On Orbitz, Mac Users Offered Pricier Hotels First 305
An anonymous reader writes "Travel site Orbitz found out that Mac users tend to select pricier rooms and swanky hotels. So, from now on, they will show more expensive hotel options to Mac users than to PC users. This is why, although I am a Mac user, my Firefox agent string says 'Windows XP' :)" The (paywalled) WSJ report on which Reuter's summary is based carries Orbitz' s softer explanation, which is that the results by platform are an experiment based mostly on presentation and search-result ordering rather than actually naming higher prices based on OS: "[T]he company isn't showing the same room to different users at different prices. They also pointed out that users can opt to rank results by price."
Well, duh (Score:5, Insightful)
A smug sense of superiority requires constant maintenance.
Re:Well, duh (Score:5, Funny)
Thus, slashdot.
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Re:Well, duh (Score:4, Informative)
Mac or PC users?
Yes
Re:Well, duh (Score:5, Funny)
I assume Linux users will sleep in a dumpster. After all, it's FOSS
Free Open Sleeping Space!
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I hope everyone has their sense of humour switched on today
Re:Well, duh (Score:5, Funny)
I assume Linux users will sleep in a dumpster. After all, it's FOSS
Free Open Sleeping Space!
Don't be silly, Dumpsters are proprietary. They have connectors to fit only certain types of garbage trucks for emptying.
Now cardboard boxes, THOSE are universal.
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A dumpster? Man, I wish! Dumpster-brand trash bins are top-of-the-line. This is just a Trash-Co waste disposal unit.
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But what version is it??
Don't you know the incompatibilities with version 13?
And the awesome features coming out in version 15??
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Seriously?
A friend's couch or spare bedroom
But the friend will get free and awesome technical during his stay for *Anything*.
Re:Well, duh (Score:5, Insightful)
Well not kool aid, but fine wines.
As the company stated they are not offering the same room at different rates, however it is showing the nicer hotels first. If there were enough Linux users to make a difference I would expect that they would give them, the roach motels first.
These systems will try to correlate as much information as possible to give its views the most relevant results. if a Mac User is shown on average to buy a hotel that is 10% more then the cheapest, then orbits to offer the best results will give the 10% above the cheapest as its first options so its customers are not hunting down the list.
Linux users (Score:5, Funny)
Linux users would be given the address of a home depot, a list of vacant lot sites, and a "makefile" for building a hotel. Unfortunately, there would be library dependencies with links to unmaintained building codes.
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Linux users would be given the address of a home depot, a list of vacant lot sites, and a "makefile" for building a hotel. Unfortunately, there would be library dependencies with links to unmaintained building codes.
Only the gentoo users.
The rest of us will settle for Motel 6 and the Yellow Pages. Bookmarked at "Pizza Delivery".
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Linux users would be given the address of a home depot, a list of vacant lot sites, and a "makefile" for building a hotel. Unfortunately, there would be library dependencies with links to unmaintained building codes.
Unless they choose a ready made chain like Staybuntu or Hotel Mint. But if they do that, things like power points, TV's or air conditioners may not always work correctly and the owners may randomly re-arrange things regardless of how much you complain.
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You do deserve the funny you have.
The truth now though is quite a bit different.
For most users and equipment Linux does 'just work' now. There are many choices for almost any type of software that most people would use that is just a click or a single 'sudo apt-get install [new thing I want]' away. Linux mint for example is good looking. Comes with codecs and flash. Works well, Easy to use and install.
Seems to me that for most use cases that for non computer people that Linux would be a better and easier c
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and no netflix which is a must for many people. i use a vm for this but most average joes would have no idea what they are doing trying to build one
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GNU/Hotel, you mean.
Re:Linux users (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Linux users (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Linux users (Score:5, Funny)
I'm imagining a Beowulf Cluster of mothers' basements...
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Which, when inverted, spells...
Re:Linux users (Score:5, Funny)
It's called slashdot.org
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I've had two worse ideas as offers for startup ideas this week.. a scheme for smelly linux geeks to exchange mum's basements is a fucking brainwave by comparison
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You mean organized networks of couch surfing?
It's been done already.
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Done...http://www.couchsurfing.org/
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No, there's a new version of Skype out now.
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Actually, it could be *any* wine [cracked.com] dressed up with a fancy enough label.
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Yes, that's it: "fine wines".
And that sprinkle you're feeling on your head? That's rain.
Re:Well, duh (Score:4, Insightful)
Well not kool aid, but fine wines.
Or rather, normal wine with a fancy label and sold at a large markup.
