Online tracking gets more and more sophisticated every day.
From the Wall Street Journal:
On Orbitz, Mac Users Steered to Pricier Hotels
Orbitz Worldwide Inc. has found that people who use Apple Inc.’s Mac computers spend as much as 30% more a night on hotels, so the online travel agency is starting to show them different, and sometimes costlier, travel options than Windows visitors see.
The Orbitz effort, which is in its early stages, demonstrates how tracking people’s online activities can use even seemingly innocuous information—in this case, the fact that customers are visiting Orbitz.com from a Mac—to start predicting their tastes and spending habits.
Just to clarify: Orbitz isn’t offering the same hotel room at different prices to PC and Mac users. It’s showing more expensive hotels to the Appleniks, as this handy WSJ chart shows.
And here’s the kicker:
The sort of targeting undertaken by Orbitz is likely to become more commonplace as online retailers scramble to identify new ways in which people’s browsing data can be used to boost online sales.
That’s great news, eh?
We neither.
(For the record, the hardworking staff employs Macs. Then again, we don’t travel, so it’s no big deal.)
Originally posted at the in restauro Sneak ADtack!
Campaign Outsider 
Are you surprised, John?
Not a bit, Mudge. I’m just playing my role – you know, we report, you deride.
No wonder I get spam for Grey Poupon.
Not Mac ‘n’ Cheesey?
You don’t travel?
For the most part, Bob, we don’t. The hardworking staff often trundles down to to Big Town, but we almost always stay at the same hotel. So Orbitz (and the like)are not really in our orbit.
What hotel do you favor?
The Salisbury on 57th between 6th and 7th. It’s owned by the Calvary Baptist Church (they have a chapel next door), and if you go to services, you get a discount on your room. (We don’t.)
And what room?
Not sayin’. Privacy, please.
Very good to know – thanks! There used to be a Helmsley hotel (not the Park Lane, a lesser property) in that neighborhood that we favored, but it’s probably changed hands since then. Say what you want about Leona, but her hotels were wonderful. 🙂