Orbitz Presenting More Expensive Hotels to Mac Users

[JHankwitz]

Sounds right to me. If a company sees blue people spending 20% more on their higher end offerings, show blue people higher end things more prominently.

Has nothing to do with 'blue' or 'red'. Most all marketing firm develop profiles on consumers and market accordingly. They know your color, creed, age, job type, income, and so on. But they have no way of knowing who you voted for in past elections.

The magazines you subscribe to have had targeted ads in them for many years. A family with a high paid executive may get an ad for a luxury car, while a family with many children will see an ad for a mini-van. This is old news, just moved from magazine ads to on-line ads.

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

Anyone can afford an iPhone or iPad.

That's an ignorant statement.

 

[ed724]

Fine, I''ll just run the orbitz searches on my windows VM.

 

[sweetbrat]

Some of the responses in this thread are insulting. I'm a PC and Mac user, but the amount of elitism is honestly appalling. What I'm basically reading is "PC users are cheapasses who don't need the upper crust options." I like VALUE. If I want to stay in a hotel, I have three requirements: clean, bed, and bath. No one needs the extra crap. It's a waste of money.

A waste of money to you, fine. Depending on the type of trip they're taking, a lot of people actually enjoy the extra "crap." Getting the cheapest thing you can that meets your minimum needs isn't the preferred approach for many people. Just because someone has different standards than you, it doesn't mean that something is a waste of money. It just means it's not what you prefer to spend your money on.

Marketing firms spend a lot of money to learn about people's preferences. If that research tells them that Mac users are MORE LIKELY to get a slightly more upscale hotel room, it doesn't mean that all PC users are cheapskates. You're reading way too much into this. We're talking about generalizations made over a broad group of people, and using it to market. It's nothing new, it's just getting more refined over time.

 

[inlovewithi]

Not surprising since Mac users tend to pay more for older or similar power computer. I've always got the vibe that they seem to value status more so than the average person.

 

[kingtj]

Probably ....

I can already see the snarky comments about Mac users thinking they're so superior, they need to buy premium hotel rooms for themselves, etc. etc.

All I know is, I don't fit their pattern at all! I'm a Mac user with multiple Macs, an iPhone 4s and an iPad, plus an iPod classic in my car, attached to the car stereo. Yet when I shop for hotels (usually on Priceline, actually), I look for the very cheapest thing in the area that's part of a chain (so I know what I'm getting, at least).

No reason to pay more, IMO, when I've always been able to get a clean, decent room for under $60 or so at a Days Inn, Comfort Inn, or the like.

Not really surprising but PC fanboys will figure out a way to spin this to mean Apple users are all terrible people.

 

[FoxMcCloud]

I find this offensive.

You could be very well off and earn a very high wage. You like the finer things in life and like premium holidays. you search on this Orbitz site for a holiday on your very expensive machine made out of gold running a variety of operating systems, yet because it ain't a Mac, you are excluded from seeing these premium holidays.

How about show everyone your entire stock listings, you know, like every other travel company, and let the consumer decide which one they want. Don't seclude listings based off of what OS they are running because that certainly is not a way of indicating what holiday someone would pay for!

I know certain Mac users who are tighter than a pensioner with their money, I know many who are very liberal with their money and I can say the same for non Mac people. Some go out of their way to get the cheapest Mac possible whether it's a decade old as long as it works and some who buy a new iMac every year simply because they can. I also know other people who spend thousands every other month buying electrical or hifi or computer goods yet dont own a Mac. Surely these people are entitled to premium holidays?

I understand they are simply filtering the results and showing the more expensive ones to Mac users, but what if the Mac user doesn't want to be bombarded with expensive hotels immediately? They might get turned off and go to a competitor site. Likewise the Windows user might want an expensive hotel but finds the website is generalising and showing them cheap hotels..essentially saying "hey, I understand your are poor and can't afford an elitist computer therefore here are some cheap ass hotels to go along with your cheap ass computer".

****ing morons.

 

[chrisbru]

Not surprising since Mac users tend to pay more for older or similar power computer. I've always got the vibe that they seem to value status more so than the average person.

Your argument is flawed - It's like saying I'll take the Travelodge over the Hilton because they both have a Queen bed, a desk, a television, an elevator, and a check-in desk but Travelodge is half the price.

While some Mac users do value status, most value USER EXPERIENCE - Which is exactly what high end hotels do. Sure, the tasks you are aiming to perform (sleeping, showering, changing clothes, whatever) can be completed on both platforms/hotels... But the user experience of a Hilton/Wynn/whatever is so much nicer than it's bargain-priced counterparts.

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ramblerambledumbassramble

Someone didn't read the article...

