The secretive online travel startup created by Rich Barton and other former Expedia executives has a new moniker, logo and Web site. The heavily-funded company -- formed earlier this year under the placeholder name of NewTravelco -- recently purchased the online hotel review site TravelPost from travel search powerhouse Kayak. As part of the acquisition, the company is adopting the TravelPost name.

The formal server switch occurred today, with TravelPost's Simon Breakwell saying that they were attracted to the site because it had a strong Google ranking and offered a solid base of hotel reviews. The TravelPost name also appealed to the team. But Breakwell stressed that the TravelPost site as it exists in its current form is not by any means the final product.

"What you see there is absolutely not what we are about," he said. "We are about a great leap forward" in online travel.

Breakwell declined to tell us what that massive "leap" is all about. And he wouldn't say what will set TravelPost apart from other online travel companies. But he said there hasn't been much innovation in the online travel category since the rise of Kayak six years ago, and he promised that more details will emerge later this year about the Seattle startup.

Whatever the company is building, it certainly has attracted the interest of some deep-pocketed investors. The startup recently raised $9.8 million from Ignition Partners, Benchmark Capital and General Catalyst. Meanwhile, Kayak also became an investor in the startup as part of the asset sale of TravelPost, Tnooz reported earlier this year.

The company has offered some clues as to where it is going, including this tidbit from the Web site.

We believe that it is still the early days of the Internet travel revolution. The increasing power of transparency, connectivity, and mobility will continue to open new worlds to travelers and new channels for suppliers. We believe that a small, passionate team of people can effect massive change.

The purchase of an online hotel review site -- coupled with Barton's announcement of another online startup today called Pozit -- points to a consumer travel offering where users play an active role in the discussion. Barton also has been intensely interested in online ratings, from real estate (Zillow) to lawyers (Avvo) to employment (Glassdoor).

TravelPost was gobbled up by Kayak when it bought Sidestep in 2007, and over the past 18 months Breakwell said it has pretty much been ignored. Breakwell added that TravelPost represents a "good platform for us to start building from."

Interestingly, there are some long-running connections between the new TravelPost and Kayak. TravelPost co-founder Greg Slyngstad, a former Expedia executive who co-founded VacationSpot.com, serves as a director at Kayak.