• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, April 13, 2006

Yahoo launched a more comprehensive version of its travel service on Wednesday, integrating existing Web community search features and new street view and satellite imaging technology with its year-old meta search engine, FareChase.

Now, when Yahoo users search for--say--"flights to Biloxi" from its main search page, the first listed result, below sponsor results, is an invitation to "Search multiple travel sites using Yahoo FareChase." Also, if a user asks Yahoo to "compare Biloxi hotels," for example, the first result listed will read: "Find the lowest price with Yahoo FareChase."

Yahoo's FareChase price comparison listing service, which the company has offered for nearly a year, includes a range of hotel or airline prices and direct links to detailed fare information from low-fare databases of CheapTickets and Orbitz.

When users do click on particular hotel offers, a page appears providing Yahoo maps and/or detailed satellite images--a service that Yahoo has not offered until now. What's more, Yahoo Travel is now embedded with links to Yahoo Trip Planner, a Web community application that Yahoo launched in beta late last year. Trip Planner encourages users to detail their own travel itinerary pages, which are then categorized and shared with others looking for non-expert travel guidance.

"Yahoo acquired FareChase in July 2004," said Jasper Malcolmson, senior director of product development for Yahoo Travel. "Since then, Yahoo has incrementally integrated FareChase in Yahoo Search."

Yahoo Travel--which is only about two years old--attracted 15.75 million unique visitors worldwide during February, according to comScore Networks.

And while a dedicated agent site like Expedia and Travelocity still manage the majority of online travel research and purchases, meta travel sites like Yahoo FareChase are steadily gaining ground, according to a study to be released by Forrester Research next Tuesday.

"The study we're going to release shows the percentage of travelers using meta sites grown from 6 to 12 percent," said Forrester Research analyst Henry Harteveldt, referring to the change from 2005 to this year.

Jupiter Research analyst Vikram Sehgal estimated the number of travelers using meta search engines is currently closer to 5 percent.

Analyst opinions were mixed with regard to Yahoo Travel's revamped design.

"The site still has some work to do in terms of user experience," commented Harteveldt. "It's not quite as stick as some of the other sites out there, or even other Yahoo sites like My Yahoo."