In a move that may signal consolidation in the vertical search space, Kayak and Sidestep recently announced a $200 million merger. This forms a strong partnership between two of the largest names in the travel arena. While both Kayak and Sidestep provide price comparisons across multiple OTA and Hotel/Airline brands, they have similar objectives – to provide the best price to their consumer. The two have a few differences that will help fill the capability gaps that are needed to make them a stronger travel destination engine for advertisers and consumers.
Kayak works closely with travel aggregators such as Expedia and Orbitz, and is a technology that specializes in more advanced search features than Sidestep, while Sidestep has more focus on providing content.
Advertisers should see improved performance as a result of combined resources that yield enhanced customer experiences and an increased level of site features. Additionally, these sites should see an increase in reach from the combined user base (presently, there is only a 10% overlap in these sites’ consumers). This will give advertisers the opportunity to expand their portfolio.
The union of two of the most reputable names in the travel industry will certainly be lucrative. According to Hotelmarketing.com, “The combined company will be profitable with $3.5 billion in transaction volumes and will be the fifth-largest online travel operator. Revenues are estimated to be around $85 million.”
In summary, Kayak’s rich search functionality, coupled with Sidestep’s media expertise, will help further develop these brands, and will contribute to their success as a leader in the Online Travel Space.
Article by Lindsay Blankenship and Nicole Siegel