Orbitz FEATURES higher priced hotels when the search is performed on a Mac. You still get all the same listings no matter what machine you are on, they are just displayed in a different order. Click "sort by price" on both a Mac and a PC, and the lists are identical.

 

[MattSepeta]

I find this offensive.

You could be very well off and earn a very high wage. You like the finer things in life and like premium holidays. you search on this Orbitz site for a holiday on your very expensive machine made out of gold running a variety of operating systems, yet because it ain't a Mac, you are excluded from seeing these premium holidays.
(tl;dr)

not sure if serious...

 

[sweetbrat]

I find this offensive.

You could be very well off and earn a very high wage. You like the finer things in life and like premium holidays. you search on this Orbitz site for a holiday on your very expensive machine made out of gold running a variety of operating systems, yet because it ain't a Mac, you are excluded from seeing these premium holidays.

How about show everyone your entire stock listings, you know, like every other travel company, and let the consumer decide which one they want. Don't seclude listings based off of what OS they are running because that certainly is not a way of indicating what holiday someone would pay for!

I know certain Mac users who are tighter than a pensioner with their money, I know many who are very liberal with their money and I can say the same for non Mac people. Some go out of their way to get the cheapest Mac possible whether it's a decade old as long as it works and some who buy a new iMac every year simply because they can. I also know other people who spend thousands every other month buying electrical or hifi or computer goods yet dont own a Mac. Surely these people are entitled to premium holidays?

I understand they are simply filtering the results and showing the more expensive ones to Mac users, but what if the Mac user doesn't want to be bombarded with expensive hotels immediately? They might get turned off and go to a competitor site. Likewise the Windows user might want an expensive hotel but finds the website is generalising and showing them cheap hotels..essentially saying "hey, I understand your are poor and can't afford an elitist computer therefore here are some cheap ass hotels to go along with your cheap ass computer".

****ing morons.

Seriously? If people are too stupid or too lazy to click on the "Lowest Price" sort button at the top of the screen, whose fault is that? Everyone can get to the same information, nothing is hidden. It's just presented differently.

All websites make generalizations based on information that's been gathered about you. Sure, there's some cheapskates that are Mac users, and a lot of Windows users that are willing to splurge. But demographics are used to make generalizations...blanket statements that say, "This group prefers this, while this other group seems to prefer this." How do you think marketing works, if not on generalizations? It happens in TV, newspapers, magazines, the web. If you think generalizations like this aren't made about you every single day, you're living in your own little world, not in reality.

 

[PracticalMac]

Very interesting. Wondering how the community (Mac and pc) Will respond to this

Mac seeks quality accommodations with perks.
PC is a cheap bastard



Real question:

Are Macs chose for the quality, or as a status symbol like a BMW?

 

[unlimitedx]

I find this offensive.

You could be very well off and earn a very high wage. You like the finer things in life and like premium holidays. you search on this Orbitz site for a holiday on your very expensive machine made out of gold running a variety of operating systems, yet because it ain't a Mac, you are excluded from seeing these premium holidays.

How about show everyone your entire stock listings, you know, like every other travel company, and let the consumer decide which one they want. Don't seclude listings based off of what OS they are running because that certainly is not a way of indicating what holiday someone would pay for!

I know certain Mac users who are tighter than a pensioner with their money, I know many who are very liberal with their money and I can say the same for non Mac people. Some go out of their way to get the cheapest Mac possible whether it's a decade old as long as it works and some who buy a new iMac every year simply because they can. I also know other people who spend thousands every other month buying electrical or hifi or computer goods yet dont own a Mac. Surely these people are entitled to premium holidays?

I understand they are simply filtering the results and showing the more expensive ones to Mac users, but what if the Mac user doesn't want to be bombarded with expensive hotels immediately? They might get turned off and go to a competitor site. Likewise the Windows user might want an expensive hotel but finds the website is generalising and showing them cheap hotels..essentially saying "hey, I understand your are poor and can't afford an elitist computer therefore here are some cheap ass hotels to go along with your cheap ass computer".

****ing morons.

Orbitz just initially ranks the results differently. Sorting by price will give you the same results. They aren't excluding any results according to the post

 

[MacInTO]

I'm not sure what the fuss is all about. Yes, Orbitz discriminates based on computing preferences. However, they are a business and they are free to do whatever they want to market to people. If you don't like it, there are lots of other similar websites that do pretty much exactly the same thing as they do.

 

[foodog]

Has nothing to do with 'blue' or 'red'. Most all marketing firm develop profiles on consumers and market accordingly. They know your color, creed, age, job type, income, and so on. But they have no way of knowing who you voted for in past elections.

The magazines you subscribe to have had targeted ads in them for many years. A family with a high paid executive may get an ad for a luxury car, while a family with many children will see an ad for a mini-van. This is old news, just moved from magazine ads to on-line ads.

