It's not often that the travel industry gets a true bombshell. Along with the many accomplishments the management teams at Priceline and Kayak can count, catching us all off guard is now one of them. But as unexpected as Priceline's announcement of intent to purchase Kayak was on November 8, the tremendous potential of this collaboration is obvious. The move is not without risks, of course, but it is, quite simply, brilliant. Just what the doctor ordered for Kayak Kayak has grown to be a pretty big fish in a pretty big pond. As market leader of the metasearch arena in the U.S., it has proven its proposition against the likes of Google and successfully launched an IPO, which valued the company at US$1 billion. But apparently that was just a warm-up. Not even four months later, the valuation has nearly doubled with Priceline's announcement of its intent to acquire the company at a valuation of $1.8 billion. There is no ambiguity about what Kayak must do now to create value for...