Does the world really need another search aggregation website? Well, we are about to find out. FlightSearch.com has gone live (in beta) with an interesting approach to searching multiple travel sites.
Unlike some other players such as TripAdvisor'sbookingbuddy.com, TravelZoo'sSuperSearch, FlightSearch searches multiple sites without opening window after window after window as each separate site is searched. Users are able to simply tab between results from Priceline, Orbitz, CheapTickets, Vayama, Kayak and others. (Does Kayak's inclusion make FlightSearch a meta of metas?) FlightSearch is a really nice take on an oft-copied model. And not a bad URL either.
FlightSearch is led by travel industry vet Ted Perlstein (full disclosure: Ted worked for me at Starwood as a summer intern once upon a time - he probably considers it a dark period in his career) who has also has been at Orbitz and once upon a time, carried a business card with the title of "Head Sherpa" when he was at an earlier incarnation of lastminutetravel.com
As we mentioned, FlightSearch is still in beta so there are a few things we'd still like to see improved, but we'll be watching to see when other OTAs (and metas?) join up. And how about a few suppliers? Where are you American and United et al? Obviously, driving traffic in this hyper-competitive space will be a challenge but we like the approach Ted and team are taking...
The smack-down in travel meta-search between Fly.com, TripAdvisor.com and market leader Kayak.com with consumers so far emerging as the big winners. The emerging players (Fly and TA) are continuing to push out new functionality that is offering consumers new and interesting ways to search for airfares.
Today, Fly.com released a great new feature that allows users (once they have searched) to easily explore how changing adjusting their travel dates can save them money. Talk about a feature that is right for the times! Fly.com allows users to easily compare air fares on multiple days. Better still, it enables users to compare airfares across months at a time based on a variable trip duration. Finally, a consumer can simply say that they want to go to Los Angeles for 4 days sometime over the next 4 months and Fly.com will show the user a multitude of travel dates with associated fares - it enables consumers to easily make trade-offs between flying on say, a Saturday in mid-May vs. the end of spring break. And, a user can even declare a fixed outbound or return day - perfect for those trips when you know exactly when you have to leave or return but are somewhat flexible on one end of the trip or the other. Finally, Fly.com has made it easy to see if staying over a Saturday night really makes a difference or not! Or it may yield the perfect excuse to stay an extra day on that business trip to South Florida in January...
Many in the travel industry are questioning if TripAdvisor's new flight meta search product can change TripAdvisor's position in the "travel funnel." Today, TripAdvisor sits at the top of the hill during the hotel planning process which generally follows air. Google any hotel or city and TripAdvisor is more than likely at the top or near the top of the organic (non-paid) search listings thanks to great content and years of SEO.
But for hotel bookers who have already booked their air, TA is too late. Compete.com did a nice piece today detailing air visits pre- and post-TA visits. According to their numbers, "when TripAdvisor users shop for flights, only 13% will do so on the same day as their TripAdvisor.com usage"
Here is where TripAdvisor's huge advantage in organic SEO comes into play. Try a simple google search such as "Boston to Miami Flights" Guess who is #3 in this search - Yes, TripAdvisor. Not bad to be number three in organic search three days after launch! (Note: I don't search for flights this way but I think my mom does.)
Clearly, these strong organic (and free) search results will give TA a big head start in the meta-wars with Kayak.com and Fly.com
We knew it was coming and now its live - in beta. TripAdvisor's new meta search product is being served up right on the home page. And TripAdvisor is sporting a breezy new logo with a an airplane and a new tagline to boot: get the best flights. then go.
Some early thoughts.....
TripAdvisor is pushing the "fees estimator" as a key selling feature... This handy item allows users to calculate the full cost of a trip including baggage charges. Somewhat humorously, it also will estimate on board charges - even down to if you want a cocktail. But, the fee estimator only appears to work for domestic tickets in the US.
Another interesting feature is the ability to display seat maps by clicking on "available seats" which opens a new window for airlines which are available for sale via Expedia. (Sorry, AA) And, of course, seatguru (another TripAdvisor property) reviews are also included with a separate click.
Hovering over a carrier's logo in the results page allows for some additional marketing messaging - try Alaska for example, and you'll see that they don't charge for the first bag. This is pretty cool functionality - but I'm not sure I would have found it had it not been pointed out to me by someone in the know!
Interestingly, TripAdvisor is also pulling in content from Travelocity, Hotwire and Expedia - but with little rhyme or reason from we can tell on a quick check of the site. Sometimes Travelocity is there, sometimes Expedia, sometimes both. It seems to be largely airline specific. The only constant is that none of the OTAs are shown with American Airlines - remember the Kayak/AA spat?
And, maybe showing TripAdvisor's parent Expedia's roots - its odd that the searching screen shows logos of intermediaries and distribution providers rather the actual suppliers that consumers crave. Indeed, many of the logos shown will probably mean nothing to most of the traveling public - we doubt many non-travel people know or care what ITA, Sabre or Amadeus are!
It also has some rather annoying "features" or lack thereof. While it is a beta launch, some lapses are glaring.
For instance, unlike Fly.com or Kayak.com there is no "search nearby airports" functionality - this really is annoying for those of us who live in multi-airport cities like New York or San Francisco.
The ability to sort for specific airlines is, frankly, backwards. If a user wants to zero in on a specific carrier (maybe because they have an addiction to AAdvantage miles or just love Virgin America) he/she must "unclick" all the other airlines rather than simply clicking on the airline they are interested in.
An interesting twist is showing layover time in connecting cities. Always good to know if I am going to be stuck in Atlanta for a few hours - but missing is the total elapsed time! Total elapsed time would seem to be a much better indicator than layover time - unless you are really desperate to spend some quality time in an airport along the way....
Still, given TripAdvisor's huge reach and loyal user base, we'll go ahead and predict this product (which doesn't seem to have a specific name) will ultimately be successful - if TA can convince people to think of them earlier in the travel booking process - before they have booked their airline tickets and are ready to think about hotels....
At today's Goldman Sach's Technology and Internet Conference (BTW, this is the infamous conference that was moved three weeks ago from Vegas to San Francisco to maintain appearances) Expedia Inc CEO Dara Khosrowshahi briefly discussed the impending launch of TripAdvisor's new meta search engine. First alluded to in Expedia's Q4 earnings call and long surmised since TripAdvisor and ITA announced an agreement in January, it appears that it will go live soon. Very soon.
There is plenty of competition brewing in this space and Expedia is the last of the big 3 OTAs to enter the space. Travelocity has morphed igougo into something of a meta and Orbitz has long powered industry leader Kayak.com - along with every other fledgling meta search site out there. As we discussed earlier, TravelZoo has also launched a meta product under www.fly.com just a few weeks ago.
But, TripAdvisor may have the last laugh in this race. They have by far the largest user base and an incredibly loyal following of dedicated users. TripAdvisor is all about hotel and destination reviews today, but it does not seem that it would be too hard to get those same users to think about TripAdvisor earlier in their trip - when they are starting to plan and booking air.
We'll be back shortly with some traffic comparison numbers to muse further on the impending war of the metas!
FlightSearch is led by travel industry vet Ted Perlstein (full disclosure: Ted worked for me at Starwood as a summer intern once upon a time - he probably considers it a dark period in his career) who has also has been at Orbitz and once upon a time, carried a business card with the title of "Head Sherpa" when he was at an earlier incarnation of lastminutetravel.com
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