Hipmunk: Your Ultimate Guide to Stress-Free Travel Planning

Hipmunk is a user-friendly travel booking platform. It simplifies the process of finding the best flight, hotel, or car rental deals, with a visually intuitive layout that compares options in a single glance. Hipmunk's innovative "Agony" and "Ecstasy" features rank choices based on factors like price, duration, and convenience, making travel planning less stressful and more efficient. It's your personal travel agent right in your pocket.

Website	www.hipmunk.com
Type	Private
Industry	Travel Technology
Founded	2010
Headquarters	San Francisco, California, United States
Founders	Adam Goldstein, Steve Huffman
Services	Travel search engine
Parent	Concur Technologies
Shut down	January 23, 2020
Area served	Worldwide
Website users	Over 1 million (as of 2019)
Products	Flights, Hotels, Cars, Packages
Mobile application	Available for iOS and Android
Business model	Meta-search for travel
Key features	Agony index, Ecstasy index, Heatmaps

Unrivaled Travel Planning

With Hipmunk, travel planning becomes an absolute breeze. Its Agony Index and Eco-Friendly options provide a unique approach to flight search, helping you find the best flights based on factors such as duration, price, and the number of layovers. Read more

Comprehensive Flight Comparison

The platform's flight comparison feature allows users to compare prices across various airlines and travel sites. It also offers a comprehensive view of all the flights on a timeline, making it easier to choose the most convenient one. Read more

Hotel Booking Simplified

Hipmunk also offers a vast array of options for hotel booking. The "Heatmap" feature allows you to find hotels near the city's hotspots, ensuring you're always in the thick of the action. Read more

Price Alerts

With Hipmunk's price alert feature, you can be informed when the prices for your preferred flights or hotels drop. This enables you to book at the optimal price, saving you money. Read more

User-Friendly Interface

The user interface of Hipmunk is designed to provide a seamless experience. The website and app feature a clean, intuitive design that makes finding and booking your travel easy and pleasant. Read more

Accommodation Variety

Whether you're looking for a luxury hotel, a budget-friendly hostel, or a cozy vacation rental, Hipmunk has it all. The platform provides an extensive variety of accommodation options to cater to every traveler's needs and budget. Read more

Amtrak Integration

Unique to Hipmunk, Amtrak integration gives users the option to consider train travel in their plans, providing a more comprehensive travel planning experience. Read more

Multi-City Trips

Planning a multi-city trip has never been easier with Hipmunk. The platform allows you to book flights and hotels for multiple cities in one go, saving you time and effort. Read more

Direct Booking

Hipmunk provides the option to book directly from the platform, eliminating the need to visit multiple websites. This provides a smoother, more streamlined booking experience. Read more

Excellent Customer Service

Hipmunk's commitment to customer satisfaction is evident in their responsive and helpful customer service. If you encounter any issues or need assistance, you can expect prompt and efficient service. Read more

Facts

1. Start-Up Success: Hipmunk, a San Francisco based start-up, came into the spotlight in 2010. It changed the game of online travel booking by introducing an innovative 'Agony' filter that combines price, duration, and number of stops to help users find the most convenient flights and hotels.
2. Unique User Interface: Unlike typical flight search engines, Hipmunk presents its results in a visual timeline that allows users to easily see at a glance the trade-offs between different flight options. It's more like a spreadsheet, less like a list, making the decision process simpler.
3. The Agony Index: In a world where time is money, Hipmunk introduced the Agony Index. This innovative concept ranks flights not just by price, but also by duration and the number of stops. This helps travelers choose their flights based on overall convenience, not just cost.
4. Co-founded by Reddit Co-Founder:

Did you know that this excellent travel site is co-founded by Adam Goldstein and Steve Huffman, who is also a co-founder of Reddit? Their combined expertise has certainly played a role in making Hipmunk stand out in the crowded online travel industry.

5. The Hipmunk Mascot: Hipmunk stands out not just for its service, but also for its cute mascot, a chipmunk named Hipmunk. This adorable chipmunk stands as a symbol of the company's commitment to making travel planning as painless and efficient as possible.
6. The Ecstasy Index: Besides the Agony Index, Hipmunk also offers an Ecstasy Index for hotel searches. This index combines price, amenities, and reviews to rank hotels, making it easier for travelers to choose the best option.
7. More than Just Flights and Hotels:

While Hipmunk is known for its flights and hotels, it also offers searches for other travel necessities like cars and vacation rentals. This makes it a one-stop-shop for all your travel planning needs.

8. Mobile-Friendly: With the rise of smartphones, Hipmunk was quick to adapt and launched its mobile app in 2011. Since then, it has been a favorite among tech-savvy travelers who prefer to plan their trips on the go.
9. Personalized Travel Planning: Hipmunk takes personalization to a new level by allowing users to link their Google Calendar to the search. This way, the site can recommend flights and hotels based on the user's schedule.
10. Acquired by Concur:

In a major development, Hipmunk was acquired by Concur, a leading provider of integrated travel and expense management solutions, in 2016. However, the brand continues to operate independently, maintaining its unique identity and innovative approach to travel booking.

Vocabulary

– A consumer-oriented online travel company that helps users compare prices on flights, hotels, and more.

Airbnb – An online marketplace for arranging or offering lodging, primarily homestays, or tourism experiences.

Booking.com – A travel fare aggregator website and travel metasearch engine for lodging reservations.

Expedia – An American-based online travel shopping company for consumer and small business travel.

TripAdvisor – A travel website company that shows hotel and restaurant reviews, accommodation bookings and other travel-related content.

HotelTonight – A travel app that allows users to find discounted hotel accommodations throughout the Americas, Europe and Australia.

Skyscanner – A travel fare aggregator website and travel metasearch engine.

Travelocity – An online travel agency owned by Expedia Group.

Kayak.com – A travel search engine operated by Booking.com.

Orbitz – A web-based travel price aggregator.

Priceline.com – An online travel agency for finding discount rates for travel-related purchases such as airline tickets and hotel stays.

Hotwire – A travel website that offers airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, and vacation packages.

Trivago – A German transnational technology company specializing in internet-related services and products in the hotel and lodging industry.

Wotif – An online service providing travel bookings.

Agoda – An online travel agency and metasearch engine for hotels, vacation rentals, flights, and airport transfer.

Hostelworld – An online hostel-booking platform.

Couchsurfing – A service that allows members to stay as a guest at someone's home, host travelers, meet other members, or join an event.

VRBO – An American vacation rental online marketplace originally known as Vacation Rentals by Owner.

HomeAway – A vacation rental marketplace with more than 2,000,000 vacation rentals in 190 countries listed on its website.

Lonely Planet – A large travel guide book publisher.

Rome2rio – A multimodal transport search engine.

Viator – A website that provides reviews, photos and public forums where travellers can ask and answer questions about travel.

Jetsetter – A community of travelers that provides insider access, expert knowledge and exclusive deals on the world's greatest vacations.

Groupon – An American global e-commerce marketplace connecting subscribers with local merchants by offering activities, travel, goods and services.

Lastminute.com – A travel and leisure website.

GetYourGuide – An online marketplace and internet booking engine for incredible travel experiences.

TourRadar – An online marketplace that allows travelers to browse, compare and book group tours in various countries and locations around the world.

SeatGuru – A website that features aircraft seat maps, seat reviews, and a color-coded system to identify superior and substandard airline seats.

Google Flights – An online flight booking search service which facilitates the purchase of airline tickets through third party suppliers.

Lonely Planet – A large travel guide book publisher.

Roadtrippers – A mobile app that helps travelers plan road trips.