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I've seen studies (published on /.) that Mac and iPhone users are often the least affluent citizens. I suspect that's because they are not very money-conscious and just spend their cash w/o regards to the cost. It might explain why they spend more money on hotels than the rest of us.
Re:Well, duh (Score:4, Interesting)
Citation please. All the published data says the opposite.
"The average household income for adult owners of Mac computers is $98,560, compared with $74,452 for a PC owner, according to technology market data firm Forrester."
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/06/26/why-the-apple-demographic-is-so-important-to-orbitz-and-retailers/ [wsj.com]
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Re:Well, duh (Score:5, Insightful)
TFA is simply acknowledging what we already know, that Apple users have no problem paying more for things. Is that REALLY so surprising?
Except that's not what is being acknowledged. They're not paying more for the same thing.
They're paying more for things that they consider to be nicer or in some way more advantageous to them. In the hotel case maybe they are getting one that is closer to their destination or where they're more likely to meet someone famous. Maybe they just prefer the pillows at one vs the other. But they're not simply willing to pay more for the same thing - they're willing to part with more money if they feel like they're getting something better in return.
Re:Well, duh (Score:5, Funny)
You mac users keep on drinking the kool aid.
It is actually Flavor Aid. It is a bit cheaper (so that we can still afford macs) and is also the trusted drink mix of cults since 1978.
Re:Well, duh (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Well, duh (Score:4)
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So, umm, what about those of us who put Linux on their old PowerMacs, and will happily Hackintosh a PC?
Re:Well, duh (Score:5, Insightful)
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Agreed it isn't a Mac mark up but Mac users are more easily parted with their money so why not show them the pricier hotels. Especially if they are getting a percentage.
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Heh - you got me. As I grow older, I tend to buy things that aren't bottom-of-the-barrel anymore. If I build a PC from scratch, I buy a high-quality case and power supply and reputable motherboard. I get a nice non-TN monitor. I buy a good keyboard. If I'm buying a pre-built PC I tend to get a Mac or Lenovo or HP workstation. If I buy beer, it is always some fun craft beer, or at least one of the wannabe craft beers from the big brewers. I don't go to "Bottom Dollar" for my steaks, I go to a butcher and buy
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Uhmm... My office is Mac-centric but I'm a Linux guy, so I installed Linux on a $400 Toshiba laptop, then installed Win7 and OSX into VMs on that. My boss used to laugh at me every time my OSX VM would take a crap (about once a month because I never restart it and it sometimes doesn't like to wake from suspend), until I told him to make note of every time how MacBook Pro took a dump and let's compare numbers. He has issues with his $1200 "superior product" roughly 5x as often as I do. I see similar stats on
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A more expensive product is not necessarily superior. Furthermore, there are many cases where the product is superior, but it doesn't matter for the purpose at hand. If you're stopping in the town for one night on your way somewhere else, do you really need a five star hotel? It's a strictly superior product, but is it worth the money that could be spent elsewhere instead?
Ah it makes sense now. (Score:5, Funny)
This makes sense.
When I was looking for accommodations in San Francisco from my MacBook Air, I was offered the executive suite at the 'Beef Chunks in Gravy Bath House'. I could never figure that one out.
Re:Ah it makes sense now. (Score:5, Insightful)
This makes sense.
Indeed. Most travel sites, and general shopping sites, initially organise things by what they call "Relevance", and in many cases this is a totally ambiguous term! Relevance for them can surely mean which supplier paid them the most for advertising. Organising results based on someone's hardware, if a correlation can be shown between the hardware and end choices for accommodation in this case, actually seems pretty sensible and less sinister than what I'd usually expect.
Looking forward to reading all the paranoid and rage filled comments though...
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As the first poster said, "well duh". Apple owners pay more for their gear, they want superior gear, and it stands to reason that someone who wants a top of the line computer (whether "top of the line" is real or percieved, many people always think the more expensive item must be better, even though Alieve and the generic naproxin sodium are identical but the prices are way apart) is going to want a top of the line room.
I don't see this as ripping off Apple users, I see it as catering to them.
Orbitz deserves praise (Score:2, Funny)
Apparently Orbitz is helping to contribute to the bloated self-esteem and sense of self-worth that Mac users crave. They should be applauded for reinforcing the RDF in the name of Saint Jobs.
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Not bloated. I'm just better than other people, not because I have a Mac, but I have a Mac because I am better and therefore earn more money than your average person and thus I can afford a Mac. I like a good hotel too, so well done Orbitz.
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I can afford a Mac, as well. My wife prefers them, so that's what I buy for her. Me? $400 PC that runs circles around all but the highest top-end Macs. Oh, and runs OSX just fine, either natively (tried it to see if it would work) or in a VM.
