This week, KAYAK announced two more hotels in New Mexico, in addition to its existing one in Miami.

Steve Hafner talks about what this expansion into hospitality means plus how he’s been managing through the pandemic, how it’s making him think differently and how it’s changed him.

In many ways, Steve Hafner is pleased he contracted Covid at the start of the pandemic. “Got that out of the way,” he said. “I’ve been travelling through the pandemic.”

Steve Hafner at his penthouse: “It’s been an interesting couple of years, professionally.”

I caught up with the CEO of KAYAK and Open Table in his Miami penthouse, just a few weeks before he’s due to move out. This report states that he listed his penthouse for close to $40 million, reportedly three times the price he bought it six years ago, and he’s moving to Fisher Island, described as “a private, 216-acre tropical paradise” in real estate listings.

He gives me a quick tour – let me just say this, it’s HUGE. I think my whole apartment would fit into one of the bedrooms. The “wow” factor is the infinity pool deck that aligns perfectly with the big, blue ocean out there. A hawk circles and Hafner says it occasionally drops dead things on his deck and “it’s big enough to pick up my dog”.

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