We now admit to starting our theme month in October pondering how much discussion there was to be had around metasearch in travel. It was, for many years, the errant child of the industry – sites that got a lot of traffic (and some brands raised a lot of…

The private accommodation sector has been in the spotlight for the past few years. It has attracted the attention of the online giants but also witnessed the entrance of bold new players such as Airbnb. And, of course, metasearch has tried to become a part in the process –…

This article was written by Adam Goldstein, co-founder and CEO of Hipmunk. When we started Hipmunk in 2010, we were trying to solve a problem we faced firsthand: the agony of searching and booking travel. I’d planned dozens of trips for the MIT Debate Team, and the average search…

This article was written by Jacopo Rita, head of product for metasearch at Bookassist. According to recent industry buzz and rumors, Trivago has seen better times. Hardly a month (or even a week!) goes past by without an article or press release highlighting even more trouble for the metasearch…

Sabre has reported a 7.7% increase in revenue to $970 million for the third quarter of 2018. The company says revenue for its travel network, which covers its distribution business, increased 10.7% to $700.2 million. Airline solutions revenue increased just over 1% to $209.4 million and hospitality solutions revenue…

This article was written by Max Starkov, founder and director at HEBS Digital, a NextGuest Technologies Company. Price comparison engines, better known as metasearch engines or simply metasearch, have been around since 1995. Remember websites like BargainFinder, NetBot and Nextag? In travel, price comparison sites have been in existence…

Expedia Group is extending its Guest Insights technology to all hotels following a pilot in several markets. The system looks at data on a property, its competitors and other market intelligence to help hotels learn more about guests’ travel motivations and booking behavior. The company says the technology enables…

Booking Holdings is investing $200 million in and creating a strategic partnership with Grab Holdings, a Singapore-based on-demand transportation platform that operates in 235 cities in eight countries across Southeast Asia. Grab has raised more than $2 billion for its current round of financing – including $1 billion from…

Properly has raised $8.5 million to expand its cleaning and operations management platform for vacation rental managers. The Series A round was led by Asset Management Ventures, with participation from AccorHotels and travel investors including Ev Williams, Simon Lehmann, Fabio Cannavale and Tom Hale. Founded in 2014, San Francisco-based…

Why isn’t the travel startup survival rate higher than it is? Of the many challenges that consumer-focused travel startups may face, I assume that gaining mindshare and stickiness with customers is one of the biggest. For industry-enabling startups, two big challenges are in finding the right person in the…