Different rates when using Netscape vs. Explorer!

[DeltaPurser]

I just read an interesting post over at Flyertalk.com and thought I should share it with all of you... Seems different rates are quoted for hotels or airline tickets, depending on the browser you are using when visiting Hotwire.

Try it yourself... Do a hotel search using Internet Explorer. Then duplicate the search using a different browser (Netscape or Mozilla for example) and you will see that rates on IE are $2-6 HIGHER!

I'm left wondering if the same applies to Priceline... If lower bids are accepted when I visit their site using Netscape vs. IE.

Anyone have any experience with this?

DeltaPurser :)

[thereuare]

I'll take a closer look at this later, but since Hotwire prices are always a moving target and fluctuate from one search to the next, i think a lot of data points need to be taken to say conslusively that this is happening.

If this is indeed the case, they better stop it immediately! It's illegal and another company got in very hot water for this a few years back (i think it was either Amazon or one of the Office Depot subsidiaries). If i recall the details, they would keep track of how many times you came back to their site and searched for the same product... once you searched for it 4 or 5 times within a given period they figured that you needed a little 'coaxing' and on the 4th or 5th search you would get a slightly lower price.

Good idea from a marketing point of view.... bad idea on the legal-front.

[holtju2]

I don't believe that it is againts the law to offer lower prices based on the browser or operating system you are using at least on Hotwire. It might be unethical, however. If Priceline is doing anything like this and call process bidding then I have to agree with you.

It was Amazon that gave lower prices for users that were using Linux operating system instead of Microsoft when checking prices on their website. It is pretty much the same than Wal-Mart that typically has higher prices in low income neigborhoods in some products because people there doesn't necessarily compare prices when shopping. and there is less competition.

[swag]

Here's a test I just ran.

Austin, TX. Sep 17-20, 2 zones (downtown & south austin).

First tried IE 6.0, then 2 minutes later, on the same computer, Netscape 6.2.

The same 7 hotels were returned.

IE - NS

$40 - $39

$41 - $39

$53 - $50

$60 - $53

$62 - $60

$167 - $167

$183 - $183

So for all but the 2 most expensive, Netscape was cheaper. Note that I ran the IE search first, just to ensure it didn't consume the last cheap inventory.

[DeltaPurser]

I guess that proves the point... I just did a quick search again for Atlanta and came up with the same thing - Netscape is always $1-4 less than IE! Something to keep in mind for those using Hotwire...

A similar search thru Priceline's Vacation Packages returned the same rates both IE and Netscape, so I'm guessing Priceline doesn't differentiate between browsers.

DeltaPurser :)

[locoexw]

I just got the opposite result. A few details:

Niagara Falls, ON 8/14/04-8/15/04

IE:

2* 97

3* 117

Netscape

2* 101

3* 119

Definitely worth checking both...

Elaine

[loanshark]

I am under the opinion that the difference in price has nothing to do with the type of browser you are using. If I remember correctly, someone who worked for Hotwire (I believe it was HotwireCSR) advised they fluctuate the price frequently of their offerings to help the "opaqueness" of their service. What I don't know is if this means every 30 minutes, every hour, daily, everytime a hotel is won, etc...

While I was doing some research for a hotel stay at one time, I do recall seeing what I believed was the Sheraton Miami downtown for $51. This fluctuated up and down over several days to as much as $60, then later went back down to $53. Each time, I was using IE.

If the assumption that the price fluctuates due to Hotwire trying to be more opaque is correct, then the type of browser you are using would have nothing to do with price.

By the way, I ended up booking the Hyatt via Priceline for $38 over Labor Day Weekend for the above hotel stay. That was posted in the correct section about 4-5 weeks ago.

