Beware. Which web browser should you use when booking your travels?
Different web browsers and different computers will yield very different results if you are booking accommodation online or even flights.
Scenario and why to Beware the Web Browser you use
Contents
We were looking for a hotel to book for a two-night stay in San Francisco. I found a hotel using my Mac air and using Safari as my web browser. Gordon sat by my side and looked at the same hotel through the same booking site. He was on an iPad and using the app. He then went in and used his PC and Internet Explorer. We received 3 different rates. Not a dollar here, or a dollar there, but a significant price difference. So we started experimenting. We saw huge differences.
So we started researching, and here is one little gem that we found. According to Orbitz, “Mac users make more money and are interested in fancier hotels” which, apparently accounts for why the price that I had found was significantly more expensive than what Gordon had found using a PC and Internet Explorer.
The funny thing is that his iPad and the booking sites app was cheaper still. An iPad is a Mac so it must be that Internet Explorer is the go-to site for poorer people. Perhaps.
The Disparity of the Web Browser You Use
Apparently if you use a Mac air you are richer and yuppier than a PC user, so can afford to pay more. If you use Safari, you are similarly seen as able to pay a higher price. If you use Internet cheap cialis online canada Explorer, and a PC apparently you need all of the help that you can get.
So we started playing and mixing the web browsers up. Chrome and PC, Chrome and Mac, Mozilla Firefox and PC, Mozilla Firefox and Mac, Safari and PC and Safari and Mac. All different. But then something amazing started to happen. The prices were starting becoming more similar.
Why was this so?
Because the internet knew what we were up to. They knew that we kept searching the same hotel, the same date, the same ISP (they knew where we lived). So we emptied the cache on each computer and the disparity in the process started to appear again. Then we cleared to cookies, and again we saw differences again. The prices were getting cheaper.
So, which web browser should you use?
- Don’t use a Mac and Safari to book anything.
- Enable private browsing where possible. Stop travel booking sites from tracking your visits and raising the prices because you’ve visited before.
- Clear cookies so that they are unaware that you are trying to book anything.
- Your browser of choice can influence what you pay online so Internet Explorer seems to yield the lowest prices.
Now time for a game,
“Finally, Amazon customers can typically get a better deal if they put something in their cart and then abandon it before the final purchase, as I mentioned earlier for the travel sites. That usually signals to Amazon that you’re willing to walk away and triggers a lower price the next time you put it in your cart to checkout.” From Clarke Howard
There is definately a lot to know about this issue.
I really like all the points you have made.
Thank you. It annoys me a lot. I was looking at a hotel the other day in Rome, and asked Gordon to check on his very old PC and he got it cheaper again. Like seriously.
I knew about browsing incognito to save money when booking travel, but I didn’t know about browsers affecting the price as well. I use a chromebook, so unfortunately I’m stuck with one browser, but my parents have a Macbook and a PC so I’ll have to tell them to try this for themselves when they’re looking to book their next trip.
Unfortunately incognito and clearing cache don’t work. Definitely tell your parents. The disparity in prices is amazing. We just booked a hotel the other day. 3 different prices from 3 different computers – in the ONE house.
Silly all the tricks and games they play and we have to play. However, I will play if it saves me money and lets me travel more. Bring it on, lol
I agree, but as long as we are on to them, we have a chance to stand up to it.
Thank you so much for this post. It’s great advice. I learned a long time ago to be careful when booking flights too, as the flight operators do remember cookies.
Most people, when they find a cheap flight, will take note of it and search some more in case they find an even cheaper one, but then when they come back to try and find the flight they found before, quickly realise it’s gone up in value, so they jump on it before it goes up in price again. The flight operators know this and use cookies to get you to book this way.
Also using a VPN is a great idea as you can hide your ISP and even put yourself in another country. When booking return flights between Sydney and Europe, I’ve often found cheaper flights by using a VPN to put myself in the country I’m flying to before booking. I’m not sure why that is.
And yes, clearing your cookies and using different browsers (and computers too now it seems) can help save you a lot of money.
