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1 year on, Hipmunk (YC S10) hits 1 million flight + hotel searches a month

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Re: 1 year on, Hipmunk (YC S10) hits 1 million flight + hotel searches a month

#51

Post by david927 »

Hisoka wrote: post #48

1 million searches is OK but Compete shows them at 200K visitors/month: http://siteanalytics.compete.com/hipmunk.com/ and surprisingly, it shows they had MORE visits a year ago than they do around this time... so where's the growth? it seems stagnant...

It's really not much considering how much they advertise and my guess is that number is an aberration they paid for and that the real numbers are closer to what Compete shows.

They're trying to build excitement again, but if you ask Hollywood they will tell you that you can't make people like something they don't, no matter how much you market it.

Re: 1 year on, Hipmunk (YC S10) hits 1 million flight + hotel searches a month

#52

Post by david927 »

purplefruit wrote: post #46
spez wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For hotels, we do get Orbitz inventory, but we also have a number of direct relationships. As you know, hotels are much happier to do business with people like us because they're not perpetually going out of business. We've experimented with SEM, but it's not really cost effective for us. Everyone else in the business runs their own ads, giving them an ad-arbitrage business model we simply don't have. The upside to o…

Makes sense. I wasn't trying to dog on hipmunk too much. Like I said, I actually really like it. My biggest thing with the UI was whether or not non-analytically-minded people appreciate the nuances you guys are working on. Anyways, happy to chat more if you're interested. I can also fuck off :P

I can also fuck off

What? Grow a pair. Everything you said in your first post is most certainly valid. These guys are full of shit and you called them on it, then you backed off on the first confrontation. I think you can do better than that.

Re: 1 year on, Hipmunk (YC S10) hits 1 million flight + hotel searches a month

#53

Post by Hisoka »

david927 wrote: post #51
Hisoka wrote: post #48

1 million searches is OK but Compete shows them at 200K visitors/month: http://siteanalytics.compete.com/hipmunk.com/ and surprisingly, it shows they had MORE visits a year ago than they do around this time... so where's the growth? it seems stagnant...

It's really not much considering how much they advertise and my guess is that number is an aberration they paid for and that the real numbers are closer to what Compete shows. They're trying to build excitement again, but if you ask Hollywood they will tell you that you can't make people like something they don't, no matter how much you market it.

I tend to agree. Hipmunk has a hip name, and is trying to create a brand for themselves, but it's hard to use word of mouth to market a flight search engine... it's like trying to use viral marketing to market a detergent.

It's hard to compete against established brands like Expedia, and Orbitz that has millions to play with.

Re: 1 year on, Hipmunk (YC S10) hits 1 million flight + hotel searches a month

#54

Post by reader2000 »

Once I'm ready to buy, why doesn't Hipmunk forward me to the airline website, where I can pick my seats and buy the ticket ... all in one smooth process? They keep sending me to Orbitz - as far as I can tell there is no value in buying a ticket through a reseller like Orbitz when it's the same price. At least on Kayak they show you all the sellers, including the airline and resellers. I always choose the airline website if the price is the same.

If there are any problems post-purchase, you can solve them with the airline directly. If you buy through a reseller, you have to deal with the reseller.

Re: 1 year on, Hipmunk (YC S10) hits 1 million flight + hotel searches a month

#55

Post by purplefruit »

david927 wrote: post #52
purplefruit wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes sense. I wasn't trying to dog on hipmunk too much. Like I said, I actually really like it. My biggest thing with the UI was whether or not non-analytically-minded people appreciate the nuances you guys are working on. Anyways, happy to chat more if you're interested. I can also fuck off :P

I can also fuck off What? Grow a pair. Everything you said in your first post is most certainly valid. These guys are full of shit and you called them on it, then you backed off on the first confrontation. I think you can do better than that.

I'm just being diplomatic, my friend. There's no reason for pointless confrontation on some internet forum. Though I appreciate the support, dawg.

Re: 1 year on, Hipmunk (YC S10) hits 1 million flight + hotel searches a month

#56

Post by david927 »

purplefruit wrote: post #55
david927 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can also fuck off What? Grow a pair. Everything you said in your first post is most certainly valid. These guys are full of shit and you called them on it, then you backed off on the first confrontation. I think you can do better than that.

I'm just being diplomatic, my friend. There's no reason for pointless confrontation on some internet forum. Though I appreciate the support, dawg.

Diplomatic is fine, but if you look at the other comments below, they all said what you said but not as eloquently, which is why you have the top voted comment. You represented everyone who voted that comment up.

Diplomatic is, "I wish you guys luck." It is not backing off your statement at the first sign of any sort of resistance to it.

Re: 1 year on, Hipmunk (YC S10) hits 1 million flight + hotel searches a month

#57

Post by sgrove »

spez wrote: post #29
onedognight wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am quoted $398 ($441 tax-in) for a flight from LGA to SEA round-trip from Aug 25 to Sept 8. Hipmunk gives me tickets from $398 each way, so I'd be paying twice as much minimum. This tripped me up the first time as well. That price is $398 round trip on Hipmonk. They show the best round trip price, not the best one way price. They say "from $398" to indicate that the best you can do is $398 if you pick the correct…

Also, our $398 is after taxes.

Which is awesome, please don't change that.

Re: 1 year on, Hipmunk (YC S10) hits 1 million flight + hotel searches a month

#58

Post by steve-howard »

hugh3 wrote: post #42
steve-howard wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Truth. I use Southwest unless I have no other choice (the only times have been when I specifically needed a red-eye and when I took a Thanksgiving flight at the last minute). Aside from the price, it's also just less irritating: not having TVs showing ads on the back of every seat is a big plus, and I don't have to plan around not bringing checked luggage.

I used to use Southwest a lot until I started discovering the joys of having status on an old-school carrier. If you fly less than 25,000 miles a year then Southwest is great, but if you fly more (and especially if you get up to 50 or 100K miles) then the perks of United (or similar) become irresistible.

I don't have status with anyone, but I'm usually broke. My impression is that having status with a carrier gets you perks, it doesn't so much make the experience as cheap as Southwest (and if you're strictly flying domestically, you're talking a 6-hour flight, max. That's really not that bad).
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