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What a Stay at Kayak's New Miami Beach Hotel Revealed

Ruthy Muñoz

Photo Credit: A Kayak Miami Beach hotel rooftop suite.  Kayak / Patrick Chin

Skift Take

Kayak and Life House have joined forces to launch Kayak's first foray into the hospitality industry. The concept is a good one, but to be successful, the kinks in technology and customer service still need to be worked out, as Skift learned firsthand.

Launching a hotel during a severe thunderstorm is probably every entrepreneur's worst nightmare. And that is exactly what happened on Sunday, the official opening day of the new Kayak Miami Beach hotel. The hotel pulled it off with a few hiccups along the way. I know. Skift booked a room on the first night to try it out. If the name sounds familiar, that's because the hotel is a partnership between Kayak.com, the price-comparison site, and Life House, the lifestyle hotel brand now managing its former property off the Miami Beach strip. Located two blocks from the beach and one block from Collins Avenue, which teems with the nightlife Miami Beach is known for, Kayak Miami Beach is actually in a quiet residential neighborhood across the street from the Miami Ballet and Collins Park. On its website, the hotel advertises itself as a "locally-inspired boutique hotel powered by Kayak." The hotel sits next to an empty lot for sale, which is not currently being considered as an addition to the hotel, said Kayla Inserra, Kayak's public relations director. "We see a big opportunity to apply our audience and technology to the accommodations' space to level the playing field for independent hotels,” said Steve Hafner, CEO of Kayak, in an email on Tuesday. “Our Miami Beach property will serve as our hotel design lab and deepen our knowledge of hospitality and showcase our growing capabilities."

But what exactly will they be testing?

Inserra said the hotel's guests have the opportunity to influence its future operations. The property will distribute post-stay surveys to get feedback about what guests liked and what the hotel could do better.

"Right now, we are focused on getting the hotel up and running, getting staff trained and getting some of the key tech components under way. Three areas we intend to focus on first are keyless entry, mobile check-in and food and beverage integration through OpenTable’s technology," said Inserra, referring to Kayak's sister company. "Any test we do run will be behind the scenes, though, so to the guest it will feel like a seamless experience."

Life House and Kayak are scouting a few more locations for additional hotels, and hope to share more details in the coming weeks, Inserra said.

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