Flight metasearch company Kayak is developing its first hotel, opening the Kayak Miami Beach (Fla.) in April.
“We see a big opportunity to apply our audience and technology to the accommodations space to level the playing field for independent hotels,” said Steve Hafner, CEO of Kayak. “Our Miami Beach property will serve as our hotel design lab and deepen our knowledge of hospitality and showcase our growing capabilities.”
All check-ins and check-outs are contactless through either Kayak’s mobile app or a digital lobby kiosk. The Kayak app will provide 24/7 access to hotel staff and support, notifications of on-property events, room-ready alerts, itinerary management, housekeeping requests and more. Every room has a mix of tech-forward amenities from connected TVs to Marshall speakers.
Behind the scenes, the property is a design lab for Kayak to build and refine its accommodation technology, according to the company. The back-end software, currently in early development, is intended to help independent hotels leverage the Kayak app and capitalize on the latest advances. It will include integrations to cloud-based property-management systems, wireless lock and access controls, and sophisticated distribution channel management. Kayak will incorporate consumer and pricing insights from the billions of travel queries that it processes annually.
The technology is being developed in partnership with Life House, a vertically integrated hotel brand and management company. Life House will help shape the onsite guest experience, manage hotel operations and enable guests to interact with staff as much or as little as they prefer.
"Our mission is to create value for independent lifestyle hotels and their owners," said Rami Zeidan, founder and CEO of Life House. "Together with Kayak, we can accelerate our leadership in this quickly evolving space."
According to Kayak, it will be exploring additional locations to help refine its software for different property sizes and types.