: wa…

I used to use Skyscanner only for intra-Europe flights, but it's quickly becoming my first and last stop when looking for cheap deals. Really fantastic service.

Re: Travel Search Site Hipmunk (YC S10) Cuts Yahoo Deal

#16

Post by jusben1369 »

forrestthewoods wrote: post #3

I've used Hipmunk several times. The interface is fantastic. The ipad app is also great. It does immensely suck that you leave Hipmunk to actually buy the tickets. I had to redo my entire search and purchase because the Safari view of Delta's website in the ipad Hipmunk app crashed. I also had to recently buy my cross-country Christmas tickets through Expedia. For whatever reason Expedia had far, far better selection…

Yes shameless self plug but we'd love for them to use Spreedly in the same way SeatGeek does to solve this "drop you on a landing page and fill out all your card data and personal information again" Although I have heard that in the travel referral business they actually want you to go to those landing pages as they make no money off the airline ticket. So they rely on upselling you $30 or $50 "insurance" or other add ons. So Hipmunk would have to start doing that or they'd get bumped as a partner as their referral traffic doesn't "convert" well to upsells. (I think this is just for airline tickets less so for hotels or car rentals)

Re: Travel Search Site Hipmunk (YC S10) Cuts Yahoo Deal

#17

Post by spez »

whopa wrote: post #9
forrestthewoods wrote: post #3

I've used Hipmunk several times. The interface is fantastic. The ipad app is also great. It does immensely suck that you leave Hipmunk to actually buy the tickets. I had to redo my entire search and purchase because the Safari view of Delta's website in the ipad Hipmunk app crashed. I also had to recently buy my cross-country Christmas tickets through Expedia. For whatever reason Expedia had far, far better selection…

I try Hipmunk every so often, the last time being about a month ago. Every time, Kayak shows more flight options for the same query than Hipmunk, and often cheaper ones. I don't get it, they both use ITA on the backend. I'd use Hipmunk more often if they actually fulfilled their functionality promise as an aggregator. A pretty UI isn't enough.

Hmm, that shouldn't be the case. If you try again and feel like helping us out, feel free to email the discrepancy to support@hipmunk.com.

Sometimes there is an explanation (e.g. the flight doesn't exist, or has a 30hr layover), and other times we don't have the flight, in which case we want to alert our providers to fix it.

Re: Travel Search Site Hipmunk (YC S10) Cuts Yahoo Deal

#18

Post by spez »

jakozaur wrote: post #11
forrestthewoods wrote: post #3

I've used Hipmunk several times. The interface is fantastic. The ipad app is also great. It does immensely suck that you leave Hipmunk to actually buy the tickets. I had to redo my entire search and purchase because the Safari view of Delta's website in the ipad Hipmunk app crashed. I also had to recently buy my cross-country Christmas tickets through Expedia. For whatever reason Expedia had far, far better selection…

Unfortunately got similar experience. Love searching on hipmunk, but got a few times problem with buying tickets there, so I redo my searches at other website.

Hmm, that shouldn't be the case. If you try again and feel like helping us out, feel free to email the discrepancy to support@hipmunk.com.

Sometimes there is an explanation (e.g. the flight doesn't exist, or has a 30hr layover), and other times we don't have the flight, in which case we want to alert our providers to fix it.

Re: Travel Search Site Hipmunk (YC S10) Cuts Yahoo Deal

#19

Post by ASquare »

I have a simple question: Why are sites like Hipmunk, Kayak etc called "travel search" sites? Travel is far more than booking flights, hotels, cars, cruises and vacation packages

At best sites like this are booking sites for xyz but I have a heard time reconciling the appropriateness of "travel search"

What am I missing?

Re: Travel Search Site Hipmunk (YC S10) Cuts Yahoo Deal

#20

Post by 7Figures2Commas »

> Although Hipmunk has raised $40 million in venture capital funding — $20 million of it in May from Oak Investment Partners and others — it decided not to lavish it on television advertising like competitors “because that means going head-to-head against companies spending hundreds of millions a year.”

> Mr. Goldstein would not discuss specific financial terms of the company’s deals with Yahoo and Yelp, but said they would participate in the benefits Hipmunk received — commissions, usually — when one of its users booked a flight or hotel through a travel partner.

Hipmunk's position in such a competitive market is not enviable.

These types of revenue sharing deals often look very attractive on paper because they don't require much if any capital, but they can be disastrous and far more costly in the long run. In a good outcome, you frequently end up with a handful of partners who drive most of your business, effectively own many of the customers they send you, and have a permanent claim on a substantial portion of your margin.

Put simply, these deals tend to defer the hard costs associated with customer acquisition but also drive them up.

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