Have used Kayak for hotel reservations for several years now but encountered and later avoided a major disaster with the third party they're affiliated with, Amoma. As you'll notice if you poke around on the World Wide Web, the reviews (for Amoma) are primarily extremely negative since it's inception in 2014 (give or take). Using my situation as proof, the perception is the reality here. Without getting into too many details, they follow shady and abnormal business practices and more times than not, ultimately fail to secure or even guarantee your reservation. After booking, I followed up with the hotel several times over (right after, twenty four hours after and later forty eight hours later) and they never had anything for me. Because of the fact I was already leery, I cancelled and Amoma waived the cancellation fee entirely. That's great and all but it appears that they still haven't righted their ship so to speak because the issues they've been known for are still ongoing. read more

No customer service, no accountability when they don't provide the service. The representative hung up on me four times and didn't process the refund read more

Do not recommend using kayak for flights really ended up costing the same after the strikes I was forced to pay for an upgrade on my flights should book directly from airline to much stress here never again! read more

I'm gonna try and bullet this: * over an hour wait at the second pick up spot out of LAX * the pick up Office # is in the backside of a hotel that looks like it's been torn down - it's shabby ghetto looking n dirty - major glass wall between you and Customer Service - which I would not call friendly! * everything that you fill out online to fast track through, screw that because they make you steps through all of those steps n more, besides having a piece of paper that proves that you have insurance, which of course was already filled out online! * before I left the parking lot key fob low battery warning - guy came out with a Tupperware box in his hand, clicking a key... Making the car lights flash on and off - see key work! HA! * after this big run around being total time after first bus drop!!! An hour and a half delayed now - I'm finally on the road and notice that the car is only half full of gas! I called them, took a picture and sent it to them in a text - that guy was ok to deal with... * and here's the fun part - there was NO Fresh battery put into the key fob so one more time. I got a warning at 8:15 at night, in an unfamiliar town and not exactly knowing where you get a battery for a key fob - I made my way to O'Reillys and got there 5 mins before closing! They were kind enough to help me out and search a YouTube n figure out how to get to the battery * Was the car clean? I would call it a half assed job at best - windshield was a mess on the inside! Bird shit on the outside... * NOTE you have to have a special little pass to get out of the parking lot gate, which is around the backside and up and over and through the woods to... don't lose that little piece of paper!!! it's also your entry back in... BUT do they tell you that? NO! Thankfully, I have angels watching over me... I had kept mine! * I would not recommend this at all to anyone! It was an awful experience and their care meter is zero - * I got a call from one of them while I was at the airport on my way home, asking how my experience was - I told them about all that happened and that I'd like to get reimbursed for the $14 battery and some stress compensation for all the delays - the guy simply said we have no way to give you a reimbursement and hung up... This whole experience sucked! read more

Kayak does not deserve any stars. One is too many. I attempted to book a cruise. I chose the wrong date. I caught the mistake within a day or two. But they told me I had to go to the cruise company to fix it. Of course, that was wrong since I paid Kayak. But it did not matter. They said it was immediately non-refundable with no possibility for any changes. My Booking Confirmation is KYB8YR3K. What a Scam! read more

My booking ref no is CTUO1695177 so that you can verify that I am a real user. I had a bait and switch with their partner, Crystal Travel. Here is how the bait and switch works: You might find this company through Kayak, advertising fares lower than offered through the airline. I had been tracking this for over a month. When I went to book it, the price went up by nearly 30% (comparable to the same price offered by the airline). They anticipate this, and they call you as you try to book so that they can tell you "the market changes suddenly and the system takes time to update". They pressure you to book with them immediately (or within an hour) so that the price doesn't go up again. Meanwhile, because they are looking at this on the airline's website, the prices do temporarily increase because of traffic. I waited another day, and the price went back down. There were plenty of seats, and I was able to book directly through the airline for the same price Crystal was offering. I just won't give my business to high-pressure bait and switch companies. I will also be putting a review on Kayak's sites because of their partnership with this company. read more

They need to vet the companies that they are allowing to book travel through their site. Apparently they have a company named Traveluro that is scamming people!! The scenario...booked a 2 night hotel in the Tampa, Fl area when we got down there today the hotel stated that they don't have a reservation for us. Contacted Traveluro and they said that the hotel is overbooked and that they would look into it...crickets crickets...nothing zippo!! read more

