Jump to content

Kiwi.com

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 205.193.94.40 (talk) at 20:33, 10 January 2023. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Kiwi.com
FormerlySkyPicker.com
IndustryOnline travel agency
Founded2012
FounderOliver Dlouhý
HeadquartersBrno, Czech Republic
RevenueIncrease CZK 17.2 bn.[1] (2021)
−271,811,000 Czech koruna (2021) Edit this on Wikidata
Increase CZK -0.3 bn.[1] (2021)
Total assetsDecrease CZK 1.6 bn.[1] (2021)
Total equityDecrease CZK -0.9 bn.[1] (2021)
OwnerGeneral Atlantic (53.5 %)[2]
Oliver Dlouhý (22.4 %)[2]
Number of employees
877 (2021) Edit this on Wikidata
Websitewww.kiwi.com/en/

Kiwi.com (previously known as skypicker.com) is a Czech online travel search engine[3] founded by Oliver Dlouhý and Jozef Képesi in 2012. Kiwi.com provides a fare aggregator, metasearch engine and booking for airline tickets and ground transportation. Its ticket search features Kiwi.com’s "virtual interlining" concept – itineraries combined from over 750 carriers, including many that do not usually cooperate in online bookings.[4]

Background

The online portal skypicker.com was created in 2011. The company was founded in Brno by Oliver Dlouhý and Jozef Képesi. In 2016 the company acquired the domain name Kiwi.com for $800,000 and rebranded itself as Kiwi.com. Jiří Hlavenka was one of its first investors.[5] In 2017, Kiwi.com acquired a stake in Jaroslav Kokolus.[6]

As of June 2019, Kiwi.com’s main shareholder is General Atlantic.[7] Dlouhý and Képesi remain as major shareholders and continue to run the company.[8] Other shareholders are Touzimsky Airlines and Luboš Charčenko.[9]

Services

In 2018 Kiwi.com launched NOMAD, a special multi-city travel search tool, and Tequila, a dedicated B2B platform.[10][clarification needed]

Along with its headquarters in Brno, Kiwi.com has offices in Barcelona, Bratislava and Prague. The company has outsourced partners in Belgrade (Serbia), Bratislava (Slovakia), Dalian (China), Kyiv (Ukraine), Manila (the Philippines), Split and Zagreb (Croatia), Pune, Nashik and Indore (India), Tunisia, Miami (USA), Bangkok (Thailand), Beijing, Foshan (China), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Bogotá (Colombia).[11]

The company is presently one of the five biggest online air ticket sellers in Europe, with an annual turnover of approximately 1.1 billion euros in 2018.[12] The company booked around 12,000 traveler itineraries daily and employed 2000 workers during 2019.[13]

Controversies

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Kiwi has been criticized for its refund policies and its customer service practices.[3][13][14][15][16][17]

According to a company spokesman, Kiwi.com does not account for COVID-19 restrictions when creating travel itineraries.[14] This has led to customers being charged thousands of dollars for flights that individuals could not legally take in light of COVID-19 travel restrictions.[14][13] The company has put up barriers to refunds for individuals who have been issued legally impossible travel arrangements after booking with the site; one couple who had been issued impossible travel arrangements was only provided a refund after Kiwi.com was contacted by a New Zealand-based news website regarding their refund practices. [14][13]

Kiwi.com also offered refunds of only 10 euros to travellers who cancelled previously booked trips that had cost travellers thousands of dollars, drawing criticism.[15][3] Kiwi responded to criticism by blaming airlines for not processing refunds quickly enough.[15] Ryanair, an Irish low-cost airline, has stated that Kiwi.com has refused to provide it with the credit card or other payment information of travelers that the airline would require in order to issue refunds directly to those whose flights have been canceled.[18]

The Observer identified Kiwi.com as one of the companies responsible for the year's "worst customer service" after it began charging customers an additional fee for "standard" customer service, with customers who do not pay the fee having to wait longer for phone support and having no access to email support.[16] The Better Business Bureau has given Kiwi.com an "F" rating.[17][15]

On 14 January 2021, Southwest Airlines sued Kiwi.com, alleging that its scraping of fare information from Southwest's website was a breach of contract and that Kiwi.com's use of Southwest's logo in its search results constituted trademark infringement.[19] In response, Kiwi.com removed Southwest's logo from its search results, but continued to sell Southwest tickets despite Southwest sending Kiwi.com a series of cease-and-desist demands.[20] In December 2021, a Texas court ruled in favor of Southwest permanently banning Kiwi.com from scraping and harvesting information from Southwest’s website, republishing the airline’s schedules, and selling Southwest tickets without permission.[21]

