SideStep

SideStep Inc.

Type	Private
Founded	Palo Alto, California, USA (1999)
Headquarters	Santa Clara, California, USA
Key people	Rob Solomon, President & CEO
Industry	Travel Metasearch
Products	SideStep Travel Search Website and Downloadable Toolbar
Parent	Kayak.com
Slogan	The traveler's search engine
Website	www.sidestep.com

SideStep.com was a travel search company based in Santa Clara, California, now a part of Kayak.com.

History

SideStep was a metasearch engine for travel: it searched and consolidated results from more than 200 travel websites worldwide. SideStep was founded in 2000^{[citation needed]}, with the launch of their downloadable application (the SideStep toolbar) and launched its website in the beginning of 2005^{[citation needed]}. Investors included Trident Capital, NVP and others^{[citation needed]}.

In 2006, SideStep acquired TravelPost^{[citation needed]}, a hotel review and user-generated content website. After acquiring TravelPost, SideStep started offering user-generated reviews and editorial travel guides through its partnership with Frommer’s and other content providers. In December 2007, SideStep was sold to Kayak.com for about $180m^{[citation needed]}.

Business model

SideStep made money through advertising and referral fees. However, advertising did not bias the ranking of results in their metasearch engine.

External links

• TravelPost, TravelPost