We booked a round trip flight from NY To Nice France that required a connecting flight change in Rome. The insurance to cover missed connections through Kayak was exorbitantly expensive. I made the decision to take my chances. Our first flight home was delayed and we missed our connecting flight home to NY from Rome. When I called Kayak for help rebooking my flight I knew the cost would be on me but expected to get real help in rebooking. Instead, I was asked why I missed my flight. I told them it was 57 minutes late. So instead of a 2 hour layover it was only an hour. The agent I spoke with was clearly reading from a script that said I still had plenty of enough time to catch my connecting flight. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me to catch that flight but the gate had closed well before I got there. I don't blame the agent I spoke with. I blame Kayak. I knew I was taking a risk. I did not know that Kayak would turn around and blame me for missing the connection and be so incredibly unhelpful in helping me rebook to get home. I ended up rebooking through another company. Bottom line: I think Kayak is fine when there are no travel disruptions. But when there are, Kayak fails miserably. You are better off going with one of their competitors that has a better level of customer service, better training for their agents and more empathy for their customers. read more

I rented a car through Kayak after doing lots of comparative shopping on other sites. I was very disappointed to discover at the Hertz car rental counter when picking up the car that taxes were not included and would be assessed there. All info at Kayak had suggested that the price I paid in advance was including everything (excepting any insurance coverage, obviously). Had I known, there were certainly other competitive prices at other sites which openly disclosed the tax charges. I definitely felt like I'd been mislead by Kayak. I contacted Kayak about this matter & they diverted blame to Hertz. LAME. read more

Kayak.com did not book the flight instead they sent me to a travel agency called Crystal travel for the "cheap" flight that came up on its search, but when I wanted to assign seats online the agency ended up calling me and sent an email with a hard sales tactic to complete my reservation. It was a bit aggressive but I went along. They explained that assigned seating would increase my ticket price by $1000! I agreed because I have a child. Then the agency said that for luggage carryon and checked luggage would be a cost but that they "found"a promo code. With that said, over the weekend I found the same flight on Expedia that included the same luggage promotion and gave me the ability to pick my own seat for almost $900 less. So why didn't Kayak do the same? read more

We booked a car rental from the Ft. Lauderdale Airport recently. We thought we would save money as SIXT cars can be expensive. What I didn't do is read the fine print in renting from Kayak. We arrived at the airport and the rental agency wasn't on site requiring us to take a $35.00 ridiculous taxi ride to a local Sixt. At the agency, we were informed that the car we reserved was not what Kayak arranged. Fine print again. You must read Kayak's agreement as it said or something similar. We rented the car we reserved for a bit more money cancelling any savings we expected to save with Kayak. The taxi ride, inconvenience and extra money we spent on renting the car we expected makes Kayak's services never needed again. We opened up a corporate account with SIXT which gives us a 15% discount on future rentals. This experience has taught us never to use Kayak's services again. Just thought I'd let prospective consumers know that the phrase "Buyer Beware" is applicable here. read more

If you need to book a flight, DO NOT use Kayak. Go to the airline you want directly, or use a reputable site like Expedia. First, they have a flight price freeze you can pay for, but when you go back the flights are nowhere to be found. This is a scam. Don't do it. When I did a new search and found new flights they were shown as flights on specific airlines (Finnair, Iberia, etc.). I NEVER fly American because they are SO unreliable. So the when the flights I found to Madrid were listed on these other airlines but administered by American I thought it would be ok. I bought that itinerary through Kayak (no, it does not take you to another site), yet the confirmation was sent by a company called Chatdeal. I didn't notice until days later that even though it was the SAME booking number, they had CHANGED AIRLINES on me, and my flights within the US were now on American. The man on the phone said nothing changed (that it was always on American flights). I'm like I can send you the email to prove it! He didn't care. I was unable to change or cancel and had to fly American. Every time I had a question, needed to select meals, pay to check a bag, or needed something corrected, I was told that you have to contact the airline directly. The airline, in turn, told me I had to contact the booking company. And neither would help. True to form American diverted to another airport for an hour to get more fuel, and was very late arriving at DFW. Though by some miracle the Iberia flight was considerably delayed and I made that flight with time to spare, American did not transfer my bag and left it at DFW, losing it for 5 days, and I had nothing I needed for the excavation I was involved in! When I called American they put it all off on Iberia, even though THEY were the ones sitting on my bag in Dallas. The reason I am bringing up what American did, is because I purposely did not book American flights, but Kayak and Chatdeal pulled a bait and switch. Kayak has been advertised for years, so I THOUGHT they were legit, but they are an aggregator that assumes no responsibility for the itinerary you get after you've paid them. You pay THEM, but you are not actually booking through them. DON'T use them unless you want no control over your itinerary, and a completely ruined trip. read more

Made a reservation on Kayak because it was a few dollars cheaper, only to find out when I arrived at the hotel that I have to pay more money. There was no indication at the time of the booking that there was any amount still due. I called 1 (855) 529-2501 to resolve the issue, but they don't have a live customer agent you can talk to. read more

