4 ms·
Bad news for hipmunk? Especially since google acquired ITA.
by andrewtbham 15y ago
Bad news for hipmunk? Especially since google acquired ITA.
- andrewtbham 15y agoThe really bad news for hipmunk will be when google integrates it into their search results.
- hugh3 15y agoWhat do you mean by "integrates it into their search results"? Hipmunk's killer feature is the ability to easily visualize the flight in terms of the time you leave, the time you arrive and the time spent at various intermediate locations. It becomes more useful when there are no nonstop flights. Google is taking a different approach with their UI, which is fine. In terms of whether I'd use google or hipmunk to search for flights in the future, I'd say that it depends on what my priorities are for that particular flight.
- andrewtbham 15y agoby "integrate into their search results" i mean.. if you search google for "sfo lax" and it brins up this new Google Flight page with their organic results.
- hugh3 15y agoAh, I see. Sorry, the ambiguous "it" made me think "it" was hipmunk. Somehow.
- raldi 15y agoWell, Adam has said in the past that only a small amount of Hipmunk's traffic comes from Google search results, so they don't really have that far to fall there. On the other hand, users are fickle and traffic can be a bit butterfly-effecty, so it's hard to predict the impact of something like this. That said, I don't expect Hipmunk to panic or take this lying down.
- redthrowaway 15y agoSo who are you rooting for? In the hypothetical world where there is a winner and a loser (which travel search pretty much is, given its maturity), are you rooting for the home team or for the guys you worked with for so long?
- raldi 15y agoWell, I work at Google and some of my best friends are at Hipmunk, so the ideal outcome would be for Google to buy Hipmunk. Or vice versa.
- redthrowaway 15y ago>Or vice versa I like you.
- wavephorm 15y agoThe bad news for hipmunk is it wasn't that much of an improvement over actual travel sites. I never had that much trouble using Expedia and I already know how to purchase my ticket right on the site. So there wasn't much reason to use Hipmunk in the first place. This Google search interface is pretty nice, and makes a lot more sense than Hipmunk did.
- IanDrake 15y agoReally? Google gives you a sort-able grid which doesn't seem that helpful to me. Hipmunk gives me a "heat map" style presentation which I can understand multiple factors at once without scanning text: Color = carrier / layovers Line length = total travel duration Timeline position = flight start/end time Ordered by Agony (or whatever) I can take one quick look and grasp all the flights without a second thought. In my opinion, Hipmunk's UI is genius where Google's looks like a school project.
- tbrooks 15y agoHipmunk's key differentiator is design. It's a pain in the ass to book flights and hotels. Hipmunk removed that pain by making it fun. Google's flight search doesn't look fun.