Internet Cyber-Holidays

Today I’m going off on a very slight tangent from my usual cyber-speech to talk about booking a holiday online.

As my better half (MBH) lives in England it seemed simple enough to book a last minute deal online. So when I am booking, I spot a deal, I take note of price, place, date, flight times etc etc.

I narrow down the search to about 2 places, which I then report to MBH, when I re-check, the prices have gone up again! And they continue to rise the more I look at a particular deal! Websites such as First Choice, Freedom Direct, ontheBeach, all seem to have randomly rising prices!

Now, I know what some of you are thinking, price rises with the demand, but I’m not talking about a couple of hours, or days, I’m talking more like, 20-30 minutes later and prices have risen by 30pounds.

I wonder if these systems, which are all very similar, track IP addresses? For example, they spot my address, looking at the same holiday once or twice, and realise that I will return to look at it once more, and all of a sudden flights and/or accommodation have jumped up 20pounds! Perhaps leaving the buyer with a feeling of urgency, as the prices have risen once, will they rise again?! I have to buy my holiday quick!!

So, not only do they then purchase their holiday, they also pay more for it…

Clever companies these online travel agents…