Hacker News Reader

Comment by abruzzi | Hacker News Reader

Inevitably, this will make people like me (Mac user that considers $50 a night overpriced) book through other sites. Does orbitz think I only price through them? Most people I know price at least a half dozen locations before deciding, so as long as everyone doesn't jack prices for Mac users, Mac user's business will naturally migrate to whomever doesn't try to screw us.

View on HN

It's only the default sort, though, which I already usually think of as an attempt to either guess my preferences, or game some kind of referral system on their part (even if I don't normally assume it's based on OS choice). If you want to sort by objective factors like Price or Distance, you can still do that fine, which is what I normally do.

If they believe Mac users are happy to pay higher prices they most likely also believe Mac users are less prone to shopping around.

I bet they are right too.

I think mac users have demonstrated they are for the most part willing to pay more for something they perceive as offering a better experience. You can't make that choice if you're some broke dude surfing from a 400 dollar *nix box, so I think it is given that average mac users are less price sensitive - the more cash you have, the more your time is valued imho.

FWIW, posting this from a slackware box with my mac cooling in the next room. So by all means, show me the cheap stuff first :)

They aren't charging Mac users more. They have just found that Mac users tend to spend more on hotels. Therefore instead of showing the least expensive at the top of the list they should ones $20-30 more. If Mac users are in general more likely to purchase this anyway they are just making the search easier for users. You can still get the cheaper prices you just have to scroll down or change the sort.

I don't believe they are increasing prices, but rather showing different, better quality hotels that are pricier to Mac users.

Are they trying to screw us or trying to predict what they think we want?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com