Does anyone know of any other solutions for this kind of data other than ITA? Are there any open/cheap APIs for getting at scheduling/price data? I hear Hipmunk is using Orbitz currently to power their results (or so someone said on that recent TechCrunch article in the comments). Does Orbitz have some API? Would be a fun data set to play with if one is openly available, though I love what Hipmunk is already doing.
The lack of open/cheap APIs is probably the biggest factor that keeps innovation in travel so slow.
My company, Adioso (YC W09) has a free API in beta. It's what's used to power http://destmapper.com/. Coverage is limited but soon to start expanding rapidly. Email me - tom at adioso dotcom - if you're interested.
TC article keeps referring to revenue and net income as compared to a year ago which was a notoriously bad year for the travel industry. So these growth numbers don't really mean anything. Would be really interesting to see where Kayak stands in comparison to 2007 & 08.
I think if you look at any large website in the travel space, that holds true, it seems to be an especially incestuous industry. When I worked at Tripadvisor (owned by Expedia) we had significant numbers of people in our group from Travelocity.
Odd. I wonder why that is. I suppose it has to do with gaining the knowledge to work in the space. Once you do, it's probably easier to find a job with other companies in the same space.
While the major guys move towards hotel booking, startups are tackling a lot of different problems in travel. This feels like perfect time for kayak to be raising money to compete. More here http://khuyi.tumblr.com/post/1592395981/online-travel-ripe-f...
The article implies that Kayak may have had privileged information about the Justice Department's investigation of the Google-ITA deal, or else they would have held off on the IPO. Now there's a story I'd like to read.
If they have 100 shares of stock and are selling 2 at the IPO for 50M then the valuation is much higher than 50M. Just because it is the IPO doesn't mean 100% of the stock is for sell. If they are putting out 20% of their stock then their valuation is 250M.
This is the first time that I see spam make it to the comments of an articles. Is there a way, other than flagging the comment, to report the account as well?
What investors of Kayak and Hipmunk must be thinking about Google buying ITA Software? I mean Google is going to become the provider of flights data and at the same time a competitor.
My reasoning: nothing to do against Google (come on 50M?) but against new innovative entrants like Hipmunk, 50M well spent can make a difference. my 2cts
