Orbitz Steers Mac Users to Pricier Hotels

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Your room will be $99.99 a night sir. What's that you say? You are a Mac user? Your stay is now $139.99. Thank you for choosing Orbitz!

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.
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Thanks to Lethal, bpizzle1 and everyone else that sent this one in. ;)
 
Makes sense , since they are willing to pay for over priced crap Apple sells them :D

But in reality I bet Apple users tend to make more money than PC users on average.
 
I overheard that on a TV in the office next door to mine and giggled. It got airtime on NBC.
 
Godmachine said:
But in reality I bet Apple users tend to make more money than PC users on average.
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It is true that gay couples tend to have higher household incomes and more disposable at that since few raise children together.
 
Wow, now even PC users will hesitate wondering how much Orbitz is ripping them off.
 
blitzkommando said:
Does this mean that Linux users are directed towards Econolodge?
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I stayed at an Econo Lodge when I was in Atlanta doing some stuff. It was horrible. There were hookers and people there and no breakfast or wireless. My air conditioner made funny noises. :( Is this because I made my travel arrangements with a Linux box?
 
this is a calculated move by Orbitz letting this information leak out, in hopes that it further attracts Mac users now that they know it's overpriced.
 
I'm no fan of macs or their users in general, but I feel like actions like this are borderline unethical...
 
It sounds hilarious at first but if your read into it more it's not that orbits is charging mac users more for the same room. It just shows the the pricier hotels first.
 
Steve said:
Your room will be $99.99 a night sir. What's that you say? You are a Mac user? Your stay is now $139.99. Thank you for choosing Orbitz!



Thanks to Lethal, bpizzle1 and everyone else that sent this one in. ;)
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I don't see a problem here. Mac/Apple users are accustomed to paying 40% more for a product than normal people. It makes them feel superior. Exploit on!
 
Godmachine said:
Makes sense , since they are willing to pay for over priced crap Apple sells them :D

But in reality I bet Apple users tend to make more money than PC users on average.
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lolwut? All the mac (and iwhatever devices) users I know don't make jack shit. I break six figures (just barely before taxes) and none of them even come close to what I make. But when others see I have a WinPhone7 and my friends have iPhones it's assumed I'm the one who works at McD's. It's all show and pretense.
 
Time to start booking cheap rooms with that install of Windows 7 Starter Edition!
 
Teenk9 said:
lolwut? All the mac (and iwhatever devices) users I know don't make jack shit. I break six figures (just barely before taxes) and none of them even come close to what I make. But when others see I have a WinPhone7 and my friends have iPhones it's assumed I'm the one who works at McD's. It's all show and pretense.
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The friends I have that are Apple users exclusively (Mac , iPhone , iPod and so on) make six figures each year.

I think what I said holds true on AVERAGE. Not everyone but on average.
 
Oh yeah? Well I found seven figurines on Bing in like ten seconds of searching instead of waiting an entire year! So nyah!

coalport-figurines-henry-viii-and-his-six-wives_5181248.jpg
 
robble said:
It sounds hilarious at first but if your read into it more it's not that orbits is charging mac users more for the same room. It just shows the the pricier hotels first.
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Correct.
Mac users are 40% more likely to book a four- or five-star hotel than PC users, Mr. Yee said.
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Take from that what you will.
 
Max Mike said:
No, a hostel
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Oh yuck, I don't want to stay at an actual prostitute house. I apologize to the other two people in this forum that use Linux, but I'm going back to Windows ME so I can at least get a dumpster or the trunk of an abandoned car. :(
 
As the saying goes, there are lies, damned lies, and statistics...;) Mr. Yee has forgotten the most important variable of them all...that people who own Macs constitute ~5% of everyone who owns a personal computer. For starters. How about all of the people who own Macs but make their reservations at work on a Windows box?

What it more or less amounts to is that showing Mac owners the pricier hotels first increases the money they will spend on lodging--but what would happen if Orbitz showed *everybody* the more expensive options first?

Well, gollee...there'd be an uptick in how many more people were selecting the pricier options, regardless of what OS they happened to be using at the time, wouldn't there? I believe you can take that to the bank. Orbitz has kind of screwed the pooch on this. If I was a hotelier I think I'd be pissed at Orbitz about now.

