Booking a vacation is a big deal. You’ve found the right flight, hotel or rental car at the right price but before you part with your money, it’s natural to have questions. Who am I booking with? What happens if my plans change? Why am I leaving KAYAK to book on another site?
These are some of the most common questions travelers ask us. In this article, we’ll answer them so you can book with confidence, knowing how it all works.
In this article
- How booking through KAYAK works.
- Why do I get redirected to another site?
- What if something goes wrong with my booking?
- How do I manage my trip?
- FAQs
How booking through KAYAK works.
KAYAK is a travel metasearch site. We search hundreds of travel sites so you can compare the best deals and book with the airline or travel company you prefer.
Here’s a step-by-step walkthrough of how booking through KAYAK works:
- Search on KAYAK – Enter your travel details and dates and we’ll find the flights, stays or rental cars that match.
- Compare your options – On the search results page, compare the options to see which works for you best. Filters and tools help narrow your search down.
- Choose your deal – Once you find the right deal, select it and you’ll be redirected away from KAYAK to the website of the travel company offering that deal.
- Complete your booking on the travel company’s website – This is where you’ll confirm and pay for your booking.
- Receive confirmation – The travel company will send your booking confirmation directly to you, including your booking reference.
- Booking is added to Trips – We’ll build your travel itinerary for you with everything in one place. You’ll find Trips in your KAYAK menu (just look for the 🖤 icon).
Why do I get redirected to another site?
One of the most common questions travelers have when using KAYAK is why they’re redirected to another travel company’s website when booking.
When you select a deal and choose to book, you leave KAYAK and land on the website of the travel company offering that deal. That can be an airline, a hotel, a car rental company or an online travel agency.
You complete and pay for your booking on their site using their checkout. They’ll process your payment and send you confirmation and your ticket or reservation.
From this point on, the travel company manages the details of your itinerary, like what documents you need and how to check in. They’re your point of contact for customer service.
Leaving KAYAK to book on another website may feel unfamiliar, but it’s the same principle as Googling something and then clicking the link on the results page.
And so you know you can trust who you’re booking with, every travel company that appears on KAYAK must meet our pricing, legal and service standards. We review these regularly to make sure they stay compliant.
What if something goes wrong with my booking?
It can be nerve-wracking pressing that final book and pay button. Plans can change, so knowing what to do should a problem come up is as reassuring as it is important.
If that happens, your first point of call should always be the travel company. As you booked with them, they hold your reservation and payment details. It’s their customer service team that can make changes, handle cancellations and refunds, and answer your questions.
If you need to make a change to a booking, cancel it, or have another question or issue, here’s what to do:
Go to Trips – In your Trips itinerary you’ll find the details of your booking including the reference number and travel company’s contact details. You can check your confirmation email for this information too.
Contact the travel company directly – Use these details to contact the travel company and ask them to help manage your booking.
If you’re not getting anywhere, let us know – We aim to make sure every travel company that appears on KAYAK provides a reliable booking experience and good service, right up to your flight, stay or car rental date. While the vast majority meets the standards we set, if something goes awry our dedicated support team is always here to help.
How do I manage my trip?
Once you’ve booked, KAYAK Trips becomes your new best travel buddy. A free tool accessible from your desktop and the KAYAK app (even when you’re offline), Trips takes all your travel plans and builds you an easy-to-use itinerary.
For flights, Trips does even more. It can send check-in reminders and real-time alerts for delays, cancellations and gate changes, so no more last-minute sprints across the terminal.
Trips works no matter where you booked – even if you didn’t use KAYAK. Book a flight through KAYAK, a hotel direct and a restaurant on OpenTable and Trips can bring them all together complete with confirmation numbers, addresses and check-in times.
You can forward any booking confirmation to trips@kayak.com or manually add details, from flights and stays to car rentals and restaurant reservations, and it will automatically organize them.
And if you’re traveling with friends or family, you can share your Trips itinerary so they can see everything too (and stop asking you what time check-in is.)
How to make a travel itinerary for your next trip.
FAQs
KAYAK is a travel search engine rather than a booking platform. We show you deals from hundreds of travel sites so you can compare and find the best one, but we don’t sell those deals ourselves. When you press the View Deal button, you’ll be redirected to the travel company’s own website to book with them directly.
You’re booking with the travel company offering the deal you’ve selected on KAYAK. That could be an airline, a hotel or house rental site, a car rental company or an online travel agency. KAYAK shows you which travel agency it is before you press the View Deal button, so you always know who you’re booking with.
The travel company you booked with sends your confirmation along with your booking reference to the email address you provided when you booked. If you can’t see it in your inbox, check your spam folder.
Yes, KAYAK can track bookings you make anywhere. Just forward your booking confirmation to trips@kayak.com and Trips will create your itinerary for you, no matter where you booked. You can also manually add activities and other details directly in Trips.
Conclusion.
You can think of booking through KAYAK as a partnership. We help you find and compare options for flights, stays and car rentals, and the travel companies handle your bookings. Trips then keeps everything organized for you and your travel companions.
