I wrote last week about 'How
and Why Air Fares Change When You Go to Book Them'. The
underlying company/product that impacts on airfares seeming to change
when we go to book them was recently bought out by Google.
This might have major implications for how
airfare information is created and distributed to us. I write
about these possible future developments in a new article 'Are
the Airlines Seeking to Create Unique Fares Custom Priced for Every
Passenger?'.
The good news is that currently airlines are
prohibited from doing this. The bad news is that the prohibition
is being infringed on in many areas, and there can be no doubt that the
airlines would love to do away with it entirely. If they can and
do get the freedom to set fares any way they want, would this work to
our advantage?
Ha! The airlines introducing a change
to benefit us and give us lower fares? What do you think?
But if you'd like a more detailed commentary on the issue, please
read the article, and enjoy the example of a mattress sale in the
'brave new world' whereby companies selling us things know more about us
than we might wish them to.
I guess you know this but anyone studying an MBA and doing a marketing course will be told that a unique price per customer is the holy grail of segmentation – i.e. exactly what any company might want to achieve maximum benefit for the company.
I had the same experiences as you many times. Getting related ads and also spam from unknown websites for some time after accessing a related product on a known website. I suspect deleting all cookies and internet temporary files BEFORE closing that browser run, may stop my cookie information being saved and passed on without my consent.
Regarding car hire, sounds like you are with Hertz and Avis just like me. Hertz is very likely to quote only higher prices – either by just quoting higher prices for same hire, or even by reducing availability of car levels (not showing the cheaper ones), as soon as it knows you are a Gold card holder. My rule is always to clean all cookies if online, or never ever to admit I am a Gold card holder if getting a quote by phone until a price has been quoted. Then I either ask at that time, or sometimes even call back to add my Gold Card number or to ask for whatever privilege my gold card should give me e.g. an extra day or a free upgrade or just the points to put to my Gold card account tracking. I have tested this many times and with Hertz in particular it is often the only way to have access to any relatively decent prices that may be available. sometimes entering a corporate discount code has the same effect on Hertz. However a Gold login or a corporate discount code, may make cars available at a location during a peak period when previously that location showed no availability of cars at that time. I have tested this one frequently too.
Lastly beware with Hertz in particular (tested) and with some hotel sites (suspected) deleting your cookies is not enough before you go back to re-quote. rebooting your pc is often necessary as well to clear whatever they have built up about you.
Lastly, David, your mattress story is not just fiction, everything you put there is already happening.
cheeers
Karen