Kayak.co.uk is offering a flexible weekend search function, which allows users to compare prices for upcoming weekends or all weekends within a specified month.
The number of UKtourists opting for weekend getaways has risen sharply over recent years and Continental Research’s 2007 Holiday Online Planning Report found that the short break market is estimated to grow even further in 2007.
Steve Hafner, Kayak.co.uk co-founder and CEO said;
“Several recent studies show travellers all over the world are taking shorter vacations, typically opting for long weekend trips, yet, no travel site has effectively offered a search specifically for the flexible weekend warrior until now. Only Kayak.co.uk’s Weekend Search allows the user to specify days of the week and preferred times in the search parameters, resulting in relevant search results.”
To compare fares for weekend travel, users can specify timeframes or simply browse upcoming weekends. Core results are organized by price while an interactive Weekend Snapshot box offers an overview of dates and prices. Users can also save favourite itineraries to the top of their search results for easier comparison.
Weekend Search comes as part of a series of series of design enhancements and functionality launches based on user feedback, which have resulted in Kayak 2.0. A new display for flights and hotels has been launched after testing more than 300 mocks for Travel 2.0 functionality.
Flights results can now be displayed in either the traditional List View displaying itinerary information, a Matrix View offering an overview from all airlines or a Chart View displaying Kayak’s Best Fare Trend Graph, which shows the best fares found by Kayak users over the past 90 days. Hotel results are now displayed in List View, a Map View which integrates search results on a Google Map showing hotels near a chosen location, or a Photo View offering slideshows of properties.
A car rental search facility has also been added, enabling consumers to cross shop for rental cars on one page. Users benefit from Kayak’s signature filters and enhanced search options, searching by price, brand, location and vehicle features, to suit them.
Steve Hafner said;
“Kayak.com has a reputation for innovation. That’s why we continually enhance our site each month and why after only two years, we’ve completely redesigned the user experience to unveil Kayak 2.0. We are the only site to offer personalized search results for different types of users-from our Google Loyalists who wanted a bigger map to people begging for more photos and those who love our signature clean, clutter-free look and feel.”
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