Steve Hafner exited his Kayak CEO post after 22 years. His successor is Kayak CFO Peer Bueller. The moves follow our Skift scoop three weeks ago that Hafner sought to take Kayak private. He'll remain in a newly created post, Kayak executive chair. It was an incredible run for Hafner, who with Paul English, saw Kayak emerge as a metasearch leader from a horde — really, there were SO MANY — of other meta companies in the early 2000s.
Of course, Google Hotels and Google Flights bit into the positions of Kayak, Skyscanner, Tripadvisor and trivago etc., and now the LLMs are adversely impacting the metasearch companies as well. You can read my story below, and also watch a clip of Hafner at September’s Skift Global Forum where he explained how Kayak was using artificial intelligence.
EDITOR’S PICKS
Expedia’s Layoff Filing Signals Where Its Restructuring Is Biting
by Adriana Lee
January 30, 2026
Expedia’s Seattle WARN filing does more than quantify the 162 job cuts. The mix of eliminated technical roles — including a VP — shows how the company’s efficiency push is reshaping where core work gets done.
Hafner on Kayak and AI
Kayak CEO Steve Hafner shares how the company reimagined its platform with ChatGPT — creating Kayak AI, a full chat interface for travel search. By combining their own LLM with ChatGPT, Kayak can deliver smarter, real-time results and natural language search. Coming soon: the first large-scale travel site with a true free-form AI search box. Skift Pro subscribers can watch the full session on Skift.
SKIFT RESEARCH | DATA
Market Performance
How are public travel tech companies performing around the world? The Skift Travel 200 pulls the data you need to know to understand the market. Paid subscribers get full access here.