On 18 August 2021, Ryanair announced that it would no longer allow passengers who booked with Kiwi.com to board flights with Kiwi.com-issued boarding passes, stating that it could not ensure that passengers had been informed of prohibited objects when Kiwi.com completes the check-in process. In their defense, Kiwi.com stated that their own boarding passes contain all of the information that Ryanair would offer on their boarding passes, with a representative stating that, “all the information is the same, just the colours are different.”[22][23] Later, on 27 August, following a lawsuit by Ryanair, the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic ruled in favor of Kiwi.com, stating that Kiwi.com had the right to conduct business after overturning an earlier ruling by a regional court which had instructed Kiwi.com to adjust information according to Ryanair’s terms and conditions, and to share customers’ correct contact information as well as their payment details.[24]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Annual report of Kiwi.com s.r.o. for calendar year 2021
  2. ^ a b Company register at or.justice.cz, company ID 29352886, Kiwi.com s.r.o., Netherlands-registered General Atlantic PH11 B.V. owns 53.5 %, accessed 2019-10-10
  3. ^ a b c Mzezewa, Tariro (3 April 2020). "Why Is Getting a Refund From an Online Travel Agency So Hard?". The New York Times.
  4. ^ "Kiwi.com in talks to raise funds for next leg of travel". Reuters. 23 May 2017. Kiwi.com is not a travel agency, they take your information and book your travel for you with the carrier, making it extremely difficult and frustrating if there are any issues before or during your travel.
  5. ^ "Inside Interview: Behind the $800,000 Purchase of Kiwi.com". NamePros.
  6. ^ Beránek, Jan. "HN: Brněnské Kiwi.com brzy přivítá nového investora". Lupa.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2020-02-27.
  7. ^ Fox, Linda. "Kiwi.com takes big investment as General Atlantic becomes majority owner". PhocusWire. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
  8. ^ "Hotovo. Kiwi.com patří americkému fondu, Dlouhý zůstává". Forbes. 3 June 2019.
  9. ^ "Veřejný rejstřík a Sbírka listin - Ministerstvo spravedlnosti České republiky". or.justice.cz. Retrieved 2020-02-27.
  10. ^ "Kiwi.com launches fully integrated booking tool for Tequila users". partners.kiwi.com. 2019-10-02. Retrieved 2020-02-27.
  11. ^ "Czech online travel agency Kiwi.com readies expansion push". Reuters. 21 April 2017.
  12. ^ "Hádky kvůli prodeji Kiwi skončily, dospěl jsem, říká zakladatel Dlouhý a zahájil expanzi do Číny". Hospodářské Noviny.
  13. ^ a b c d Thornber, Laura (11 December 2020). "Passenger 'blocked' from contacting flight booking site Kiwi.com after system glitch: 'I tried every mechanism I could to speak to someone'". Stuff.co.nz.
  14. ^ a b c d Thornber, Lorna (3 December 2020). "'Setting you up to fail': NZ couple issued 'impossible' flight itineraries by popular booking site Kiwi.com". Stuff.co.nz.
  15. ^ a b c d Ross, Eric (6 April 2021). "News 5 Investigates: Getting refunds after travel impacted by COVID-19". KOAA. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  16. ^ a b Tims, Anna (27 December 2020). "In the year of Covid, the awards for worst customer service go to..." The Observer. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  17. ^ a b "Kiwi.com, Inc. | Better Business Bureau® Profile". www.bbb.org. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  18. ^ Tims, Anna (5 October 2020). "Airline passengers 'wait for refunds despite agents being repaid'". The Guardian.
  19. ^ Neuburger, Jeffrey D. (21 January 2021). "Southwest Airlines Sues to Stop Web Scraping of Fare Information". The National Law Review.
  20. ^ Silk, Robert (3 February 2021). "Facing lawsuit, OTA pulls Southwest logo -- but keeps selling its tickets". Travel Weekly.
  21. ^ Tabacco, Christina (29 December 2021). "Court Enters Permanent Injunction Against Kiwi.com in Southwest Airlines Data Scraping Case". Law Street.
  22. ^ Boon, Ton (18 August 2021). "Ryanair Branded 'Evil' For Barring Kiwi.com Passengers From Flights". Simple Flying.
  23. ^ "Ryanair Says it Will NOT Accept Boarding Passes Issued by Kiwi.com". prague morning. 19 August 2021.
  24. ^ "Czech Constitutional Court Rules in Favour of Kiwi.com in Dispute with Ryanair". prague morning. 30 August 2021.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kiwi.com&oldid=1132833401"