I'm researching a story about how airlines, hotels, and other travel companies may be quietly adjusting their prices based on your digital behavior — including your IP address, browsing history, or even the type of device you're using. Have you ever searched for a hotel or airfare on your laptop and then seen a higher price on your phone — or vice versa? Did clearing your cookies or switching browsers make a difference? I'm especially interested in travelers who’ve noticed or tested this kind of digital price manipulation firsthand. From industry insiders and experts, I’d like to know: How common is this kind of pricing strategy today? Is it legal? Are companies still geotargeting customers to extract more revenue? And most importantly, what can travelers do to avoid getting charged more just because of where they’re logging in? If you’ve spotted any new tricks, or have advice for consumers trying to book a fair fare (or rate), I want to hear from you.

Question

Oma Oguejiofor · Accepted Answer

I have certainly noticed a disparity in prices on a travel site which I will not name. My spouse and I go on vacation once a year and when I check the prices for hotels and flights on my IPhone Pro Max, the prices appear to be higher than they are when my husband researches them on his own phone which is an android of lesser quality than my iPhone.

I believe that this practice should be illegal because I believe that customers should receive equal pricing. Customers should pay a price that reflects the value of the product. Customers should not have to pay a price that reflects the value of their assets.

My advice to customers experiencing unfair pricing on travel sites would be to compare prices across various travel companies, hotels and airlines (as opposed to sticking to one company) and choose the company whose prices are the most reasonable/fair.

Michael Madsen · Answer

I am a travel expert with more than 30 years of experience in the travel industry. I have extensive experience with both marketing and pricing in the travel industry.

I would like to dispel the widespread belief that consumers are being cheated with prices.

It is a very widespread conspiracy theory that companies set prices based on digital behavior.

There are really a lot of people believing it. And there are many who think they have stories that prove it.

But it has no basis in reality! It is just a conspiracy theory.

It is possible to target marketing based on digital behavior, but it is extremely technically complicated to change prices for individual people.

And it would be far too easy for consumers to discover - and thus far too risky to test.

It is simply a conspiracy theory that is easy to believe - but it has no basis in reality!

And that is how it is with conspiracy theories that examples of it supposedly happening come flooding out.

If the examples were carefully examined, they would all show that something else was at play.

The examples do not prove that the conspiracy theory has any basis in reality.

Brooke Colglazier · Answer

I visited Japan with my boyfriend back in February. One of the main reasons we chose Japan was the low cost of travel at the time we made our booking. We didn't reserve any hotels in advance and decided to book them upon arrival. We quickly noticed significant price differences depending on how we searched. On my phone—which didn't have a VPN—hotel prices were significantly higher than what my boyfriend saw using a VPN set to Japan. Even though we were both physically in Japan, my phone was likely still using international roaming, which routed my traffic through a U.S.-based IP address. So, while I appeared to be a foreign visitor, his VPN masked his location as local, triggering lower local pricing.
Another interesting detail: I searched for "hotels" while he looked up "ryokans," the traditional Japanese term for inns. Even when we found the same properties, his prices were often lower. That might be because search platforms optimize results—and pricing—based on language and assumed familiarity with the subject matter. So, wherever you're traveling, try searching for accommodations using local terminology. It might reveal better options and lower rates.

Luke Matthews · Answer

Airlines and booking sites absolutely tweak prices based on your digital footprint. Cookies, devices, search history it's all fair game.

This is just how marketing works in 2025, and you don't think these big companies have access to the best tools to make you pay the most money for your flight tickets?

That's a funny thought for me to even consider.

Here's what I've personally seen:

I check this for every flight that I book and recently... I keep track of how much the price jumped when booking a flight from Toronto to Rio... I checked Sunday and the price was $618 on my iPhone 14 Pro Max, and $547 on my Pixel 8 . Switched my Pixel to WiFi with a Brazilian VPN? Boom it dropped down to $499....

The same flight was cheaper across the board 2 days later..

Why?

My theory is simply that the algorithms detect country, device, and the time that you log in to book your flight. Research suggests Tuesday is the best day to book for the cheapest deal..

If you want cheaper flights, you need to put in a little bit of effort and stop relying on those gimmicky sites..

I log in multiple days of the week on multiple devices with multiple VPNs....

Once you do this for a little while, you will notice patterns.

My best tip?

Always double-check your booking with a clean browser and VPN hop through a couple of countries on an Android mobile device.. A few extra minutes could save you serious cash and outsmart the algorithm.

Martin Weidemann · Answer

A past customer was quoted just shy of 25% more for exactly the same airport transfer in Mexico City; it was just because she searched on her iPhone with the hotel's wi-fi. We verified, in fact, if she had switched to private browsing, that markup didn't exist as a feature.

Good for her; I was there. We booked it on our own platform, where price increases based on user-detected data were not in the price structure. I know myself well as a previous tech entrepreneur and owner of a luxury private transfer company, and I know those types of variables like IPs, device type, connection type, etc. are collected and those variables may be used to change priceing.

That said, vis a vis identifying you, the COOKIES you accept (well, that we all accept) are the initial whistle blows. So, let's hope those algorithms could have basic rules of "When the user has quoted this outside of Mexico and now logs back in using a connection inside Mexico, apply X% to that price."

It is, unfortunately, legal. But it will undermine trust. And let me share more: from this side of the countertop, I get contacted on a regular basis (at least once a month) from tech companies that are pushing that segmentation and algorithms.

So, put your hands on that really. How to avoid that?

Double-check that price offer by using an incognito tab or private mode.

You might use a vpn. As in sometimes, connecting to with an IP to the location where that service is essentially provided appears to offer better price (if you are in fact there, they have that "opportunity window" to service that essentially likely tourist).

Clear your browser; bounce cookies by clearing cache.

Steer clear of large intermediary platforms owned by international corporations. You'll get the best price by booking directly with the service provider. As our strategy is to earn our travelers's trust. Not "maximize our quarterly earnings" for shareholders.

Dmytro Lysakivskyi · Answer

I've actually built dynamic pricing systems for big travel sites — the kind that sell flights, hotels, even rental cars. So I can tell you: yes, price changes based on your behavior are 100% real.

Companies watch things like:
	*	your IP address (to guess where you're browsing from)
	*	your device (Mac? iPhone? That might signal more spending power)
	*	how many times you've checked the same flight or hotel
	*	even your battery level. Yep, some tested whether a full battery meant you had more time to book

It's not always as simple as "search again and the price goes up." But under the hood, the system's asking: How likely are you to buy? And if the answer is "very likely," they might quietly raise the price or hide the cheapest option.

Is it legal?
It is. As long as companies aren't pricing based on sensitive personal stuff like race or disability, they're in the clear. There's no rule that says two people have to see the same airfare.

Geo-pricing? Still a thing.
Big time. Search for the same flight from India and then from New York? You might see a $40 difference. Some companies adjust based on what people in your region are usually willing to pay.

Want a fairer price? Try this:
	*	Use incognito mode
	*	Try a VPN (different country = different price)
	*	Clear cookies or switch browsers
	*	Check prices on both phone and laptop
	*	Use tools like Google Flights to track deals

Look, it's not all shady. It's just how these platforms try to make the most money. But if you know how the game works, you can beat it.

5 Answers

Oma Oguejiofor

Michael Madsen

Brooke Colglazier

Luke Matthews

Martin Weidemann