KAYAK is owned by Booking Holdings, a publicly traded company on NASDAQ under ticker BKNG. The Priceline Group acquired KAYAK in May 2013 for approximately $1.8 billion in a cash and stock transaction.

When was KAYAK founded?

KAYAK was founded in 2004 in Stamford, Connecticut, by Steve Hafner, who had co-founded Orbitz, and Paul English. It went public in 2012 and was acquired by the Priceline Group less than a year later.

Is KAYAK free to use?

Yes. KAYAK is a metasearch engine that earns referral fees and advertising revenue when users click through to book with suppliers or travel agencies. Users pay the price shown by the booking provider, not a fee to KAYAK.

Does KAYAK sell flights itself?

KAYAK primarily compares prices and redirects users to airlines, hotels, and online travel agencies to book. Some itineraries are bookable within KAYAK through partner fulfillment, but the company's model is comparison rather than being the merchant of record.

What other brands does KAYAK operate?

KAYAK operates a family of regional metasearch brands including momondo in Scandinavia and the UK, Cheapflights, HotelsCombined, SWOODOO, checkfelix, and Mundi.

Travel & Hospitality

Who Owns KAYAK?

KAYAK is owned by Booking Holdings, a publicly traded company on NASDAQ under ticker BKNG. The travel metasearch engine was founded in 2004 by Steve Hafner and Paul English and acquired by the Priceline Group in 2013 for approximately $1.8 billion. KAYAK compares prices for flights, hotels, and rental cars across hundreds of travel sites and operates companion brands including momondo, Cheapflights, and HotelsCombined.

Parent Company

Booking Holdings

Acquired

2013

Status

Publicly Traded

Headquarters

Stamford, Connecticut, USA

KAYAK Timeline

1997

Booking Holdings

Parent company established in Norwalk, Connecticut, USA

Company Founded

2004

KAYAK

Founded by Steve Hafner, Paul English

Founded

2013

Acquired by Booking Holdings

Booking Holdings acquired KAYAK

Acquired

mass marketGlobalall-agesOfficial Website

Who Owns KAYAK?

Parent Company: Booking Holdings
Ownership Type: Subsidiary
Acquisition Year: 2013
Company Type: Publicly Traded
Stock Ticker: NASDAQ: BKNG

Brand	Parent Company	Ownership Type
KAYAK	Booking Holdings	Subsidiary

History of KAYAK

Founded: 2004
Founders: Steve Hafner, Paul English
Acquired by Booking Holdings: 2013

KAYAK was founded in 2004 in Stamford, Connecticut, by Steve Hafner and Paul English, both veterans of early online travel. Hafner had co-founded Orbitz, the airline-owned booking site, and English had founded several startups including the anti-spam company InterMute. Their thesis was that travel search engines of the era, including Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz, showed users only what those sites could sell directly. A neutral metasearch engine, they argued, could show every option and let users choose where to book.

The company raised venture capital from investors including Sequoia Capital and General Catalyst and launched a fast, spare search interface that aggregated airline, hotel, and car rental results from hundreds of sites. KAYAK's model was cost-per-click and advertising revenue rather than transaction markup, positioning it as a media business inside travel.

Growth was rapid. KAYAK expanded internationally, acquired European metasearch rival SideStep in 2007, and built mobile apps that became among the most downloaded in travel. The company went public on NASDAQ in July 2012 under ticker KYAK. Within months, the Priceline Group agreed to buy it, and the deal closed in May 2013 for approximately $1.8 billion.

Under Booking Holdings, KAYAK added regional brands: momondo, the Scandinavian metasearch engine acquired through Cheapflights owner Momondo Group in 2017; Cheapflights, the UK deal-comparison pioneer; HotelsCombined, the hotel metasearch site; and European brands including SWOODOO, checkfelix, and Mundi. In the mid-2020s KAYAK invested in AI-assisted travel planning, adding natural-language search and its KAYAK.ai features as the parent pushed generative AI across its brands.

