The News:
In an apparent coincidence, the two biggest Meta Search sites entered the cruise category at nearly the same time, when in January both Kayak and Sidestep launched cruise search products. Sidestep took the approach of partnering with NLG’s CruisesOnly brand to power its site, while Kayak launched a custom-developed search product. Among the questions are whether Meta Search can help increase the slow growth of online cruise bookings, and of the two Meta Search products, which is generating greater consumer interest?

Compete Analysis:
Sidestep and Kayak are now the two biggest players in Meta Search, each with approximately 3 million monthly U.S. visitors to their sites. Farecast and other brands have grown quickly, however, they have not yet been able to approach the scale that Sidestep and Kayak have been able to achieve. As a result of these two sites launching a cruise product, the pace has been set for the entire Meta Search category.

To date, the performance of both Sidestep and Kayak’s cruise sections have been comparable. On both sites, just over 1% of the visitors actually entered the cruise section. The market opportunity, however, is much greater, as a far larger percentage of their site traffic is actively in market for cruise information on other websites. In December 2006, 12% of Sidestep’s user base was actively in market for a cruise, whereas Kayak was at 11.5% of its user base.

For the 1% of consumers that enter into the Meta Search cruise product categories, activity levels were high. Around 70% to 80% of cruise prospects submitted a cruise search, and 20% to 30% actually select a cruise sailing. Sample sizes for Sidestep’s and Kayak’s cruise bookings were not large enough for Compete to track accurately.

Takeaways:
Both Sidestep and Kayak are generating comparable performance with their new cruise offerings. Sidestep’s strategy was likely easier to implement, however the ‘Cruises Only’ backbone gives limited flexibility for enhancements. Kayak, meanwhile, has built what appears to be a true cruise Meta Search platform. Like their hotel & air search products enable advanced filtering and navigation of inventory from multiple providers, Kayak has done the same with cruises. The investment may have been greater in Kayak’s case, but it should give them more flexibility for managing the product down the road.

Which implementation makes more sense? It ultimately depends on the future of the cruise category online. The early edge goes to Sidestep given that there is a limited online cruise market currently, and the site is leveraging the efforts of a 3rd party provider. Long term, however, if online cruise bookings take off, Kayak will be in a strong position with a new, unique tool that isn’t found elsewhere.

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