Kayak CEO says being number 2 to Google in travel searches is ‘not a bad place to be’

Travel is booming, with record numbers of passengers surging through U.S. airports, and Kayak CEO Steve Hafner says searches on his company’s site are still rising as people start to think about holiday trips.

Hafner says interest is rising fastest for premium travel experiences, whether that means a better seat in the main cabin or an upgrade to business class.

The company that he co-founded two decades ago is now part of Booking Holdings, which doesn’t break out Kayak’s financials. Hafner spoke recently to The Associated Press about the travel business and the company he co-founded two decades ago. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Can you describe what Kayak does and doesn’t do?

A: We are just search. We give you all these cool tools to filter and find what you’re looking for. When you’re ready to buy, we don’t sell you anything in Kayak. We actually send you either directly to the supplier site or to the online travel agency for you to complete your booking. And we are totally free to use.

Q: Air travel in the U.S. is setting records, judging from the TSA numbers. Can that demand continue?

A: The short answer is it probably can’t, which is why prices are coming down. Coming out of the pandemic, there was a lot of consumer interest in revenge travel. I think that probably hit the ceiling this past summer. Now we’re falling into that traditional fall season when demand slumps, and you’re also seeing that in airfares. So airfares are down from the summer about 26% already. And they’re down even from the previous fall, about 4%.

Q: Are people searching yet for Thanksgiving and Christmas travel?

A: They are. Our query volume is up. It’s hard for people to think about snow and Christmas and Thanksgiving when you’re still in the dog days of summer, but the demand is there, the interest is there, and the folks who are searching are finding great price points.

Q: Does that mean people should wait for prices to fall even more?

I tell people, if you if you find a price you like, you should buy it, but we do have a price-prediction tool on Kayak.

Q: Do travel consumers still look at price first? Or are upgrades more important to them now?

A: Absolutely consumer behavior has changed. People looking for premium economy is up 31% versus the same time last year. People looking for business fares is up 22%. The vast majority of tickets are still plain old economy, but the number of people who are willing to look at other stuff is up dramatically.

Q: What does that indicate?

A: I think it reflects two factors. One is consumers are much smarter now, (they know) that when they pay the lowest price, that comes with disadvantages. The second thing I think it reflects a little bit of this bleisure trend (combining business and leisure on one trip). Since they perceive that the company is subsidizing a little bit of their personal travel, they’re willing to pay a little bit of a premium themselves to get to a better class of service.

Q: Will Kayak ever sell tickets?

A: We’re a facilitator. We don’t want to get involved with customer service or fraud or merchant-of-record or taking credit cards. We just want to have people find what they’re looking for on Kayak and then hand them off to an expert who can actually consummate that booking and actually take them someplace.

Q: How is Kayak doing financially?

A: We’re not as big as pre-COVID, like a lot of other metasearch companies, because of Google. Google has gobbled up market share. So we’re encouraged to see what regulators are doing and watching with interest the latest U.S. ruling. We’re profitable, we’re growing, it’s great.

Q. Is revenue growing?

That depends on the segment. Revenue is growing in certain segments. Overall we’re a little bit down, not as down as much as are other independent metasearch companies, but profit does continue to grow.

Q: Are you doing anything to counter Google?

A: We never expected to be bigger than Google, given their inherent advantages. Lots of people start at Google for anything they do in their daily life, but we always wanted to be better. And the search engine for flights, hotels, cars, it’s still better than Google, and that’s what motivates us. And being number two to Google is not a bad place to be either.