Orbitz shows costlier hotel options to Mac users

Orbitz Worldwide Inc. has found that people who use Apple Inc.'s Mac computers spend as much as 30% more a night on hotels, so the online travel agency is starting to show them different, and sometimes costlier, travel options than Windows visitors see.

The Orbitz effort, which is in its early stages, demonstrates how tracking people's online activities can use even seemingly innocuous information—in this case, the fact that customers are visiting Orbitz.com from a Mac—to start predicting their tastes and spending habits.

Orbitz executives confirmed that the company is experimenting with showing different hotel offers to Mac and PC ...

Re: Orbitz shows costlier hotel options to Mac users

#6

Post by kintamanimatt » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 12:50 AM UTC

orta wrote: post #5

badhairday wrote: post #2

Paywall. :(

The article is actually this long -- BY DANA MATTIOLI Orbitz Worldwide Inc. has found that people who use Apple Inc.'s Mac computers spend as much as 30% more a night on hotels, so the online travel agency is starting to show them different, and sometimes costlier, travel options than Windows visitors see. The Orbitz effort, which is in its early stages, demonstrates how tracking people's online activities can use ev…

If you're running AdBlock you won't see the "click here to subscribe now!" pitch.

The ellipses isn't the end of the article!

Re: Orbitz shows costlier hotel options to Mac users

#7

Post by eridius » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 12:53 AM UTC

Are they simply showing pricier offers, or are they showing the exact same offers but with the prices raised? The former is annoying but not inherently evil, but the latter would be terrible.

Re: Orbitz shows costlier hotel options to Mac users

#8

Post by unreal37 » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 12:56 AM UTC

I also find this fascinating.

As someone involved in creating recommendation systems for web sites based on various user behavior signals, I can see adding a "what type of browser do they use" and "what type of OS do they use" intelligence in the future to further segment users.

Mac ownership must be a proxy for "household income". Brilliant.

Re: Orbitz shows costlier hotel options to Mac users

#9

Post by vishaldpatel » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 12:58 AM UTC

Does this means that Linux users get the best deals? Or maybe it's Windows users with cracked copies of Windows.

Re: Orbitz shows costlier hotel options to Mac users

#10

Post by ihsw » Tue, Jun 26, 2012, 1:02 AM UTC

kintamanimatt wrote: post #6

orta wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article is actually this long -- BY DANA MATTIOLI Orbitz Worldwide Inc. has found that people who use Apple Inc.'s Mac computers spend as much as 30% more a night on hotels, so the online travel agency is starting to show them different, and sometimes costlier, travel options than Windows visitors see. The Orbitz effort, which is in its early stages, demonstrates how tracking people's online activities can use ev…

If you're running AdBlock you won't see the "click here to subscribe now!" pitch. The ellipses isn't the end of the article!

Maybe paywall sites should be banned from HN.