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Comment by jasonlbaptiste | Hacker News Reader

HipMunk is doing something smart and focusing on the presentation layer to win. Design and presentation seems simple and just a "feature" to many, but that's because it's done well. In travel search and many other areas, all things are virtually the same + a commodity. By focusing on the presentation layer, they actually bring about a very very strong advantage, especially in a process that people hate.

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Design is a strong advantage, but not sustainable one. Unless the design requires hard-to-replicate data or algorithms, design alone isn't a sustainable competitive advantage.

The data that Hipmunk displays is available to any other OTA. If the intent is to grow independent company they'll need to build that sustainable advantage (beyond UI patents).

Is there any data available that backs this idea that flight travel customers will pay a premium for nice presentation and design?

it's not about paying a premium (they're referring users to the same tickets at the same prices). It's being about the site that consumers bookmark.

I'm assuming it's too soon to tell in terms of hard numbers. However, empirically and from personal experience, the last 5-6 flights I've booked in the last couple of months have all been through hipmunk, and what I learnt is that:

Hipmunk has replaced Kayak for me (I only booked through Kayak before, it was the most convenient and easiest to use at the time)

Even though Kayak can show me the lowest prices, in Hipmunk I've booked flights that were not necessarily the cheapest (as I did in Kayak) but the least agonizing, by a price difference of about $50 saved myself 2 hours of agony.

I do pay a premium for nice presentation and design in this case.

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