Kayak vs Tripadvisor
When comparing Kayak vs Tripadvisor, the Slant community recommends Kayak for most people. In the question“What are the most useful travel websites?” Kayak is ranked 1st while Tripadvisor is ranked 2nd.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Best prices
Pro Comprehensive results
Kayak searches hundreds of travel sites to find all the possible flights to ensure you don't miss out on the best options. They have the most comprehensive results out of the competition.
One of the biggest advantages of Kayak that most of their competitors don't have is the choice of where to book after you have found what flight or hotel you want. This means you are not locked into a single vendor and can compare the various booking fees etc.
Pro "Explore" is awesome for trip planning
Kayak has a feature called "explore" that lets you answer the question "Where can I go for how much?" Explore is a fantastic tool for initially planning out your trip while finding the cheapest flights.
From CN-Traveler:
You punch in parameters for a trip and how much you're willing to spend to fly there, and your options magically appear on a map. You could punch in, for instance, that you want a maximum-four-hour nonstop flight in January to someplace where there's a beach and the temperature is between 70 and 90 degrees and they speak Spanish, and you don't want to spend more than $500 on airfare; Kayak will spit back your options.
Pro High quantity of reviews
Tripadvisor lists tour options for many of the available attractions. Many of the individual tours have lots of recent reviews so you can get a better idea of what the experience will be like.
Pro Good for food/restaurants
Tripadvisor will usually have the not-to-miss restaurants, even if they can end up being touristy. A good yelp equivalent in non-US countries.
Cons
Con Dishonest about prices
There are a large number of complaints against Kayak questioning their honesty. It's frequently reported that after booking on the site and enter your credit card information, you will be told to call Kayak as something went wrong.
You are then given a higher rate, or sometimes charged the higher rate without being told.
Con Poor customer service
There are many negative reviews containing complaints of very rude and unhelpful Kayak customer service.
Con ChatDeal connection
They work with ChatDeal which is a rip-off site, and only on payment page in small print does it state that Kayak takes no responsibility for whether the ticket actually exists.
Con Not usually easy to compare
Con Reviews can be outdated
Con Lack of trust in reviews
There is a lot of incentive for companies to post fake reviews in order to increase their ranking/visibility. Tripadvisor does very little to catch the false reviews, so it's hard to know what's authentic and what isn't.
Con Lots of sponsored content
Sponsored content such as sightseeing tours and hotels can clutter up the content users are actually searching for.