Do you know the travel and tourism industry’s revenue is projected to cross US$1,114.00 billion by 2029? What is more shocking is that online booking is expected to account for 75% of this total revenue!
That’s where developing Flights & Hotel booking app like Kayak comes into the picture. Travel booking platforms like KAYAK made it easy for people to plan vacations and make bookings for flights and hotels. Now imagine using mobile applications for travel booking, it will save a lot of time and effort.
Under the skin of this ease of use lies sophisticated architecture-designed to handle the real-time details of multiple third-party integrations and seamless user experiences.
Developing an app like Kayak is definitely challenging and very rewarding at the same time. It’s not about pulling in all data from airlines and hotel providers but more of an intuitive design, right data-set accuracy, performance optimization, and keeping it scalable.
In this blog post, we would let you take the stroll through the step-by-step guide on how to develop a flights and hotel booking app like Kayak and everything you need to know about it, from required functionalities and API integrations up to back-end development and monetizing models.
If you’re ready to dig in with both hands and make an app like Kayak that’s powerful and user friendly, then go ahead and see what it takes to bring your vision to life.
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Introduction to Kayak as a Travel App
One of the most popular meta search travel engines is unarguably Kayak, which lets users find flights, hotels, car rentals, and vacation packages.
Launched in 2004, Kayak was one of the technologies that would forever disrupt the travel industry by pooling information from all airline chains, hotel chains, and travel providers for users to have one-shop experience.
With its easy-to-use interface, accurate results, real-time data, and travel services, these are some of the possible success factors of Kayak.
It is far more than an application meant for booking, because it gives a comparison on different platforms so that travelers know what they are looking for. If you plan to develop flight and hotel booking apps like Kayak, you must first know what framework supports it.
Read about the latest Travel Technology Trends
Why Develop a Flight & Hotel Booking App Like Kayak?
The travel industry is booming, and with global digitization, people are relying a lot on travel apps for planning and booking their trips.
An app like Kayak will provide you with an incredible market that’s sure to reach exponential growth. Here are some key reasons for making an app like Kayak:
Massive Market Potential: The Online Travel Market is projected to grow from USD 658.38 billion in 2024 to USD 955.41 billion by 2032, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.8% during the forecast period (2024 – 2032). Additionally, the market size for online travel was valued at USD 599.27 billion in 2023.
User Convenience: Creating an app like Kayak, you can allow users to access all travel tools, right from flight booking to hotels and car rental, all out of one application.
Profitability: Travel apps, like Kayak, have multiple revenue streams, including affiliate marketing, advertisement, and commission-based models.
Personalized Travel Experience: Tailormade recommendations based on users’ preferences in the app would build loyalty and engagement.
This is one of the lucrative opportunities to have a travel app development like Kayak, as this will keep users involved with the growing travel industry.
Business Model for Kayak
Understanding the business model for Kayak will aid in development. While other online travel agencies, and top travel apps, provide services where they gather, research, and then book for its customers, Kayak business model is purely a meta search for travel service provider since it gathers and compares prices available from different providers but does not book the travel.
Here is a summary of the business model of Kayak:
Meta-Search Engine Model: Kayak earns through sending people to Expedia, Booking.com and the airlines; they get a fee or commission after one complete booking by a person through one of their affiliate links.
Advertising Model: The app also generates revenue through ads. Travel service providers pay to be advertised and post their listings on the top of listings.
Pay-Per-Click Model: Kayak makes money through paying-per-click by clicking links to third-party sites like hotel rooms, car rentals, and airline companies.
White Label Solutions: Kayak licenses its technology to other businesses that are interested in offering branded travel search. This provides a secondary source of revenue without a lot of additional investment.
Read about AI in Travel
Key Features to build a Travel App like Kayak
If your purpose is to develop an app like Kayak, then there are some features that become a sine qua non.
For example, features that can make this app useful as well as user-friendly include:
Flight Search & Booking:
Core functionality will be the ability to search and compare flights from different airlines. Integration through APIs of major airlines or third-party aggregator APIs such as Amadeus or Skyscanner will feed real-time data.
Hotel Search & Booking:
Like flights, the application should give a search facility for hotels and provide comparison prices on the various platforms, like Agoda, Booking.com, or Expedia.
Car Rentals:
Another feature most travelers require is car rentals. In including this aspect, it improves the user’s experience and boosts your revenue in your application.
Price Alerts & Notifications:
One of the features that make Kayak a famous application is its price alert feature, whereby they provide users with alerts on price drops for the flights or hotels you’re tracking. This saves people money and improves the retention of users.
Maps & Geolocation:
Find the nearest hotels, restaurants, and points of interest. Put Google Maps or other geolocation services to use.
Multiple Filters:
Filter by price, duration, stops, ratings, and so on. Be sure that it will be easier for customers to find just what they want within your application.
In-App Booking:
Although Kayak only redirects you to third-party websites, your app can help make a direct booking to improve user experience. It also becomes an opportunity for generating revenue directly.
Travel Itinerary Management:
All bookings are managed, and based on them, an itinerary can be created that even syncs with your calendar and reminds you of your flight times, check-ins, etc.
User Reviews & Ratings:
This feature of viewing other users’ reviews and ratings on hotels and flights influences the choice of other users.
Currency Converter & Language Support:
Since it’s an app used worldwide, the addition of a currency converter and multi-language will increase user satisfaction as well as open your app to more and more users. or a flight.
Step-by-Step Guide to Developing a Flight & Hotel Booking App Like Kayak
Developing a travel app like Kayak requires a company to go through various phases of application development, from conceptualization to successful launch in the market.
Here is the major step-by-step guide.