:)

[ShibuyaJon]

I use opera as my main browser and I've noticed this difference before. The difference often can be over $10. I just did a search for Vegas Strip zone and got the following results for a 4* customer favorite:

IE: 190

Netscape: 185

Opera: 180

I then tried a different date for downtown Vegas. Got these results for the GN

IE: 141

Netscape:141

Opera: 130

I then tried Flagstaff for 8/14 and got the following:

IE:

2.5 star $82

2.5 star Suite $84

3 star $103

Netscape:

2.5 star $77

2.5 star Suite $81

3 star $102

Opera:

2.5 star $77

2.5 star Suite $81

3 star $102

I then tried the Loop in Chicago

IE: 4 Star $87

Netscape 4 Star $87

Opera 4 Star $87

I tried one more on the Strip for 8/19 and got this for the V 5 star

IE: 116

Netscape: 130

Opera: 120

I've done several other comparisons and even if I change the order of browsers in sending the request opera and netscape are consistently lower (but not always) than IE. Many times the difference is significant, over $10 a night. The mode case, however, is the difference is small if any.

[ShibuyaJon]

This also happens with hotwire regarding airfares. Again the range of prices can be as wide as $10-$15. For example, I just tried LAS-LGW and got $771 on IE, $781 on Netscape, and $771 on Opera. LAS to LHR was $699 on IE $682 on Netscape and $699 on Opera.

The point is, if you are about to purchase on hotwire and you are a cheapskate like me, it is worth the effort to search your hotel or airfare at the time of purchase in more than one browser. As long as you do not take too much time, you will never be worse off for doing so.

[flyme2]

Being an inquisitve type, I downloaded Netscape and ran as simultaneous a comparison between IE and NS as my typing skills could muster. I alternated the order of use, ie. NS first, IE second, then IE first, NS second, etc.

My findings: NS beat IE 22 times out of 28 tries, the remaining 6 being ties. Least savings was $1, most was $12.

Previous posters have documented property comparisons quite well, so I don't feel I have to add to the glut. Bottom line: Take 5 minutes (high-speed) and download the free Netscape browser to save $$$ on all your HW reservations. What's the downside? You needn't make it your default browser.

[DeltaPurser]

I agree! I started using Netscape about a year ago when something went wrong with my old computer and I couldn't get online using IE (I still, to this day, have NO idea what happened). Today it is my default browser, and I LOVE the tabs you can use to open different windows... It takes a little getting used to, but it's definitely worth it once you get the hang of it.

DeltaPurser :)

[ShibuyaJon]

you can also use opera which IMHO is much better and is faster than netscape and IE. www.opera.com it is a freeware with a small advert unless you buy. Very stable program.

[andrusyna]

Hi,

I'm in graduate school now so I have empiricism preached to me daily. From the posts so far it does seem as if there may be something to this, but I know from experience that, for example, people who try out Explorer and Netscape and do NOT see a difference in the Hotwire prices are far less likely to post that result than are those who do see a difference. We need a lot more data points here before we all start using Netscape!

I downloaded Opera, just curious to see what it was and to see if there was in fact a difference, and ran a hotwire search in the Chicago loop. All prices were same on IE and Opera, except one cheaper hotel was $2 less through Opera. I ran it a 2nd time and the same difference came up. I have not checked Netscape yet.

This seems to be a worthwhile thing to figure out considering that most of us use hotwire and if such a simple thing could save a few bucks, then why not. But let's try to figure out exactly what's happening.

It would be VERY interesting whether or not this happens on Priceline, though that would be a much more expensive test.

[lowballer]

Well, all this got me thinking. Here at work I have two computers right next to each other. Why not put in simultaneous Hotwire requests using the same parameters on each machine?

I used San Francisco, checking in 9/17, checking out 9/19, with these zones: USE, USW, Embarcadero, Fisherman's Wharf and SFO Airport South. The browser is the same (IE 6) on both machines. On both screens for each machine (the homepage and the page where you select the zones and confirm) I entered the information, then clicked both mouse buttons as close to simultaneously as humanly possible. I doubt I was off by more than a tenth of a second.

On both computers, Hotwire returned 23 hotels. The star levels, lists of amenities and presence or absence of the "Customer Favorite" designation match at each position in both lists. So it is nearly certain that both computer A and computer B returned the same hotels in the same order.

