Live Search Farecast

Infobox Software
name = Live Search
"Farecast"



caption = Live Search Farecast homepage
developer = Microsoft
latest_release_version =
latest_release_date =
latest_preview_version = Beta
latest_preview_date = May 22 2008
operating_system =
genre = Travel services
license =
website = [http://farecast.live.com http://farecast.live.com]

Live Search Farecast (previously "Farecast.com") is the first airfare prediction website in the computer reservations system industry. Farecast premiered to the public in May 2006, and went through a year of beta testing before emerging from beta on May 15th, 2007. Within the travel industry, Farecast is the first and only website to offer predictions on when is the best time to purchase airline tickets [cite web|url=http://www.boston.com/business/personaltech/articles/2006/06/04/while_other_sites_list_airfares_newcomer_forecasts_where_theyre_headed/
title=While other sites list airfares, newcomer forecasts where they're headed|publisher=boston.com|date=2006-06-04] .

History

The company was Founded in 2003 by Oren Etzioni (founder of MetaCrawler and a professor in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington), and has collected over 175 billion airfare observations [cite web|url=http://www.farecast.com/about/press/releases/2007-03-13.do
title=Farecast.com Launches Airfare Deals Based On Science, Not Marketing|publisher=Farecast.com|date=2007-03-13] to date. Farecast's team of data miners use these airfare observations to build algorithms to predict future airfare price movements.

In August 2007 Farecast launched a beta version of its hotel search engine with an innovative "deals" rate key. In May 2007 the company released results of an independent audit verifying Farecast's prediction accuracy at 74.5 percent and also launched additional features such as Farecast Alerts (a notification service that will inform travelers of key price drops) and a flight quality filter that allows travelers to sort flights by type. In February 2007 Farecast introduced Fare Guard [cite web|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-0702040003feb04,0,3562676.story?coll=chi-travel-hed|title=Locking in a fare|publisher=chicagotribune.com|date=2007-02-04] , which allows customers to lock-in a specific price for a flight and be protected from future price increases for the following seven days.

In April 2008, Farecast was bought by Microsoft for a fee believed to be around $75 million to 115 million [cite web|url=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/18/microsoft_buys_farecast/|title=Microsoft buys travel search site|publisher=theregister.co.uk|date=2008-04-18] . Microsoft officially integrated it as part of its Live Search group of tools in May 2008.

References

External links

* [http://farecast.live.com Live Search Farecast]
* [http://farecast.live.com/blog Live Search Farecast official team blog]

Press and industry coverage

2007:
* [http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2007/08/29/travel_site_adds_advice_on_hotel_rates/ (August 29, 2007) Boston Globe announces Farecast launches a beta version of their hotel search engine]
* [http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN1432916020070515 Reuters Farecast went live on May 15, 2007 after about a year in beta testing]
* [http://www.tia.org/pressmedia/pressrec.asp?Item=762 TravelCom Res-Expo Innovator of the Year]
* [http://www.wsa.org/documents/pressreleases/07IAA_Winners.pdf WSA Consumer Product of the Year]
* [http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,128176-page,5-c,electronics/article.html PC World 20 Most Innovative Products for 2007]

2006:
* [http://www.popsci.com/popsci/flat/bown/2006/product_39.html Popular Science Best of What's New 2006]
* [http://www.kiplinger.com/personalfinance/features/archives/2004/06/travelsites.html Kiplingers Top 25 Travel Sites]
* [http://www.businessweek.com/technology/bestof2006/results/intro.html?chan=technology_special+report+-+best+of+the+web_best+of+the+web Business Week Best of Web]
* [http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1222598,00.html#farecast Time Magazine 50 Coolest Sites]
* [http://www.frommers.com/deals/airfare/article.cfm?dealID=AIRFARE&articleID=3801&t=Editor's%20Choice:%20Our%20Quintessential%20Online%20Resource%20List Frommer's Editors Choice]