ummmm I have had a lot of fun in hotel rooms, and there is something to be said for ambience.... try it.
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Orbitz Presenting More Expensive Hotels to Mac Users
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ummmm I have had a lot of fun in hotel rooms, and there is something to be said for ambience.... try it.
If you can see no irony in your own childish declaration, I'm not sure whether I ought to pity you, or to pity the world.
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People who own Ferraris tend to have nicer than average homes too! We could be onto something here...
If only I could browse Orbitz with an Etch-A-Sketch...
Comparing a Ferrari to an ordinary car would be like comparing a Mac to an etch-a-sketch.
The average car tends to cost in the $20k range.. the average Ferrari in the $300k range. Macs aren't 15x as expensive as PCs..
Bad analogy.
Seriously, shut up. You never have anything nice to say about anyone. I don't get it.
Sometimes you are nice as can be (like helping me in the programming forums) and other times you just get on here to insult. Its like you have dual personalities.
As I said, I 100% understand whats going on, but if you don't think theres up selling involved you're only fooling yourself.
Hah, I spend too much time looking at engadget comments. But you're obviously so much more grown up than me. And a little overly dramatic about a forum post.
-_-
So, because I'm living on disability, I should be in love with PCs, Windows, Linux and Android? Why then do I have, and have a preference for, iPhones and MacBooks? I've been moving away from PC stuff for years now. Almost done, now that my main PC workstation got kicked out for continual bad behavior. I've a PC for retro gaming. Even that's unnecessary.
Statistics lie. But that makes sense because advertising is all about lying.
Statistics lie. But that makes sense because advertising is all about lying.
When I saw the Wall Street Journal (on actual paper) this morning, it was on the Front Page. I was a bit surprised, I didn't realize it was on the front page of the WSJ too.
If vacation means going to stay inside the hotel room... by all means pay more. For me, the hotel room is to go to sleep, period. When I go somewhere is to go know the place and have fun in said place, not the room in said place...
That's my logic.
Same here. I just got back from Hawaii and I was only in my hotel room to sleep. The rest of the time I was kayaking, zip lining, snorkeling, taking boat rides, and all kinds of other goodness.
Exactly, I go somewhere to have fun. If you want a room to be pleasurable and stuff its because you are going to a SPA treatment or the likes... there I would pay extra for a good room. However, vacation for me is not that.
I live in China, if I don't look confident, often the restaurants will recommend what I should order based on the tastes of other foreigners, it works and makes life much easier showing us what we will probably like. It doesn't work 100% of the time for everybody, but it's usually amazingly helpful. It may be profiling people by skin colour, but I really see no difference, it's just making my selecting easier and more attuned to my likings.
I also go buy the same cup of black tea every day and now they know what I like, large cup, black tea, extra sweet, I no longer need to go through the full description of what I want, but of course if I do want something else, it's very simple to tell them (if I can say the words ;-).
That being said, I see this as no difference, introducing you to what you will most likely want based on the information available.
In McDonalds most meals come with a coke by default, unless you request a different fizzy drink. This is based on statistics that most people prefer coke and offering you want you most likely want first, you always have the choice to request a fanta if you don't like coke.
Why are people suddenly so worried by things that happen everyday in so many parts of their life, just because suddenly one particular case is written in an article victimising this business for normal marketing practices.
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When I go to google.com it send me to the Chinese version. At the tops of this site, I get an advertisement for a Chinese dating site, of youtube I get Chinese ads for mobile phones. This isn't ideal for me, but making the assumption that most people in China are Chinese is perfectly fine with me. I'm the minority and you can't make everyone happy, because the more you try the more people will complain about invasion of privacy. ;-]
I also go buy the same cup of black tea every day and now they know what I like, large cup, black tea, extra sweet, I no longer need to go through the full description of what I want, but of course if I do want something else, it's very simple to tell them (if I can say the words ;-).
That being said, I see this as no difference, introducing you to what you will most likely want based on the information available.
