Orbitz Presenting More Expensive Hotels to Mac Users

[JadedRaverLA]

I like this, personally. Targeting ads doesn't bother me -- but I don't really want you tracking me or keeping a record of my search history. Providing results more finely tuned based on non personal info (browser, OS, etc) sounds like a good middle ground in situations like this.

I would think simple "Apple users probably aren't cheapskates" logic could be used by many retailers across categories. And they'd mostly be right. I want to save money as much as the next person, but I'm also not going seek out a less nice, less convenient hotel just to save a few bucks.

 

[jav6454]

Stupid logic. I want to spend on fun rather than a room I just sleep in for a few nights...

 

[AidenShaw]

More than 1000 words...

 

[a1exey1azar]

Orbit$

Safari -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Select "Show Develop menu in menu bar -> Chose "User Agent" -> Select any client for "Windows". Problem solved

 

[PVisitors]

It's kinda funny seeing the PC side reaction to this.

Apparently this is hilarious. Fanboy or not, I fail to see what is so funny about a site changing results for a Mac computer? Must be a pretty boring life if this is "awesome" "hilarious" "laugh out loud".

I bet google adsense which suggests adverts depending on what you looked at via cookies is equally hilarious for them too.

 

[ladeer]

and people using retina macbook pro are even richer on average, so websites of the world, please wise up and OPTIMIZE YOUR SITES ALREADY!
We are your best customers!

p.s. although i do strictly book 5 star lodging on these websites, to be honest they are not really 5 stars. Trump Las Vegas for example, or Ritz Carlton Four Seasons in Chicago, should be only 4 stars. The Ritz Carlton in Chicago is dated and even combine the marble bath tub with the shower in one unit instead of separating the bathtub from shower as well as a separate toilet room.

 

[faroZ06]

This is why I fake my user agent. I can just go for "Windows Chrome" whenever something like this is going on.

Well, can't blame them! Good job on their in-depth customer research.

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More than 1000 words...

Image​

Sheepshaver, the Mac OS 8 & 9 emulator for Intel Macs? That thing is pretty cool but useless.

 

[ladeer]

I'm never using Orbitz now. A room is a room. I don't want to be shown the higher priced stuff just because I'm on a Mac.

I'd rather spend my money on fun things on my vacation not a hotel room.

price for a given room is the same. they just show pricier hotels on top instead of the budget lodging choices first. (read the article)

 

[faroZ06]

No

If you buy new, yes. The cheapest Mac is $700. Most people ignore the Mac Mini anyway, making it $1000 for the cheapest Mac that people actually buy. You're forced to buy high-end.

Now, used is a different story.

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price for a given room is the same. they just show pricier hotels on top instead of the budget lodging choices first. (read the article)

And you can always fake your user agent in Safari and FireFox (another reason I don't use Chrome).

 

[switcher3365]

Safari -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Select "Show Develop menu in menu bar -> Chose "User Agent" -> Select any client for "Windows". Problem solved

This is neat! I pretended my MacBook Pro was an iPhone.

 

[0815]

I'm never using Orbitz now. A room is a room. I don't want to be shown the higher priced stuff just because I'm on a Mac.

I'd rather spend my money on fun things on my vacation not a hotel room.

Let me guess: You just read the headline and skipped the actual article ...

 

[faroZ06]

This is neat! I pretended my MacBook Pro was an iPhone.

I got a JB plugin for my iPhone that lets me do this on iOS. It's great for getting around dumb mobile sites. I can pretend to be on Windows Chrome.

 

[QCassidy352]

and people using retina macbook pro are even richer on average, so websites of the world, please wise up and OPTIMIZE YOUR SITES ALREADY!
We are your best customers!

p.s. although i do strictly book 5 star lodging on these websites, to be honest they are not really 5 stars. Trump Las Vegas for example, or Ritz Carlton Four Seasons in Chicago, should be only 4 stars. The Ritz Carlton in Chicago is dated and even combine the marble bath tub with the shower in one unit instead of separating the bathtub from shower as well as a separate toilet room.

Really excellent troll. I give it 5 stars.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

And yet people whine when an app is more than 99 cents.

Those are former iPhone users who've converted to Androids and still frequent the iPhone forums

 

[Peace]

Front page on MR ?


Great free advertising for Orbitz.

 

[pipa]

If I log in on a Commodore 64, do I get a discount?

That's the funniest **** over

 

[0815]

Yes, they figured it out: If you use a Mac, it shows that you like high quality and don't mind to pay a bit more to enjoy the high quality instead of getting a dirt cheap ****** machine. That easily translates to you rather pay a bit more for a nice room instead of booking a ****** cheap room ... and I have to admit, it is true for me - I rather book a 4 or 5 star room that I enjoy instead of a 2 or 3 star that might disgust me.

 

[puckhead193]

This is why I fake my user agent. I can just go for "Windows Chrome" whenever something like this is going on.

Well, can't blame them! Good job on their in-depth customer research

I sorta have to agree from a research/marking view its interesting but is still wrong to assume that Mac users like better hotels.

 

[powers74]

Not Surprised

*******s!

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=orbitz_blows

really? Hope you feel better.

 

[0815]

I sorta have to agree from a research/marking view its interesting but is still wrong to assume that Mac users like better hotels.

Whenever I look on any of those pages for hotels, I usually ignore the default results and set the star rating to my personal preference ... it's not that they show you only the expensive ones, you can still filter for the cheap ones if you want.

 

[chevman]

This type of analytics is table stakes for anyone that knows anything about targeted marketing (or whatever you want to call it these days).

Any data point you can use to more effectively segment your audience and drive increased revenue/margin is going to be utilized.

Dynamically serving up web content/results based on strings in the browser user-agent?

EASY.

 

[jontech]

this is a no brainer


Do people who don't like to spend money spend less money than those that like to spend money.


All my PC and Android friends buy PC's and Androids for one reason only. They don't want to spend money on software and apps. These same folks would rather spend the night at a motel 6 as they see no value in a nicer hotel

There is nothing wrong with that as they don't see value in the same things as other folks.

It is wise of Orbitz to market based on what people want and are willing to buy

I'll use them next time to avoid the 1 and 2 star recommendations

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This type of analytics is table stakes for anyone that knows anything about targeted marketing (or whatever you want to call it these days).

Any data point you can use to more effectively segment your audience and drive increased revenue/margin is going to be utilized.

Dynamically serving up web content/results based on strings in the browser user-agent?

EASY.

Good point and I am glad they are doing so. It saves me the time of removing the options for poor hotels

 

[Rocketman]

I am one of the folks skewing the bots higher.

 

[msimpson]

Yes please

I would pay extra to stay in a hotel that did not have Windows or Android fan bois any day.

 

[koolmagicguy]

Since when do computer owners make more than 70,000 a year? If I made that I'd have no problem paying more for a hotel.