You’re right, we need to get this out there. Thank you so much for alerting us to it 🙂
David
It is amazing isn’t it. The other classic I am about the write about is the ‘rooms left’ on booking sites.
Thanks for sharing Gordon & Paula
Now I know why we kept getting weird, wonderful and steadily increasing quotes.
I have included a link to it in our recent guest post, hope you don’t mind.
Cheers
Yvonne & Michael
Thanks and the more people that know the better.
I had heard this before and didn’t really take it too seriously. As a Mac user at home and on the road this is not good news. I never use Internet Explorer haven’t for years and we no longer own a PC. You would think Apple would have something to say about this. I know Apple is looked at as a premium brand but it simply works better with the type of work we do. Period. Thanks for doing the research.
The iPad also yields better results than my Macair.
Excellent advice, Paula. Thanks for sharing all that research. It really all comes down to cyber-manipulation, something I’m heartily sick of. Thanks again. Just Tweeted the link from two Twitter feeds.
Thanks Ursula, I think it will only get worse, or we become more aware of this manipulation.
This is such great information. I guess we’ll now be booking more trips from my husband’s computer!
I just call out to Gordon and say look up this one and what price did you get. There was a variation of $300 yesterday – same property, same dates, same room.
Interesting. Didn’t know browsers could affect searches like this. Wow!
It is worth knowing when it saves you a lot of money
Wow, I love looking at results of informal studies like this. What we’ve long suspected is borne out in your experiments. I have a MacBook Air (but use Chrome), and I don’t always remember to search from an incognito window. I never thought of switching to the iPad. We won’t be using Windows (or a PC for that matter) any time soon, so I appreciated this information.
It amazed us at how different the prices could be. This is definitely something worth keeping an eye on.
I suspect this goes beyond travel but travel purchases are large in terms of expenditures. What super sleuths you are! Thanks for sharing your findings.
It continues, no matter how many times we keep testing it, Gordon gets cheaper prices than I do. Interesting in itself, even if we are both using an iPad and the same site.
I always clear cookies before searching for flights but had no idea the browser would also be a factor in the prices I see. I only use Macs and don’t even know if you can use Internet Explorer on them but will have to see. How annoying but I have to admire the marketing logic behind it.
True, but now I am finding if i look for treks in Taiwan, then the first ones coming up are treks where i live in Australia. Maybe they hate me now 🙂
The amount of deceit in the travel industry is amazing. I’m not a big fan of IE, but I will definitely use them next time I book travel. I almost always use a VPN that shows I am browsing from Canada (when in fact I am in Korea). I will have to browse with and without the VPN to see what happens! Thanks for sharing.
I actually changed my location last night to see if it made a difference, but for me no. Maybe it takes a while to kick in.
Well, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised …. but I am! I knew from many personal experiences that airlines played around with available flights/prices etc when you’re browsing on their sites, but I had no idea that any company was basing their pricing on what browser one was using. Learn something new every day. Thanks!
It was a serendipitous discovery, when we were both checking prices from 2 different web browsers. Sucks actually
Wow that is surprising! I try using incognito and also clearing my cache, as I have noticed a price go up, then back down after my cache is cleared. I can’t get Explorer on my Mac but I’ll have to experiment with this.
Definitely though as i have said in previous comments, Gordon is able to get better prices than me, no matter what. I wonder, because I am doing the writing for our website and the associated research, am I a marked woman?
Oh. My. Goodness.
Somehow, I feel like I have been had. Like the travel industry has cheated me out of my hard-earned travel money and I could have spent more days on the road if I’d known this earlier.
Still, this is a serendipitous discovery and I’m glad you shared it. I knew to clear cookies but had no idea that both the browser and the computer matter as well. As a public service to our readers I’m definitely sharing your story.
Thanks Linda, I am disgusted as well and am sharing with everyone I know. And yes, we should be duped.
Very interesting, will keep that in mind next time we’re shopping online.
