Analysis: What Does the Kayak-HomeAway Deal Really Mean?

Kayak's decision to start listing vacation rentals from HomeAway later this year has a lot of people thinking that the prospect of a Priceline Group acquisition of HomeAway is getting closer, but there is another school of thought that all the acquisition talk is overblown. The Priceline Group brands, including Booking.com, Agoda, Priceline.com, Kayak, OpenTable, and Rentalcars.com, are run fairly independently but Priceline Group management certainly had to approve the Kayak-HomeAway tie-up because Booking.com competes with HomeAway and has emphasized vacation rentals as a vital supplement to hotels in recent years. Still, whatever revenue Kayak eventually earns from installing a vacation rentals tab, which would include inventory from HomeAway and Booking.com, would be inconsequential for the Priceline Group, which clearly is focused on the growth of its signature Booking.com brand above all else. Let Kayak Dabble With Vacation Rentals Following this line of thinking, Kay