Don't use Kayak to book your flights as they usually send you off to another booking agent. In my case it was UNDERPRICER. Unfortunately, we had a death of one of the passengers and had to cancel the flight. I contacted UNDERPRICER 2+ weeks before the flight with ITA. They stalled and did nothing. When I asked for updates, they told me they had "escalated" my request to their "team" multiple times. Finally, on the day of the flight, I had to call ITA to cancel the flights and it took 2 minutes to do what their team couldn't do in 2+ weeks! PATHETIC! At a time we were grieving and needed support, we had only frustration. Pay a little more and buy direct from carriers, at least you'll get to talk to someone who cares about your customer service if anything goes wrong. Stay away from these other companies, there is no one to talk to and you are at their mercy and they don't seem to care. read more

I searched for car rental in reno. Kayak's website provided out of date information which caused me to loose 3 days of my car rental and to rebook another car with much higher rate. My trip was ruined as a result. I wasted stressful hours to resolve this mistake. Amer read more

cancelled trip to Europe 2 months before travel. Have not refunded my money. This company has many negative complaints. I would never book with them again. read more

I put a freeze on a flight and was unable to find it again. The phone number said they weren't taking calls. I wasted $18. Do not use this service. read more

Kayak's value to me above other sites is the ability to use data science to let me know if I should wait for a cheaper fair when booking a flight. It fails colossally in this area. read more

I've used the search functionality to search for flights, and I've generally been pretty happy with the ease of use and search results. However, because of this experience, I made the mistake of trusting Kayak. On my most recent visit, when they referred me to a backend to book the tickets, they referred me to a fraudulent backend. Since the backends are either fraudulent or they perform bait and switch by increasing the price once you visit the back end, after finding a good itinerary, it is probably best to visit the airline directly to book tickets. Kayak.com should help it's customers by verifying that it's backend partners provide a reasonably well implemented web site, don't blatantly lie about things like 24/7 customer support, and publish easy to find and clear fare rules that don't contain unexpected clauses that allow the backend to rip off unsuspecting consumers. read more

FYI - Here is "Feedback" I recently sent to Kayak.com: It seems like Hacker fares are a scam. Both times I've tried to book them, after I've booked the departing flight, the fare on the return flight has increased (within minutes). Then you're locked into the first flight, because, of course, it's non-refundable. Your company must know that this is serious deception when it's using the old "bait and switch" marketing strategy. Are your marketing people thinking that consumers are too dense to catch on to this? Anyway, it just makes me want to boycott your website, and encourage others to do the same. It's just not an honest and legitimate practice. read more

I booked a round trip flight on kayak.com Detroit to Denver almost two months ago. Tried to print ticket 5 days before the flight, and learned the flight was NEVER BOOKED by Kayak and I had to book elsewhere for much more money. Kayak.com passed the booking off to its partner, FlightNetwork.com, which e mailed me a form that misled me (and numerous other on line reviewers) to believe our flights were booked and act in reliance. The FlightNetwork form, emailed from kayak.com/bookings said "FlightNetwork.com will provide customer service for THIS BOOKING" / "Print this booking" & "Call FlightNetwork.com to cancel this booking." etc. Call center was in India and they could care less. Strongly recommend you book directly with airlines, and NEVER EVER EVER with Kayak.com. read more

I love kayak.com. I use it all the time for air and hotel and rental cars. But, I decided to post this to help other travelers. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER ever book a hotel through kayak.com with less than 72 hours before your check in. Today in the lobby of The Doubletree Hotel in Midtown Manhattan I spent two hours with Kayak/Amoma (whatever that is) customer service trying to sort out why they did not have my reservation in the system at the Doubletree Hotel. It turns out customer service is CLOSED on Sundays and there was not enough time for them to send in the reservation that I had booked 24 hours earlier. My point to kayak... If you can't fill a reservation with under 72 hours notice... Don't take the reservation! After almost 2 hours I was able to sort it all out thanks for the helpful staff here at the Doubletree. But take my advice, do not use KAYAK to book with less than 72 hours notice. read more

This company will scam you if you try to use the 24 hour cancellation period. Even though it is against the law https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/259.2 Horrible customer service agents says the law doesn't apply to them because they are not an airline, but when you contact the airline you have to contact them directly. Book with airline directly to avoid dealing with this company. read more

Use Kayak at your own risk. Better yet, don't use them at all. I booked a room through their site, which is affiliated with getaroom.com, and decided to cancel 24 hours ahead. They charged me $398.33 for a cancellation! I have traveled extensively in my career as a journalist and have never once been charged for a 24-hour cancellation. This is clearly a ripoff and should be made illegal. Had I stayed all three nights at the hotel I chose in Santa Monica, it would have been $577, so by canceling, I'm saving less than $200. These people are going to rip you off just like they ripped me off. read more