I don't think he meant it to be a political statement. He simply picked blue. I know its an election year and all but relax.

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I'm not sure what the fuss is all about. Yes, Orbitz discriminates based on computing preferences. However, they are a business and they are free to do whatever they want to market to people. If you don't like it, there are lots of other similar websites that do pretty much exactly the same thing as they do.

They are not discriminating. If you read the article you would see they are NOT charging more for the same hotel rooms. They are offering higher priced options to Mac users. For example users on a PC are offered NotSoBad hotel for 50 a night, and FleaInfestedShithole hotel for 35. Mac users get Ok hotel for 75, NotSoBad hotel for 50 a night, and FleaInfestedShithole hotel for 35.

 

[larrybeo]

Why Not?

Apple users are always taken for all they can get. Anyone who will pay $300 for a 2GB RAM upgrade deserves to pay extra for a hotel room. It's kinda like Financial Darwinism! Ha!

 

[kiljoy616]

Isn't this like page two stuff?

Not with the amount of comments and how much fun the PC fangirls are spinning this.

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

Oh priceless for sure, but can you even log into anything with that thing.

I think they would give it to you for free if you can even view the page.

 

[FaustsHausUK]

If you book your room using a Linux computer, do they put a lash in your room so you can beat yourself because you clearly enjoy suffering?

 

[Labeno]

The best part is, if you're a Linux user, it only shows you campgrounds.

If you're an Android user, it only shows park benches with trash cans full of news paper to keep warm. It doesn't show upgrades cause they know it's a waste of time.

 

[kiljoy616]

Slow news day.

Well sure what did you expect news on new Apple TV 100 inch for $999.99.

Still interesting article for those with 7 year old macs who don't fall into their category but still use Apple products.

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if you book your room using a linux computer, do they put a lash in your room so you can beat yourself because you clearly enjoy suffering?

hahaha! Pain is pleasure, pleasure is pain, frustration is our friend.

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I'm a former iOS user and i **** over iOS and iPhones, altought i am a macbook pro user and i love it, but this have nothing to do, with what i feel and think of the iPhone, i love android and my samsung gs3!

Look daddy pretty eye candy, so pretty eye candy and plastic.

 

[RobertMartens]

Slow news day.

Slower comment day

 

[JAT]

More than 1000 words...

Image​

What kind of room do you stay in, Aiden? Motel 6?

 

[RobertMartens]

{QUOTE]Says a Apple Fanboi...[/QUOTE]

Remind me again, why is boy spelled boi?

 

[Rodimus Prime]

A waste of money to you, fine. Depending on the type of trip they're taking, a lot of people actually enjoy the extra "crap." Getting the cheapest thing you can that meets your minimum needs isn't the preferred approach for many people. Just because someone has different standards than you, it doesn't mean that something is a waste of money. It just means it's not what you prefer to spend your money on.

Marketing firms spend a lot of money to learn about people's preferences. If that research tells them that Mac users are MORE LIKELY to get a slightly more upscale hotel room, it doesn't mean that all PC users are cheapskates. You're reading way too much into this. We're talking about generalizations made over a broad group of people, and using it to market. It's nothing new, it's just getting more refined over time.

I am with him on the elitism in this thread is rather appalling and in many ways speaks volumes of why the Apple community is though so low of.

Now it is not that PC users are cheaper compared to Mac users but lets do a break down of users. I am willing to bet good money that Mac users in general have a higher income. Macs are just outside of many people's price range on what they can afford.
I am willing to bet if you did a break down on income the results would not matter as much as what OS was used. It just OSX users tend to be in a higher income bracket.

 

[Mr_Ed]

I don't get why Mac users would have a problem with this.. It's not like it's a lie. You own a Mac product, which obviously costs much more than a PC. You've got the extra income, most likely. Seriously, you've spent hundreds if not thousands, and $50 more for a room is going to bother you?

Point is, they're providing a service (a room), and if you don't like it, you can freely visit another site. I've had nothing but great experiences while using Orbitz the past few years, and will continue to do so.

You are making a huge assumption without basis. Owning a Mac does not automatically mean you have extra income. I remember when I was much younger my approach was that I would wait and save my money to buy what I thought was a better product rather than buy a cheaper one right away. I applied this to everything from kitchen knives, to other tools, electronics, and yes, computers.

All that said, I don't see an issue with what Orbitz is doing. It's not like they are charging you more for a given room because of demographics. They are simply organizing the data for your query differently. This is nothing new or controversial as far as I'm concerned.

 

[fmaxwell]

Fine, I''ll just run the orbitz searches on my windows VM.

Then they will show you little rooms that are secretly inside of rooms rented to Mac owners.