A slick travel meta-search that compares hundreds of sites, but by its own disclosure its "Recommended" ranking factors in revenue potential and may down-rank cheaper offers that hurt monetization.
What it's really for A travel metasearch engine; it compares provider listings you book elsewhere, not reviews.
What our grade covers The grade on this page is about its flight, hotel, and car comparison results, not everything the site does.
High Scoring Confidence Checked against primary sources. We are confident in the facts and the grade here.
Kayak's travel partners (airlines and online travel agencies) and advertisers pay it, via per-click or per-booking commissions plus sponsored listings; Kayak states sponsored placements are "always clearly labeled," but its own company page confirms a result's "average revenue potential for KAYAK" is a factor in the default ranking.
Source →- Operating since
- 2004 (22 years) · source
- What it costs you
- Free to read The reviews are free to read.
- How they make money
- Travel metasearch engine that aggregates flight, hotel, and rental-car listings from airlines and online travel agencies, then earns referral commissions and ad fees when users click through to book.
- What they do
- Kayak scans hundreds of travel-provider sites simultaneously and surfaces a comparison of flight, hotel, and car-rental options that users book directly with the provider rather than on Kayak.
- What to watch for
- The default "Recommended" sort is not purely cheapest-first: by Kayak's own disclosure it weights each result's "average revenue potential for KAYAK" and may obfuscate offers that aren't the solo-cheapest when they affect Kayak's or a partner's monetization.
- Composite score
- 2.10 / 5.00 → grade C-
How the grade was reached
Does the site take money from the very entities it ranks? Pay-for-placement, vendor-funded data, and affiliate commissions all pull this down. The less the ranking can be bought, the higher the score.
What is the ranking actually built on? Hands-on testing scores highest, then verified first-hand reviews, then opinion or popularity surveys and self-reported figures, then pay-to-rank, which scores lowest.
Is the methodology published, specific, and reproducible? Can a reader see how a given rank was reached, or is it a black box?
Are commercial relationships, sponsorships, and affiliate arrangements disclosed clearly and near the rankings themselves, rather than buried?
How hard is it to game? Controls against fake reviews, solicited reviews, and vendor gaming raise this; an open box anyone can stuff lowers it.
Evidence
- Kayak's own company page states it earns commissions from travel partners and that the default 'Recommended' ranking considers 'Average revenue potential for KAYAK,' and that it 'may obfuscate one or several offers if they are not the solo cheapest and they are affecting our or our partner's monetisation.' Source: Kayak — How we work / About the company →
- Kayak is an American travel metasearch engine founded January 14, 2004 by Steve Hafner and Paul English; it was acquired by Priceline Group (now Booking Holdings) in 2013 and is owned and operated by Booking Holdings. Source: Wikipedia — Kayak (company) →
- Reporting on Kayak's place under Booking Holdings (formerly Priceline Group), which acquired Kayak in a deal valued around $1.8–2.1 billion and folded it into the parent's portfolio of travel brands. Source: Skift — How Kayak Fared 10 Years After Priceline's Offer →