How Booking.com manipulates users • Hacker News Board

Re: How Booking.com manipulates users

#21

Post by sturgill » Wed, Sep 20, 2017, 11:24 PM UTC

zodPod wrote: post #17

colmvp wrote: post #11

I noticed Udemy also manipulates users by saying that x course is 80-90% off but only for one more day!!!!... until you realize it's been that exact same price for weeks/months. I understand it's not new to have the retail price be higher than the 'sale' price (for example, clothes and furniture), but even at clearance outlets, the price difference while large is rarely as dramatic nor as prolonged.

Udemy is also huge for having a "One time $10/$15 coupon!" that "expires in 3 days" and will immediately be replaced by another one. All you really have to do is google "Udemy coupon" to get any class on the site for $10 or $15 depending on what the current coupon is. This also works for the craft store chain Michael's but to a lesser extent. They almost ALWAYS have a 40-50% off coupon in their weekly ad. So if you f…

Hi/Lo pricing is great that way. Harbor Freight always sends 20% off coupons. It's a wonderful technique for running price discrimination.

The frequency of running offers, and which offers to run, are just business details that can be tested and optimized. Some firms are a lot better at it than others. But at its core it's not fundamentally different than coupon mailers or rebate offers.

If you ever buy furniture for sticker price you're doing something wrong...

Re: How Booking.com manipulates users

#22

Post by Osmium » Wed, Sep 20, 2017, 11:36 PM UTC

To anyone from Booking.com reading this: I'll go elsewhere next time I need to book a room.

Dark patterns may help profits in the short-term, but they're terrible for your brand. Just ask TicketMaster.

It isn't just tech-savvy users that will catch on to this either. If an everyday user uses Booking.com, reads reviews and thinks their room will be great, but then has a bad experience, they're going to stop trusting Booking.com's reviews, and stop trusting their brand. It will only take a few bad experiences to go elsewhere.

Re: How Booking.com manipulates users

#23

Post by kinkrtyavimoodh » Wed, Sep 20, 2017, 11:38 PM UTC

Osmium wrote: post #22

To anyone from Booking.com reading this: I'll go elsewhere next time I need to book a room. Dark patterns may help profits in the short-term, but they're terrible for your brand. Just ask TicketMaster. It isn't just tech-savvy users that will catch on to this either. If an everyday user uses Booking.com, reads reviews and thinks their room will be great, but then has a bad experience, they're going to stop trusting B…

Unfortunately for us (and fortunately for TicketMaster), there usually is no alternative to them. That doesn't hold true for Booking.com

Re: How Booking.com manipulates users

#24

Post by aembleton » Wed, Sep 20, 2017, 11:39 PM UTC

I just block a lot of this booking.com noise with uBlock. These are my filters so far:

  www.booking.com##.sr_rooms_left_wrap.only_x_left
  www.booking.com##.sr-booked-x-times.clearfix.lbsr
  www.booking.com##.soldout_property

Re: How Booking.com manipulates users

#25

Post by mwfj » Wed, Sep 20, 2017, 11:40 PM UTC

sturgill wrote: post #20

edejong wrote: post #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.

"Frankly, I don’t think I am going to stop using Booking.com. I am not aware of any other service with a comparable number of properties and reviews." It's hard to quantify negative impact of future dealings, but it's even harder to say Booking.com should change their methods when the people aware enough to be annoyed continue to give them money. It's like complaining about Google following you around the web and usi…

A suggestion for people who are upset with this behavior:

Use Booking.com (and Google, Expedia, etc) as a showroom, after you have found a certain hotel, find their web site or phone and arrange a booking directly.

Re: How Booking.com manipulates users

#26

Post by jorvi » Wed, Sep 20, 2017, 11:41 PM UTC

tehwebguy wrote: post #15

stephengillie wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I think they get away with it by saying, "order in the next 15 minutes and you'll get this", but the truth is if you order after the next 15 minutes you also get it. They're not explicitly saying you won't get it if you don't order in the next 15 minutes, but they're implying it. Telebrands is the company that's been running that game for like forever. Pretty shady!

That's a tactic used across many industries. There is a Dutch insurance company (Promovendum) that actively advertises as 'the insurance company for the higher educated' (in NL this means college or university). It is illegal to discriminate on this, so they do in fact accept anyone, they just don't say so.

Re: How Booking.com manipulates users

#27

Post by kinkrtyavimoodh » Wed, Sep 20, 2017, 11:42 PM UTC

tmulc18 wrote: post #8

That's why you gotta use Expedia or Google

Expedia does "n people booked this location" and "price of this flight expected to rise by x%" ALL the time.

Re: How Booking.com manipulates users

#28

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS » Wed, Sep 20, 2017, 11:42 PM UTC

This and the recent Ticketmaster expose make me wonder: is it possible to objectively identify dark UI patterns like this via a browser extension? Usually I can try to see through them, but something that flags stuff like this with a non-obtrusive warning would be nice to add to the list of extensions I automatically throw on new installs for family members (that list currently includes PrivacyBadger and uBlock Origin)

Re: How Booking.com manipulates users

#29

Post by drstewart » Wed, Sep 20, 2017, 11:42 PM UTC

Airbnb does this too. No matter where or when you search for, you'll see a notification saying something like:

"Only 13% of listings are left for these dates. We recommend booking a place soon."

As a random example, apparently Kamloops, BC is filling up fast for Dec 3-6 (midweek in the middle of winter). And so is Flint, MI on Feb 19th, a Tuesday.

Re: How Booking.com manipulates users

#30

Post by zpr » Wed, Sep 20, 2017, 11:44 PM UTC

mwfj wrote: post #25

sturgill wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Frankly, I don’t think I am going to stop using Booking.com. I am not aware of any other service with a comparable number of properties and reviews." It's hard to quantify negative impact of future dealings, but it's even harder to say Booking.com should change their methods when the people aware enough to be annoyed continue to give them money. It's like complaining about Google following you around the web and usi…

A suggestion for people who are upset with this behavior: Use Booking.com (and Google, Expedia, etc) as a showroom, after you have found a certain hotel, find their web site or phone and arrange a booking directly.

Sometimes the direct prices are actually more. Your best bet for sticking it to them might be to use an alternative booking service.