Definitely pays to consider this
I heard about the Mac users being charged higher rates for airfare and such. Not cool! My laptop is a pc and I do know to use incognito while using Chrome browser, but recently read that it is best to clear the cache/history before trying to book anything in order to get the best price. Will have to try the Amazon tip!
I am trying to get a price down on a down jacket on Amazon, will let you know.. I have cleared cache but it wasn’t enough.
Wow, this would be a great help for frugal travelers like us! Thanks for the tip…and for taking the time to research for all of us!
Pleasure Carol, though i was shocked.
And I thought you just had to clear the cookies….silly me! This is great information to know. Now to find a PC and use internet explorer. Thanks for all your hard work.
We did it again this morning and again two disparate results. Looks like an iPad is also worth using.
What you are describing is called dynamic pricing. It happens with many things you purchase over the internet, not just travel. Unfortunately it seems to be happening more and more.
It does happen everywhere now. We have also noticed it with flights. Aim is to outwit dynamic pricing, I think.
Interesting. Annoying, disturbing, but interesting. Of course, the other side of the coin is that this is a weapon in our arsenal as shoppers. I LOVE the idea of going to an internet cafe in a poorer neighborhood – I am going to try that out today, in fact! Thanks for sharing! #wkendtravelinspiration
I agree, we know they do it, so let us see if we can play it back at them.
Great post and I’ve shared it on Twitter. We’ve also noticed that there are certain times of the week when it is cheaper to book, Tuesday seems to be the best!
Tuesday but Wednesday is even better for flights. Have one coming up on flights and interviewed a travel agent to find out some more inside information. Interesting things to know.
Wow! I had no idea that this sort of thing happened. Great tips!
Neither did we until that day.
Wow. This is one of the most interesting and irritating things I have read in ages. Irritating as we are an all mac family. Thanks for these tips.
I am a Mac and Safari girl myself. Not for booking any more though.
All this tracking and targeting has gone past annoying – and is just plain sinister. More and more, we are being pushed to trade online only – and there is little, if any privacy …. especially with cloud storage. It is a real worry with so much of our lives in corporate hands.
Too true. Everything and anything we do is tracked. I like playing with the computers head by looking up things and waiting to see how long all of the ads take to appear of the same thing. Nanoseconds.
Wow that is so interesting about the different browsers.
Fortunately my main computer is a PC but on Chrome will experiment next trip with Internet Explorer.
I have tried clearing the cookies before but have not noticed a difference, I also use to try using the incognito window but it now seems to remember my searches.
I think the computer remembers very quickly. We keep trying it in different venues and with different friends. it is like a game – who can get the cheapest hotel. Maybe I will market it as a game 🙂
THANK YOU for this great post! I was somewhat aware of the booking sites tracking your visits, but it never crossed my mind the browser would matter. Problem is I don’t have a PC…
We found that the iPad gave better results than my Macair. It is like a party game now, find the best price.
I knew about clearing your cookies between searches on travel websites. Now, I didn’t know Mac users (I have a PC) were targeted like that. That is very surprising. I am going to check things using Internet Explorer since I have switched to Chrome.
Definitely cross check a number of web browsers – I am still shocked and how different the prices were. We keep telly people and they are finding the same thing too.
Wow, that’s just crazy but good to know. Seems so dodgy too!
It is good to know. I knew that a search engine that I use a lot seemed to be getting more expensive and now i know why.
That is awful! I have a macbook air and chrome. So even if I use incognito it will still charge me more?
Pretty much. Go to an internet cafe in a poor neighbourhood and snag some bargains. Sad isn’t it.
Paula, You two are amazing researchers. I absolutely love this info. Kudos!
Happy #wkendtravelinspiration!
Thanks Corrine. Pretty sad state of affairs though.
Interesting…
That’s for sure.
Definitely news we can use. I’ve known about this and I usually try to search for fares and hotel rooms by going “incognito” in my Chrome browser, but it is fascinating to read about your real time tests. Next time—-Internet Explorer it is.
I was shocked and annoyed actually. Sitting side by side and 2 very disparate results. We told a friend also and he and his partner did the same search – 2 different results.