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How Booking.com manipulates users

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Re: How Booking.com manipulates users

#3
post #2

IOW - how more or less every e-commerce (especially aggregation services) site tries to get you to spend your money there

Using Amazon as an example of an e-commerce company - when buying an item on Amazon neither the gaming of ratings and reviews or the annoying and manufactured "sense of urgency" as stated in the post, seem to be part of the experience.

The booking.com experience feels like doing business with a sleazy used car salesman.

Re: How Booking.com manipulates users

#4
post #2

IOW - how more or less every e-commerce (especially aggregation services) site tries to get you to spend your money there

Booking.com is, though, more aggressive than their peers. More in the same category as event ticket sellers.

Lots of "not quite lies" in the interface to generate false urgency where none actually exists. Like showing you how many other people "looked at this property", but not saying the timeframe...in the last hour? Day? Week? The idea is to close the deal because you think someone else will snap it up.

They are also crazy arrogant and condescending if you ever have to deal with them as a partner.

Re: How Booking.com manipulates users

#5
This is what A/B testing does to a popular site. You test for immediate customer engagement but cannot (easily) test long-term customer loyalty. This is why booking.com has become the largest online hotel booking site in several continents. Nevertheless, I think it will eventually be their downfall.

Re: How Booking.com manipulates users

#6
I've always wondered if some of these tactics are kosher and legal. Especially the ones that say 'someone just booked this' or the notifications on ecommerce sites that say 'X bought this in the last hour'. Most of the ecommerce ones are just fake data meant to entice the shopper into buying into urgency.

Re: How Booking.com manipulates users

#7
post #3
post #2

IOW - how more or less every e-commerce (especially aggregation services) site tries to get you to spend your money there

Using Amazon as an example of an e-commerce company - when buying an item on Amazon neither the gaming of ratings and reviews or the annoying and manufactured "sense of urgency" as stated in the post, seem to be part of the experience. The booking.com experience feels like doing business with a sleazy used car salesman.

Yes, Amazon may get flak for other reasons but I have found the experience of shopping on them to be very clean and pleasant. To be clear, I am talking about the experience of finding a product and proceeding to checkout and payment, not about any potential issues about fake products and such.

Re: How Booking.com manipulates users

#9
post #6

I've always wondered if some of these tactics are kosher and legal. Especially the ones that say 'someone just booked this' or the notifications on ecommerce sites that say 'X bought this in the last hour'. Most of the ecommerce ones are just fake data meant to entice the shopper into buying into urgency.

There's probably a case for it being illegal, but the US laws are fairly high level and vague.

So, you have to catch someone's attention to get the FTC after you. They tend to go on industry specific hunts once public opinion goes a certain direction. Happened with diet pills, cryptocoin hardware, airlines not showing all in costs, etc.

Booking.com will probably eventually get their turn in the barrel. Could be a while though.

Re: How Booking.com manipulates users

#10
post #6

I've always wondered if some of these tactics are kosher and legal. Especially the ones that say 'someone just booked this' or the notifications on ecommerce sites that say 'X bought this in the last hour'. Most of the ecommerce ones are just fake data meant to entice the shopper into buying into urgency.

Some television commercials even have a pre-recorded countdown to create urgency.
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