Market Research & Validation:
This entails researching your target audience and competitors, understanding what sort of key pain points exist for travelers and how your app would go about solving these, and understanding how your app would be different to the existing travel apps like Kayak.
Defining the scope of the app:
Outline key features your app will offer. In other words, will you focus solely on-air booking and hotel booking, or will you add car rentals and vacation packages services? Define whether your app will be a meta-search engine like Kayak or an OTA.
Wireframing & Prototyping:
After finalizing the features, design wireframes to draw the UI and flow for the app. This will help in visualizing how the users will navigate through the app.
UI/UX Design:
Travel Apps should have a user-centric, intuitive, and friendly interface. It must be minimalistic, engaging, and easy to navigate with the best interest of the user.
API Selection:
You will need to connect multiple APIs to fetch real-time data from airlines and hotel booking platforms and other travel services. Some of the most widely used APIs are:
- Amadeus: For flight, hotel, and car rental data
- Skyscanner API: For flight search and booking
- Google Maps API: For geolocation services
Backend Development:
The setting of the server, database, and ensuring that the application can store data in large volumes while performing efficiently is inevitable. For the travel booking application, it must run with full potential for real-time entry and the reliability for large scalability.
Front-end Development:
The design meets the back-end logic at the front-end. You will require a robust team for front-end development to guarantee that the user interface of the app runs smoothly across all devices.
Testing:
Testing would be performed on your application to make sure that there are no bugs or usability issues in it. The app will be tested as per various scenarios such as the search for flights, booking of hotels, setup of notifications, etc.
Launch & Marketing:
After finalizing the app, it will be deployed onto iOS and Android also. A mixture of marketing strategies comprising social media, SEO, and other paid campaigns will be utilized to attract users.
Read this if you want to build a travel app like Expedia or TripAdvisor.
Choosing the Right Technology Stack
The overall technology stack you would use to build your travel app depends on the scalability, performance, and user experience that it needs to provide.
Here is a recommended tech stack for travel app development like Kayak:
Frontend
- React Native (for cross-platform mobile apps)
- Flutter (alternative for cross-platform apps)
- Swift (iOS)
- Kotlin (Android)
Backend
- Node.js or Python (for handling real-time requests)
- MongoDB or PostgreSQL (for database management)
APIs
- Amadeus (for flight and hotel data)
- Skyscanner API (for flight searches)
- Booking.com API (for hotel booking)
- Google Maps API (for location-based services)
Cloud Hosting
- AWS or Google Cloud (for scalable cloud hosting)
How to Monetize Your Travel App
Once your app is live, the next big question is how to monetize it. Revenue models commonly used in travel apps like Kayak are described as follows:
Affiliate Marketing: Earn a commission for each booking made through your affiliate links with airlines, hotel chains, and car rental services.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC): Charge travel service providers each time a user clicks on their listing to view more details.
Sponsored Links: Just like with Google AdWords, you let travel suppliers pay for a higher ranking in the search results.
White Label Solutions: License your platform to other companies or startups looking to offer travel booking services.
Leveraging Cutting-edge Technologies for the Travel Industry
Adhering to the latest technologies will not only make your app competitive but also ensure high user engagement. To stand out in the travel industry with a mobile app, you can employ the following tech trends.
Blockchain
- To offer an open-access distributed ledger of hotel inventory
- Make every transaction secure & stable
- Decentralized and traceable data
- Enable global payments
Artificial intelligence
- Used for travel planning and resources
- Generate better analytics and reporting
- Offer next-level customer service with chatbots
- Traffic estimation and scheduling
AR/VR
- Display captivative pictures for marketing
- Enhance customer experience
- Provides virtual travel experience
Beacon
- Accelerate the check-in process and save time
- Offering discounts based on proximity
- Improves staff productivity
How Much Does It Cost to Develop an App Like Kayak?
The cost to develop an app like Kayak will depend on several factors, such as the number of features, complexity, the development team, and the platforms you want to target (iOS, Android, or both).
Rough estimate:
- Basic MVP (Minimum Viable Product): $20,000 – $50,000
- Mid-Level App with Custom Features: $50,000 – $80,000
- High-End App with Advanced Features & AI: $80,000 – $300,000+
The cost will depend on the region, depending on the place where you hire your development team. So, if you hire your development team from Asia or Eastern Europe, you’d have been charged less compared to North America or Western Europe.
Learn about Travel App Development Cost
Best Practices for Travel App Development
The best practices for your travel app that make it stand out and successful in such a competitive market include the following:
User Experience: The app has got to be intuitive, fast, and easy to use to be right for special smooth experience, especially when booking.
Optimize for SEO: Make sure your app is found for relevant keywords in app stores and search engines, driving organic traffic.
Data Security: Keep information about users, such as their personal data and any payment-related information, private by getting compliant with standards like PCI-DSS and encryption.
Periodic Updates: Keep upgrading your app with new features, fix bugs, and remain updated with the latest technologies.
The travel industry is ripe for innovation in any form, and thus developing a flight and hotel booking app like Kayak offers an opportunity for excellent business. By combining features such as appropriate technology with a well-thought business model, you can establish an app that can meet the demand for easy access to convenient travel solutions.
How Kody Technolab Ltd Can Help Develop a Cutting-Edge Flights & Hotel Booking App Like Kayak
Developing a travel app like Kayak requires not only technical expertise but also a deep understanding of user needs in the travel industry. Kody Technolab Ltd, a travel app development company, brings both to the table; offering the tools and experience needed to build a highly functional, scalable, and user-friendly app that can rival industry leaders.
From API integration and payment gateways to AI-powered customer service and cross-platform development, Kody has everything you need to bring your travel app to life.
Ready to start your journey? Get in touch with Kody Technolab today to discuss your project and take the first step toward building a top-tier flight and hotel booking app.
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