[ASquare]

I have a simple question: Why are sites like Hipmunk, Kayak etc called "travel search" sites? Travel is far more than booking flights, hotels, cars, cruises and vacation packages

At best sites like this are booking sites for xyz but I have a heard time reconciling the appropriateness of "travel search"

What am I missing?

[calbear81]

Because these sites and ours (room77.com) are MetaSearch sites, we search prices from multiple sources and aggregate the information (inventory, content, prices) into one place. Booking sites like Expedia and Priceline are considered OTAs (Online Travel Agency) since they are the entity that sells you the actual inventory whereas metasearch scours the market for the best prices.

[ASquare]

Understood.

To me "travel search" implies everything to do with travel including destination research and more. So whether it's metasearch or OTAs - ultimately the focus is on booking something (is that a correct statement to make?)

To me travel - and certainly travel search should mean more than that

[chris_j]

What other aspects of travel are you thinking of?

[nck4222]

Searching for a destination was the first thing that came to my mind after reading the parent comment.

[ASquare]

exactly - there's actual destination research which is distinct from booking.

Things like local transportation info/getting around, what to do, where to party, safety info, visa info - and on and on.