Have you started using TripIt yet to organize your travel plans into one little online spot? Kayak hopes you haven't because they just went and started doing the same thing as TripIt with the new "Kayak Trips" feature.

No matter which you prefer, both will instruct you to forward your confirmation emails to them, and they will organize the information into an easy-to-reference itinerary page. This goes for car rentals, flights, hotel reservations and (on TripIt), attraction tickets. The only major difference right now is that TripIt already has an iPhone app that allows you to manage your itinerary via mobile, whereas Kayak's iPhone integration of Trips is still in the works. But then Kayak's been too busy dropping millions to get you to pay attention to them in the first place, so we suppose they're hoping to attract all those who both haven't heard of them nor TripIt.

Related Stories:
· Kayak Launches Free Itinerary Management Tool: Kayak Trips [Kayak News]
· Kayak Launches Massive Old-Fashioned Ad Blitz [Jaunted]
· Kayak coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Kayak]]]> JetSetCD 2009-11-16T12:14:28-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/9/0123/83193

When you're gearing up to hit the web and book a trip, or at least search for airfares and daydream, what travel booking site is your go-to bookmark? We've been known to use Priceline for rental cars, Kayak and CheapOair for airfare, and a myriad of sites for hotel rooms. Sure, we could stick with one and use it for everything, but each site seems to have its own specialty and they often differ in terms of cancellation policies, booking fees and the like.

So to help sort out the major differences in booking sites, we got our mitts on Lauren Volcheff, Director of Marketing over at LastMinuteTravel.com. To listen to the two major factors that LMT has going on versus other sites, check out the video above (pardon the hot jazz background--a hotel lobby isn't always the best meeting room). Still, we also gossiped a bit about travel trends.

Our chat with LastMinuteTravel.com, after the jump.]]> JetSetCD 2009-11-09T11:46:15-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/6/163841/204

Expedia just announced they're waiving their $20 fee for the 7% of Americans who book their itineraries over the phone, establishing themselves in a niche and sticking a finger in the eyes of competitors. Airline centers mostly charge $5-$35 for telephone bookings—Southwest is the only exception—while Orbitz and Travelocity charge $25 per ticket. Priceline doesn't even offer that option.

This won't be much use to us, since our calls to booking agents are limited to rants about the impossibility of reserving rewards travel these days. But Expedia had already eliminated flight booking fees online, and it's nice to see anyone cutting any fee for any reason, no matter how marginal or symbolic the gesture:]]> Omri 2009-11-06T17:24:23-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/2/43917/1747

You'd think the recession would have catapulted price comparison engine Kayak.com into universal traveler awareness. The company's internal figures, though, tell a different story. Less than 1/3 of the more than 100 million Americans who use travel booking sites know about Kayak. Even less are able to differentiate Kayak from similar-on-first-look but significantly different competitors like Expedia. In a move that's bound to raise eyebrows in the travel industry and among travel advertisers, the company is shifting their resources into a massive offline ad campaign.

The new ad blitz was launched over the weekend and is set to blanket primetime cable through 2010. CNN, ESPN, and MSNBC have all been selected as venues, presumably on numbers promising that most coveted of travel industry demographics: 25-44 year olds with disposable income. Forbes.com has a full writeup on the campaign, including a description of one of the "witty 30 second spots":]]> Omri 2009-11-02T13:54:20-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/12/12736/631

We like winning stuff, so we pricked up our ears when we heard that UK-based travel booking site superbreak is running the Build Your Dream Break contest. You could win the chance to create your own short vacation—up to the value of £1,000 ($1,600), anyway.

The contest closes on October 31 and involves describing what your dream break would be like in 20 words or less. It might sound simple, but we think that it'd take us a few more sentences than that to explain our dreams. Although if you check the terms and conditions it sounds like the winner will be drawn at random, so perhaps the quality of your 20 words isn't all that important. ]]> amandak 2009-10-16T08:59:34-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/11/22302/800

Does the world really need another traveler social network? A whimpered "yes?" comes from the direction of American Airlines, who this week will be launching BlackAtlas.com, a part-facebook, part-travel guide serving as "your passport to the black experience." Indeed they are targeting African-American air travelers, who want to read articles titled "5 1/2 Things About Brooklyn" and watch videos about places like "Sonia's Hair Salon" in Madrid.

The Site doesn't officially launch until Thursday the 15th, but from sneak peek screenshots and more, we're thinking it looks like an expensive new toy for an airline which maybe shouldn't be spending that money right now. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-10-12T11:18:36-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/9/30/173126/944

We warned you they were coming: vacation sample sales from the luxury discount shopping site Gilt.com. The site launched today, along with their new iPhone app, and they're beginning their life pretty strong, offering "discounted" rates on hotel rooms and cruises from top names like Seabourn Yachts and Peninsula Hotels.

So are you getting a deal? First, the "sample sales" are tremendously limited in time, so you better know that when you're headed to New York in order to book a deal at The Standard New York, prices starting at $225. Now we've definitely stayed there for less, so you have to understand that these sale prices are off the rack rate, which is pretty easy to get around in the first place if you search all the usual travel booking sites.

Even "private" islands get the Jetsetter treatment, after the jump. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-09-30T17:57:06-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/