KAYAK

KAYAK is one of the world's largest travel search engines, comparing prices across hundreds of airlines, hotel chains, and rental car companies. Beyond search, KAYAK has integrated AI trip planning that lets travelers describe their trip in natural language and receive complete itineraries with bookable options.

## Metasearch

KAYAK doesn't book travel directly — it searches across hundreds of sources (airline sites, OTAs, hotel chains, car rental agencies) and shows price comparisons in real time. This approach surfaces options that single-channel booking sites miss, including airlines that don't distribute through OTAs.

## AI Trip Planning

KAYAK's AI assistant accepts natural language requests: "I want a beach vacation with my family in July, budget under $4,000 total, prefer direct flights from Chicago." The AI researches destinations, flight options, hotels, and activities — returning a complete trip plan with specific bookable options and price estimates.

## Price Alerts

Set price alerts for any route or hotel: KAYAK monitors prices and sends notifications when they drop below your target. Alerts work for specific dates or flexible date ranges.

## Hacker Fares

KAYAK's "Hacker Fares" feature combines separate one-way tickets on different airlines to find cheaper alternatives to round-trip tickets — a technique that can save 20-40% on some routes.

## Explore

KAYAK Explore shows where you can fly for a given budget from your home city. Enter a price ceiling and see a map of all reachable destinations within your budget for given travel dates.

## Pricing

KAYAK is free. Revenue comes from referral fees when users click through to book on partner sites.