Dubai: A traveller searches for a flight or hotel room, finds a price, then returns hours later to discover it has increased. This raises a question frequently asked on social media: do booking websites track searches and increase prices when they detect a traveller's interest in a particular trip? And can switching browsers or deleting cookies help secure a lower price?
The answer is not as simple as this theory suggests. Studies have observed price differences and variations in search results among users, but this does not necessarily mean websites raise prices because someone has searched repeatedly, or that deleting cookies will result in a better deal.
The independent US non-profit consumer organisation Consumer Reports conducted a test involving 372 flight searches across nine booking and comparison websites. Researchers compared prices displayed in browsers that retained search history with those where cookies had been deleted.
The results showed price differences in 42 comparisons, even though the searches were conducted at roughly the same time. In 25 cases, the price was higher in the browser where cookies had been deleted, while it was lower in 17 cases.
However, the test could not determine whether these differences were caused by search history, technical factors or changes in pricing and availability. It therefore provided no conclusive evidence that websites raise ticket prices to penalise users who repeat searches, nor did it prove that deleting cookies saves money.
In an academic study, a team from Northeastern University investigated how prices were tailored and search results ranked across 16 e-commerce websites, including hotel and car rental sites. Researchers observed some instances of price and search-result tailoring. These included hotel prices varying according to user membership and users being directed towards more expensive hotel options on certain sites.
However, most of the experiments did not reveal evidence of price discrimination or manipulation of results. Price differences alone are also not enough to prove that a website targeted a particular user, as other factors could be responsible.
It is important to distinguish between tailoring prices for a particular customer segment, such as loyalty programme members, and raising a price simply because someone searched for the same trip several times. They are not the same thing.
Is a phone cheaper than a computer?
In a report published in July 2024, British consumer protection organisation Which? compared hotel prices offered on mobile devices and computers.
The report found that some offers advertised as exclusive mobile discounts did not provide the claimed saving when compared with the price on a computer. In one case, a two-night stay in Athens was £15 cheaper on a computer than on a mobile phone.
According to the report, half of the offers examined by investigators were exactly the same price when accessed from a laptop.
These findings highlight the importance of comparing final prices across different devices and booking sites, but they do not prove that search history or cookies are responsible for price differences. The findings also relate to hotel deals and should not automatically be generalised to airline tickets.
Researchers found that booking directly through a hotel's website was often cheaper and could also include free benefits such as breakfast or a room upgrade.
How to find the best price
The studies indicate that airfares and hotel room prices are influenced by factors including demand, availability, booking conditions and available offers, and that prices can change within short periods.
To avoid overpaying, compare prices on the official airline or hotel website with those offered by intermediary booking sites. It can also be useful to search on both a phone and a computer and compare the final price after taxes, baggage fees and service charges have been added.
Deleting cookies can be used as an additional comparison, rather than as a guaranteed way to secure a discount. Clearing data may also remove some user preferences or member rates that require a traveller to be logged in.