Kayak.com has launched `Every Hotel on Earth' programme. In an industry-first, the company says it has created a simple and efficient process that allows anyone to add properties directly to Kayak.com.

Published: 18 Oct 2005

Kayak.com has launched `Every Hotel on Earth' programme. In an industry-first, the company says it has created a simple and efficient process that allows anyone to add properties directly to Kayak.com.

"Many sites claim to have comprehensive hotel search results, but in
fact they display only the properties they can sell," said Steve Hafner,
chief executive officer and co-founder of Kayak.com.

With the new launch, anyone can easily add properties to Kayak.com's
database of over 91,000 hotels, including hotel name, location,
description and amenities.

"Consumers are entitled to see all of the estimated 300,000 hotels
worldwide, not just the 15% that are marketed through traditional online
agency sites. Our 'Every Hotel on Earth' programme ensures that
Kayak.com remains the most comprehensive travel site for hotels on the
Web. If a hotel isn't in our database, tell us and we'll add it," said
Hafner.

Providing the details, the company said that to add a hotel, users click
on a special "Tell us" link from the hotel homepage or in the "Kayak
Commitment" section on hotel search results. Once a simple form
requesting information such as the hotel name and address is completed
and verified, the new hotel is quickly added to Kayak.com's database.
Any hotel can be added to Kayak.com for no charge.

The basic hotel listing includes hotel name, address, contact
information, lodging type, Web site address and a brief description.
"Hoteliers wishing to enhance their listing can pay $99 annually for a
premium listing that includes amenities, photos, reporting and a more
in-depth description," says the company .

Other than this, Kayak.com offers the "Accuracy Promise" to ensure that
every hotel is presented on the site with accurate, traveler-verified
information. Consumers can edit hotel descriptions based on their
personal travel experiences by clicking on the "edit info" link located
on a hotel's details page.

Kayak.com has also made the following upgrades to its hotel search
capabilities: Dynamic hotel counter that shows how many hotels are
available based on the user's specific search criteria; Enhanced mapping
capabilities featuring Google and Mapquest maps including a feature that
compares the location of multiple hotels on one map; Improved filters
that sort hotels based on specific preferences such as price, amenities
(bar, fitness center, Internet, etc.), location (including a city's
specific neighborhoods), star rating and brand; Links to relevant
information such as restaurants, shopping, taxis, markets and more; All
recent hotel searches will be saved for easy user reference at a later
date.

Kayak.com, launched earlier this year, is averaging between 2.5 -3
million visitors a month and has projected that it will surpass 23
million for the year.

Keith Melnick, vice-president - business development, Kayak.com recently
told Eyefortravel.com in an interview: "Kayak.com continues to launch
upgrades and new functionality each week. Major upgrades scheduled for
the next six months include launch of hotel search 2.0, vacation package
search, improved air functionality (class, multi-city) and
industry-leading personalization tools. In addition, our business
development team continues to secure new partners and affiliates, adding
to our comprehensive search capabilities and improving usability for the
consumer."