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Travel · head to head

Kayak vs ThinkReservations

Kayak logo

Kayak

Travel

Travel search app comparing flights, hotels and car hire across other booking sites, owned by Booking Holdings

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
ThinkReservations logo

ThinkReservations

Travel

Property management and booking system for North American inns, B&Bs and small hotels

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Kayak has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Kayak it is owned by Booking Holdings, the same parent as Booking.com and Priceline, so its comparison results are not fully independent of its own group's commercial interests.; ThinkReservations no pricing is published anywhere, so you cannot compare it against Cloudbeds or Little Hotelier without first sitting through a sales call and extracting a quote.
  • They diverge on capability: Kayak covers Flight, hotel and car comparison, ThinkReservations covers Reservation calendar.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kayak and ThinkReservations actually diverge.

Attributes where Kayak and ThinkReservations differ
AttributeKayakThinkReservations
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelFree to users, revenue from referral commissions and advertisingquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsiOS, Android, WebWeb

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Travel).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Kayak

  • Flight, hotel and car comparison
  • Price alerts
  • Price prediction
  • Flexible date search
  • Trip planning tools
  • Explore/anywhere search

Only in ThinkReservations

  • Reservation calendar
  • Direct booking engine
  • Channel management
  • Integrated payments
  • Yield rules
  • Reporting

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Kayak

  • Comparing flight prices across multiple airlines and booking sites before purchasingnot ThinkReservations
  • Setting a price alert to buy a flight or hotel once the price dropsnot ThinkReservations
  • Searching flexible dates or nearby airports to find a cheaper farenot ThinkReservations
  • Comparing car hire prices across rental companies for a tripnot ThinkReservations

ThinkReservations

  • A fourteen room inn moving off a spreadsheet and a phone diary that needs breakfast counts and minimum stay rules handled nativelynot Kayak
  • A B&B selling gift certificates and packages that wants them redeemable in the same system that takes the bookingnot Kayak
  • An owner of three small New England properties wanting one login and consolidated occupancy reportingnot Kayak
  • A campground or cabin operator needing nightly and multi-night rules plus OTA distribution without buying a separate channel managernot Kayak

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Kayak

  • It is owned by Booking Holdings, the same parent as Booking.com and Priceline, so its comparison results are not fully independent of its own group's commercial interests.
  • Some airlines opt out of listing on metasearch sites entirely, so Kayak's results are not a complete view of every available fare in the market.
  • Revenue comes from referral commissions, and prominence in results can be influenced by which suppliers pay Kayak more, not purely by lowest price.
  • The actual booking typically completes on a third party site, so problems with a booking, cancellation or refund are handled by that site's customer service, not Kayak's.
  • Displayed prices can change or fail to match by the time a user reaches the booking site, since Kayak is not always querying live inventory in real time for every listed fare.

ThinkReservations

  • No pricing is published anywhere, so you cannot compare it against Cloudbeds or Little Hotelier without first sitting through a sales call and extracting a quote.
  • The product is built for North American operations, so European tax handling, guest registration requirements and local OTA mix are not supported and it is effectively unsellable outside the region.
  • There is no revenue management or dynamic pricing, so rates rely on manual seasonal and day of week rules that go stale unless someone actively maintains them.
  • Payment processing is bundled, which is convenient but means the effective card rate is negotiated inside a software deal rather than shopped separately, and operators rarely check it against a standalone merchant account.
  • There is no native point of sale, spa or restaurant module, so an inn with a dining room runs a second system and reconciles revenue by hand.

Pricing, plan by plan

Kayak

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Unlimited search and price alerts
    • No subscription tier

ThinkReservations

On request
  • ThinkReservations$undefined/month
    • Property management system
    • Direct booking engine
    • Channel management to major OTAs

Which should you pick?

Choose Kayak if

  • You need flight, hotel and car comparison.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on iOS, Android, Web.
  • You also want price alerts.
Kayak review

Choose ThinkReservations if

  • You need reservation calendar.
  • You also want direct booking engine.
ThinkReservations review

Questions people ask

Is Kayak or ThinkReservations better?
Neither clearly leads. Kayak starts at Free and ThinkReservations at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kayak or ThinkReservations?
Kayak has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Kayak and On request for ThinkReservations.
Does Kayak or ThinkReservations run on more platforms?
Kayak runs on iOS, Android, Web. ThinkReservations runs on Web.
Can I use Kayak for free?
Yes. Kayak has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. ThinkReservations starts at On request.
What is Kayak best used for?
Kayak is most often used for comparing flight prices across multiple airlines and booking sites before purchasing, setting a price alert to buy a flight or hotel once the price drops, searching flexible dates or nearby airports to find a cheaper fare, comparing car hire prices across rental companies for a trip. Of those, comparing flight prices across multiple airlines and booking sites before purchasing and setting a price alert to buy a flight or hotel once the price drops are not what ThinkReservations is typically brought in for.
What can Kayak do that ThinkReservations cannot?
Kayak covers Flight, hotel and car comparison, Price alerts, Price prediction, Flexible date search. ThinkReservations covers Reservation calendar, Direct booking engine, Channel management, Integrated payments.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Kayak: Does Kayak charge a booking fee?

No, Kayak itself is free to use; it earns referral commissions from the airlines, hotels and sites it sends bookings to.

ThinkReservations: How much does ThinkReservations cost?

It is not published. Pricing is quoted per property, generally scaled by room count, after a sales conversation.

Kayak: Do I book directly through Kayak?

Usually the booking completes on the airline, hotel or travel site's own platform after Kayak hands off the click, though some direct booking options exist for select content.

ThinkReservations: Is the channel manager an extra subscription?

No. OTA connectivity is part of the platform rather than a separately priced module, which is the main saving against a PMS plus channel manager pairing.

Kayak: Is Kayak owned by an airline or hotel chain?

No, it is owned by Booking Holdings, which also owns Booking.com, Priceline and Agoda.

ThinkReservations: Does it work outside the United States?

In practice no. Tax, payments and support are built around North America.

ThinkReservations: Can it handle more than one property?

Yes, small portfolios are supported, but it is designed for a handful of properties rather than dozens.

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