Besides..."PC" users know that Macs are nothing except Apple-branded PCs installed with a copy of OS X instead of Windows...which makes Macs less useful, imo. But because Macs are in fact "PCs" in every sense of the world, Macs will run Windows as comfortably and as easily as any other PC on the planet.

What we have to work on is making sure the Mac owners discover this truth for themselves. Apple marketing "blissful ignorance" so effectively makes that a challenge, however.
 
Zarathustra[H];1038875031 said:
I'm no fan of macs or their users in general, but I feel like actions like this are borderline unethical...
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any more unethical then the ridiculous apple tax to begin with ?
 
WaltC said:
What it more or less amounts to is that showing Mac owners the pricier hotels first increases the money they will spend on lodging--but what would happen if Orbitz showed *everybody* the more expensive options first?
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People who choose to not spend money on apple products probably do more comparison shopping. Windows users would be more likely to simply use another booking site that had cheaper products as opposed to simply taking what's on the front page without looking deeper...
 
My personal experience with my Mac using friends is that they tend to be more impulsive buyers, financially I don't see the connection, one is a doctor, one is an English teacher, and one is a single mother with two children.
 
wonderfield said:
According to the article, U.S. Mac users make 32% more than U.S. PC users on average.
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I don't see the problem with what Orbitz is doing - not only does the article say what you said, but it also clearly states they aren't charging Mac users more for the SAME room, or travel options. It's just they saw a trend that Mac users typically would pick a room with a better view, or better amenities even if it cost up to 40% more. So, they started showing Mac users the better rated hotels by default. As long as they still let you sort by price and pick the cheapest hotel you want does it really matter what the default setting is?
 
My closest Mac users are my asshole convicted felon brother, my sisters idiot husband who got his job because she got promoted they are the same idiots who paid BestBuy to install there TV and overpaid thru the ass. If they can sucker you into paying more good for them. A fancy phone or a slim piece of aluminum does not make you smart or wealthy. But hell I guess stereotypes are fun aren’t they. I guess it’s more important for some to keep up with the Ijoneses. I think this is a repost of a story I saw at least a year ago.
 
Hey if they can afford over-priced gloried PCs then they can afford over-priced( well, OK, fancier) hotels.
 
lol Crapple Tax on hotels.

Apple and Android users are both the same though, one just pays a shitload more for the same garbage, while the other one prefers to pay $1.39 for a song from itunes.
 
Having frequently stayed in hotels from the $40 - $250 range, they're all same. Hell, the cheaper hotels tend to have internet FREE. Those 5stars tend to charge you $10-20 just for the pleasure, and low and behold, you're sharing a single "business class" line with 200 other data-hungry slobs. Your water will still taste funny from the faucet at every hotel cheap or expensive, the beds will still be "clean" but have that funny "feel" to them, and the housekeepers will be just as likely to steal your stuff (which in all honestly is a very rare thing anyways) at either one.

The only thing that matters is location, and that is really only a factor in downtown cities or at the beach.

/shrug
 
Hahaha, you poor losers enjoy your stay at the Motel 6. Hopefully they implement a policy where PC users aren't even allowed to make bookings at the nicer hotels. No undesirables allowed please.
 
SkribbelKat said:
I stayed at an Econo Lodge when I was in Atlanta doing some stuff. It was horrible. There were hookers and people there and no breakfast or wireless.
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There were PEOPLE in the hotel? I would've walked right the hell out of there!



SkribbelKat said:
Oh yeah? Well I found seven figurines on Bing in like ten seconds of searching instead of waiting an entire year! So nyah!

coalport-figurines-henry-viii-and-his-six-wives_5181248.jpg
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If you have a long term settlement but you need cash noooooow.....
Call J.G. Wentworth, 877-CASH-NOW!
 
potency said:
There were PEOPLE in the hotel? I would've walked right the hell out of there!
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I'm glad you noticed that! It was probably the most scary part of being at Econo Lodge. Never again with the motels and the people. *shiver*

potency said:
If you have a long term settlement but you need cash noooooow.....Call J.G. Wentworth, 877-CASH-NOW!
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It's your money! Use it when you need it! :D
 
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