In McDonalds most meals come with a coke by default, unless you request a different fizzy drink. This is based on statistics that most people prefer coke and offering you want you most likely want first, you always have the choice to request a fanta if you don't like coke.
Why are people suddenly so worried by things that happen everyday in so many parts of their life, just because suddenly one particular case is written in an article victimising this business for normal marketing practices.
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When I go to google.com it send me to the Chinese version. At the tops of this site, I get an advertisement for a Chinese dating site, of youtube I get Chinese ads for mobile phones. This isn't ideal for me, but making the assumption that most people in China are Chinese is perfectly fine with me. I'm the minority and you can't make everyone happy, because the more you try the more people will complain about invasion of privacy. ;-]
Those studies may also reveal that Mac users are 80% more vain then PC users
Though to be honest, owning a mac, does not make one rich! Take a stroll outside and see how many ferals own iphones....
Indeed! It would rather hint that Mac/iPhone owners are simply people who spend bit more money on luxury items.
That's objectivity for you. I'm objective. I call it like I see it. I help in the programming/OS forums, I respond to articles with facts. When I give my opinion, I make sure to say it is my opinion, but I usually back it up with a few factoids that form the basis of it.
I'm not insulting you, I'm trying to understand what you find evil about offering people what they've been statistically already buying ? You want to claim "Bad Orbitz!" over a convenience feature based on their customer profiling. I asked you which metric you would have used instead of separating by user agent strings that would have been as broad and easy to implement, you haven't offered insight.
Another example, everyone buys Brand X of coffee at your local super market. They thus put it on the middle shelf, where it's easily accessible. Brand Y that is more niche is put up top or or on the bottom where it's harder to reach.
Statistic, based, convenience.
So I'm fooling myself and somehow I'm the one not understand the concept, after explaining times and again, but you understand it, even though you fail to see that again :
Statistically, people were buying these more expensive options before Orbitz put this in place. It's because they were that Orbitz changed their default sort order based on the user agent string. The old sort order and other metric based sorting is still available to anyone.
If you want to cheap out, you can still sort by price "Lowest" and go from there.
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This article makes no claims for iPhone owners. The iPhone is neither luxury nor even more expensive than its competition. The Mac isn't either, thought it is on the higher end of the PC pricing margins.
Am I the only person enjoying the company of another person in said room?
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I like a good combination of inside and outside sports
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I get it, if all you have to do in a room is sleep... but some of us let the good times continue ....
seriously am I the only one?!
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exactly. you can always sort and find less expensive if you don't have money left over from zip lining, spelunking, fire swallowing, kayaking, bogey boarding, and all those other fun things.
I sometimes cheap out, sometimes don't. For example, if we're going to Wildwood NJ for a week, I'll usually grab a cool motel, near the boardwalk on the beach front side of Ocean Street. Then I'll make sure to get a room with a kitchenette.
That'll cost a lot more than a motel room with 2 beds on the marsh side of the city. But then again, stepping out of the hotel, my 2 feet land on sand or the boardwalk instead of asphalt of some street, my walk involves walking along the ocean with my 2 feet in the water or on the boardwalk enjoying attractions rather than to and from my motel.
Also, since I have the kitchenette, I'll be able to go to the grocery store on day 1, purchase all the stuff I need, fresh veggies, fruits, meats, cheeses, bread and bring along some condiments/non perishables from home and won't have to spend on overpriced restaurants.
So while in this case my room is 180$/night instead of 75$/night, I save on all the restaurants and god damn incessant walking to everywhere. I can actually enjoy my vacation and don't miss the home cooked meals that are quite a bit more healthy than "Deep fried Oreas" or "Funnel cake" or your other boardwalk fares.
Other times, when I'm off for 2 nights or a single night someplace and just need a room to crash, I'll sort by price lowest, find the cockroach place, get the 50$/night option, bring my own pillow and tough it out. I'll check in as late as possible, leave the room empty as soon as my bags are there and check out first thing in the morning and make sure to enjoy the place I'm at rather than the room I'm in.
It depends. There is no absolute truth to vacation planning/hotel choices.