It's worth noting that I can afford a nicer hotel than you, what with the $800 I saved vs buyingtwo $1200 MacBook Pros.
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That's true. Us truly wealthy people prefer our consumption inconspicuous. Now that Larry has Lanai, I wonder how much the Big Island is going to set me back.
Why? (Score:2)
> This is why, although I am a Mac user, my Firefox agent string says 'Windows XP' :)"
Why would you do that, if you're a Mac user, don't you prefer to select the pricier hotels rather than seeing those common hostels for WinXP users?
Linux users (Score:5, Funny)
...will see offers for "escort services"
Users browsing with IE will be offered a helmet and padded walls.
Users logged into Facebook will be given the option to reduce their costs by selling video from hidden cameras inside the hotel room.
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I believe that most Google staff are Linux users and they are rather well paid. So you might be right. I imagine the average hobbyist Linux user would be a hard sell for escort services. "You charge what?? I could get a new computer for that and I wouldn't need to shower after I'd paid for it."
I'd imagine that the number of people who use Linux primarily because of cost reasons is pretty low... Because you get a Windows license with every computer that you don't build yourself, most techies will probably even have a few unused licenses from old machines.
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Yeah, and breakfast included? Are you nuts? I eat breakfast off my feet during my morning lecture!
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Users logged into Facebook will be given the option to reduce their costs by selling video from hidden cameras inside the hotel room.
"Option"?
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You can remove it from your timeline.
But everyone can still see it in Facebook.com/baloroth/video
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So sex is the only thing Linux users are known to pay for?
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User logged into facebook, will have their videos sold by default, unless then hit the do not video tape button convinetly located in the corner of the ceiling closet. No additional fee will be charged for the convinince of having your tape sold.
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Suprised This Doesn't Happen More Often (Score:5, Interesting)
To be honest I'm surprised we don't see this kind of thing more often. Not just on travel sites, but on any kind of site that doesn't have strict MSRP pricing such as Amazon. Certain platforms absolutely attract certain demographics, and unlike tracking/profiling you don't have to spend time building as profile as all of this data is conveniently offered up by the browser with page requests.
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Except Amazon doesn't have strict MSRP pricing - they've been using variable pricing for years.
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Mac fanboys seem to drive either tiny eco-cars or huge blinged-out pickups, judging by where I see the Apple stickers.
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Mac fanboys seem to drive either tiny eco-cars or huge blinged-out pickups, judging by where I see the Apple stickers.
In other words, as much as the haters would like to think, there isn't a single type of Apple user, just as not all Linux users live in their parents' basements, or that all Xbox Live users are 12 years old think that calling something "gay" is the most insulting thing on the planet.
Funny, that.
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Judging where I see MAC's in the home, they drive Ferrari, Porsche, Audi, and BMW. I do home automation and high end Theaters. Not many rich people have PC's in their home, they all pretty much are iMac and Macbook.
But then I only do this as my day job and have seen only a few thousand homes of rich people. I am certain you came to your conclusion by seeing millions of cars with apple stickers on them.
P.S. Rich people tend to not put stickers on their cars.
XP? Why stop there? (Score:5, Funny)
In other news (Score:5, Insightful)
Study shows people driving luxury cars tended to park them outside nicer restaurants
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If you can call straddling 3 spaces at the perimeter parking.
captcha="DEPENDS"
But of course (Score:2)
All those interior designers have to get paid, and show off each other's work!
Confirms what a lot of us know already. (Score:2, Insightful)
1) MAC User may be more affluent. It's not always the case, but most of the time there's probably a lot of credit card debt associated with the individual as well.
2) Most of them are clueless about technology and just want to leave it to someone else. The mentality "it just works" comes to mind but these folks don't shop around. They see their friends with Apple stuff, they buy Apple stuff.
3) Like rounded corners a lot and need to have the latest fashion. Fondleslabs and Mac Books along with Iphones and
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It feels so good to be superior to someone else, doesn't it? Especially when that superiority comes from being in line with the majority.
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Superiority? It's an observation just like what the article is about. Orbitz observed the buying habits and determined to give the customer what they wanted. That's pure capitalism right there.
Everybody's buying habits put them into a box. That box is created by the immense amount of Data Mining that goes on for everything you buy or use. Don't believe me, talk to your credit card companies. That data is sold by the truck load to marketing departments and PR organizations and Political Committees ever
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Let's be honest, does Apple make a better product? No [...]
Hold on there. What metric are you using? Does it cover all possible use cases or just your own personal (that is, subjective) one?