About Booking Holdings

What does Booking Holdings own?
Booking Holdings owns Booking.com (world's largest online accommodation platform), Priceline (U.S. online travel agency), Agoda (Asian hotel booking), KAYAK (travel metasearch), OpenTable (restaurant reservations), and Rentalcars.com. Booking.com is the company's largest and most important brand.

Is Booking Holdings publicly traded?
Yes, Booking Holdings Inc. trades on NASDAQ under ticker symbol BKNG. The company has no controlling shareholder, with ownership distributed among institutional investors including Vanguard Group and BlackRock. In Q1 2026, the Board approved a 25-to-1 stock split effective April 2, 2026.

What is Booking Holdings' annual revenue?
In FY2025, Booking Holdings reported revenue of $26.9 billion, up 13% year over year. Gross travel bookings were $186.1 billion, up 12%. Adjusted EBITDA was $9.9 billion with a margin of 36.9%. Free cash flow was $9.1 billion.

Who founded Booking Holdings?
Booking Holdings was founded in 1997 by Jay Walker as Priceline.com in Norwalk, Connecticut. The company was renamed Booking Holdings in 2018 to reflect the prominence of Booking.com, which was acquired in 2005 for approximately $133 million and grew to become the world's largest online accommodation platform.

What is Booking.com?
Booking.com is the world's largest online accommodation booking platform, offering more than 28 million listings of hotels, apartments, homes, and other accommodations in more than 220 countries and territories. It is headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and is the dominant brand in European online hotel booking.

What is the Connected Trip?
The Connected Trip is Booking Holdings' strategic vision to integrate all aspects of travel planning and booking across its brands, allowing travelers to plan, book, and manage their entire trip (flights, accommodation, car rental, activities, dining) through a seamless, personalized experience powered by AI and data.

Who is Booking Holdings' CEO?
Glenn Fogel has served as Chief Executive Officer of Booking Holdings since January 2017. Fogel has been with the company since 2000 and led the acquisitions of Booking.com, Agoda, KAYAK, and OpenTable.

Founded: 1997
Headquarters: Norwalk, Connecticut, USA
Company Type: Publicly Traded
Stock: NASDAQ: BKNG
Revenue: $26.9 billion (FY2025)
Employees: Approximately 25,000

Visit Booking Holdings website

View full company profile for Booking Holdings

Where Is KAYAK Made / Based?

Headquarters: Stamford, Connecticut, USA

KAYAK Categories & Tags

Travel Metasearch Flights Hotels Price Comparison American Brand

KAYAK Recalls & Controversies

KAYAK has avoided major consumer controversies. Its metasearch model periodically draws complaints about price discrepancies between displayed results and final booking prices, an industry-wide issue driven by cached fares. Airlines have at times restricted KAYAK's display of their fares, and Southwest Airlines long limited third-party listing of its flights, a dispute that persists across the industry rather than being specific to KAYAK.

KAYAK Ownership: Pros & Cons

Advantages

+Backed by the world's largest online travel company's resources and data
+Brand equity built on neutrality and comprehensive comparison
+Autonomous operation preserves distinct product culture
+AI investment from the parent accelerates feature development

Considerations

-Owned by a company whose merchants KAYAK also compares, a structural tension
-Google Flights competes with overwhelming search distribution
-Referral revenue model is sensitive to travel demand cycles
-Smaller scale than sibling brands inside the Booking portfolio

Frequently Asked Questions About KAYAK

Sources & Further Reading

Competitors to KAYAK

These competing brands operate in the same categories and provide similar products or services. Compare key attributes to understand market positioning and competitive landscape.

Brand	Parent Company	Country	Founded	Market Position	Primary Market	Gender Target
Expedia	Expedia Group	USA	1996	Mass market	Global	All Genders
Skyscanner Ltd.	Trip Com Group	United Kingdom	2003	Mass market	Global	All Genders
PricelineSister Brand	Booking Holdings	USA	1997	Mass market	Global	All-ages