All the major news outlets are now covering this story. Most give it the proper perspective by stating explicitly that Orbitz isn't charging higher prices to Mac users. A few of the news sources, however, display the same ignorance and intellectual midgetry as displayed by a few posters here.
Maybe someone should profile not the spending habits of Mac users, but rather the manipulation potential instead?
Maybe someone should profile not the spending habits of Mac users, but rather the manipulation potential instead?
Unfortunately, because of those few news sources that don't properly understand what is going on, others need to chime in and present the facts. This gives wide media attention to something that basically deserves none. The snowball effect if you will.
People trying to paint "Orbitz" as "evil, upsellers, scammers" are not helping. I think if Orbitz learns any kind of lesson here is that trying to be convenient based on statistics doesn't help them. The vocal minority will always outscream and whine the silent majority.
No, it is only news because NPR did a sort of "companion story" about it, and mentioned the statistics. it was a lame-o Orbitz ad, and I wrote them a letter to complain about it.
Probably where your dad heard it. It felt like Orbitz had literally purchased some space on NPR.
It came right after a super-lame "story" about the new Facebook email setting where the on-air talent said "to change it, first you have to click on "about" and then "contact" and then well, you get the idea...it's really complicated..."
Forget the fact that actually putting your real email address into facebook in the first place takes at least five times as many clicks and keystrokes as reverting the annoying new @facebook email setting.
NPR yesterday afternoon sounded like some college kids posting to their blogs with nothing really to talk about.
I guess they are all just spinning their wheels waiting for tomorrow's big news.
No, I sound like an adult -- someone who doesn't have to sleep at a YMCA or Motel 6 in order to afford a vacation. I take exception to your "a room is a room" crap. I have been on satellite launch campaigns for months at a time and there's a big difference between economy and upscale accommodations. When I'm on vacation or business travel, I want to stay at a hotel that is in a nice location, has quiet rooms, is clean, has top-quality mattresses, furniture, and WiFi. I want a convenient restaurant within the hotel and sometimes I'd like to have breakfast included in the room rate.
It might help if you understood the meaning of the term you are using. Up-sold: You go in to buy X and they try to convince you to spend more for Y. If Orbitz were up-selling, you would choose a Holiday Inn and then, prior to checkout, they would try to convince you to book at a nicer Embassy Suites. That's not what's happening here.
Because I like that they target their offerings to better match what Mac consumers typically buy. I want to be shown the nice stuff first and then I can scroll down if I'm feeling cheap. And they are more interested in my business than yours because I'm the one willing to spend more in order to get the better things in life.
Thumbs up from me! You've been rational and logical throughout this, but you're dealing with someone who does not want his preconceptions challenged. There is a huge contingent who wants to believe the following false things:
- Orbitz is charging Mac owners more. FALSE. Orbitz is offering the same rates to everyone, and just adjusting the display sort order when the user is on a Mac.
- Orbitz is only showing Mac owners expensive hotels. FALSE. Orbitz is showing all of the hotels to Mac owners, just in a different order that reflects pre-established purchasing patterns.
- Orbitz is showing PC owners lower-priced rooms that Mac owners don't see. FALSE. Again, Orbitz is showing all of the hotels to Mac owners, just in a different order that reflects pre-established purchasing patterns.
- Orbitz is up-selling to Mac owners. FALSE. Orbitz is not trying to convince Mac owners to spend more once they have made their choice.
Not that I believe that any of the following will sink in to those who don't want their indignation spoiled by facts, but, like you, I had to try.
I agree with this sir. I do the same thing. I'm pretty much a broke college student (until I graduate)that tends to buy more expensive things. I just hate flushing money down the toilet.
For example, from my income level, I should have a Vizio TV instead of a Panasonic ST30 3D Plasma. HOWEVER, I want something that lasts and won't blow-the-******-up the day after the warranty expires. And when I do graduate and make money (hopefully) I will buy more expensive stuff, but I like things that are well put together (not to say all expensive things are good...Volvo.
).