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Personal experience and not only subjective but by observation. I have 3 Sons, All Teenagers and a Wife who likes there IPODs and their IPhones. I've had to replace units sometimes at less than half of their expected product lives, for example: IPOD Nano, received as XMAS Gift in 2011, replaced both by Mid 2012 one with the power switch problem and the other went dead. Had to take them to the Apple Store and wait two days to get replacements.
Oldest Son: IPhone 3G, died after 6 mos.
Me: Xoom Tablet, ASUS T
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Let's be honest, does Apple make a better product? No
I'll correct that: In your totally unqualified opinion, does Apple make a better product? No.
Take the new Retina MacBook Pro as an example: It is expensive. Compared to an Alienware laptop with the same processor / SSD, but a bigger display with a lot fewer pixels, with weight and battery life that Dell doesn't dare to tell you, or compared to a nice Sony laptop with the same processor / SSD and a screen with much less good resolution, the Retina MBP is cheaper.
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I've had Sony, Toshiba, ASUS and others. All of them have excellent quality and they stand up to a lot of abuse.
I have an Alienware and I'm not looking for portable computing, that's what tablets are for. My Alienware M17X is a portable desktop and yes, it travels quite a bit. Aluminum Case and it definitely is as heavy as a bowling ball. I would love to see better resolution in Laptops since every manufacturer wants to go to 16:9 Aspect Ratio displays and not the 4:3, i.e., the WUXGA which I have now.
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Did you book through Orbitz? I'm a Hotels.com guy myself.
Yes, I agree. and I'm going out on a limb here and saying that you don't sound like the "Diverse" individual when you mentioned your significant other. You should get with the Political Correctness of our age. It's no longer "opposite sex" it's "partner" or "spouse" I thought all Apple users thought that way? ;-)
Is anyone really surprised? (Score:5, Insightful)
Really, is anyone seriously surprised by this? People who value convenience and having someone provide a service for them instead of doing something themselves might hold those same values for other things like paying for hotels. In other words people who are willing to pay 30% more for hardware might be willing to pay 30% more for other things too!!!
Marketers have figured this out. Next big surprise, organic shopping markets are full of Lexus and Mercedes cars? I think this really advanced concept might have been taught in the second week of marketing 101, maybe?
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It's not that Mac is so great, it's just that Microsoft sucks donkey balls, and Linux takes too long to learn. If a company made an OS that had the ease of use, functionality, and security of Mac combined with the versatility of Windows and the price of Linux, you can bet that would come to dominate the world quite quickly. But that is HARD to do.
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The 30% represents the service. In this case the service is the Operating System. I think in effect we are saying the same thing. Since much of the hardware is commodity hardware, you could look at the cost differential as the cost of the Mac OS.
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Good point, I should have added Toyota Prius's and Smart cars. Don't see a lot of electric cars around just yet...
Thatâ(TM)s entirely reasonable and the future (Score:2)
Thatâ(TM)s entirely reasonable and the future of Web 2.0.
Web 1.0 is you watching the web.
Web 2.0 is the web watching you watch the web.
Itâ(TM)s not all bad. It can work for you. All it takes is a little bit of integrity on the part of the web devs. Bad people will watch you to exploit you. Good people will watch you to help you.
You can never remove the human element.
As to whether people are directed at pricier hotels⦠is that all? Are they they same only more expensive? Are they the sam
Paywall? (Score:2)
How do you know if the WSJ article isn't paywalled just for Mac users? Works ok for me.
Who uses Orbitz? (Score:2)
And no matter what service you use, why would you not view by price unless you're looking for something so specific that price won't really be an option?
Buy a Mac, be labeled as a Yuppie! (Score:2)
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But ... (Score:4, Funny)
My Firefox agent string says (Score:2)
C= 64
They showed me Motel 6 listings.
Advertorial (Score:2)
This is great advertising for orbitz btw, all the Mac sites are spunking up over this news.
Non-Paywalled Article (Score:3)
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When I use Lynx, I get offers of campgrounds and tents.
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I couldn't find the article from yesterday about Apple store workers not making a lot of money. Kind of ruined my joke w/o the link.
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No no, that's "free as in beer". They get "free/libre" rooms, with no locks on the doors. The room itself is free, but you have to pay for a support package for as long as you use the room.
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What "premium for the logo"? We pay "premium" for the aluminum body, the Magsafe power connector, that excellent screen and an OS that is not total shit. Quality is not cheap, and we do not expect it to be.
Envious Dell and HP users should instead try and find out why Dell and HP have been unable to muster the same brand loyalty.