But the prices were different for 21 out of the 23 hotels. In these 21 cases, the same computer, B, was cheaper. A was usually more expensive by 15-20%, with one outlier at 34% more. For two out of the 23 hotels, the result was the same.

Here are the results, in the order received:

Zone | Star Level | Computer A | Computer B

EMB* | 4.5 | 169 | 141

EMB* | 4.0 | 120 | 103

EMB | 3.5 | 95 | 80

EMB | 3.0 | 121 | 103

FW* | 4.0 | 196 | 162

FW* | 3.0 | 164 | 137

FW | 2.0 | 112 | 96

SFO | 4.0 | 58 | 47 [1]

SFO | 3.5 | 85 | 85

SFO* | 3.0 | 49 | 49 [2] <--identical

SFO | 2.5 | 70 | 60

SFO | 2.0 | 49 | 40

USE | 4.0 | 157 | 134

USE | 3.5 | 117 | 99

USE | 3.0 | 87 | 75

USE | 2.5 | 143 | 124

USE | 2.0 | 94 | 70 <-- biggest percentage difference (34%)

USW | 4.5 | 242 | 197 <-- biggest absolute difference ($45)

USW*| 4.0 | 101 | 101 <-- identical

USW | 3.5 | 90 | 77

USW | 3.0 | 99 | 84

USW | 2.5 | 75 | 65

USW | 2.0 | 62 | 56

* listed as a "Customer Favorite" on both computers

[1] designated as "Best Value" on both computers

[2] designated as "Best Value" only on computer A (even though both give the same price)

I guess I could list the amenities but the table as it is was enough work. (If you try to repeat this experiment, use fewer zones :) ) More importantly, what it strongly suggests is that Hotwire varies its rates with each request, regardless of browser or time.

[lowballer]

Continuing with different parameters: I tried Denver, checking in 9/24 and checking out 9/26. Zones specified were Greater Downtown Denver, Tech Center and DEN Airport.

Both searches returned 13 results, and are likely the same hotels in the same order.

This time Computer A was cheaper on seven results and the price was identical on six. Computer B was never cheaper. Where A was cheaper, the difference was small, on the order of a few bucks. (The largest difference was $4, $115 on A versus $119 on B, which was each computer's most expensive hotel.)

Because the other computer was cheaper this time, the hypothesis that Hotwire adjusts its results at random, without necessarily discriminating by browser or time of request, is supported. However, it does not explain the instances where rates are the same on both computers, nor does it account for the "outlier" result in the first search.

[andrusyna]

Great work lowballer, hope your boss doesn't catch you! :)

Your results are telling, but I wonder why over the past couple years whenever I searched for say a 3 * in a certain location, I only saw a slight, maybe $2-3 fluctuation day to day. It may be that nearly simultaneous searches show a bigger difference than a random search 1 day to the next, not sure why that would be though.

The lesson so far, I guess, is to use 2 or 3 browsers at the same time when getting a hotel through hotwire and choose the lowest priced one.

In your experimetn, lowballer, you showed that PC B was cheaper once, and PC A was cheaper the next time; however, the previous posts seem to point at Netscape as nearly always cheaper - hmm.

[monicajay]

I have 3 computers in the house. All running on explorer. The i-book seems to deliver lower prices than the others even when done at the same time (I have multiple user highspeed). Sometimes it is a $1 or $2 but today the i-book is $7.00 cheaper for the same thing.

My problem is the i-book is work issued and we are not allowed to do internet purchases (part of an agreement). So, I must use my PC. I was looking for 1 night, 10 oct. Burlington Vt. 3* PC is $72 i-book $65

Any ideas? Why and what to do?

monica

[thereuare]

Try getting the Hotwire price on the i-book, then log-in as if you were going to purchase, but don't complete the transaction.

Then try logging in on the desktop computer and then running the same search.

Don't know if this will work or not, but worth a shot. Let us know.

[WillTravel]

Try installing Netscape on your home computers.