REVEALED: US travelers are being charged up to THREE times more for vacations booked through US websites – with a two-week family trip to Los Cabos $57,000 cheaper on the Mexico version of Hotels.com
- Sites like Hotels.com and car rental company Hertz are among the companies that overcharge US customers
- In one stunning example, a 14-night Mexican stay for a family of four was $57,415 more expensive when booked on a US site than a local version
- The data comes from cybersecurity company NordVPN
Travelers who book vacations through U.S. websites pay up to three times more than foreign customers for exactly the same trips, new research shows.
Sites like Hotels.com and car rental company Hertz are among the companies that seem to be charging US customers thousands of dollars more for deals.
In one stunning example, a 14-night stay at an all-inclusive luxury hotel for a family of four was $57,415 more expensive when booked on Hotels.com’s US homepage than a local version.
The research was conducted by cybersecurity company NordVPN, which manipulated the location of their computers in their browsers using a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
Websites can track a number of details about their viewers, including where they are located.
NordVPN research found that trips booked through US computers were thousands of dollars more expensive than foreign customers booking the same deal
To avoid this, users can download VPN that allows them to change their browser’s location and pretend to be anywhere else in the world.
Researchers did this and then compared the different prices of luxury vacations, hotel stays, car rentals and theme parks when the VPN was set to America and when it was in another country.
They found that Americans often paid far too much compared to the locals in the areas where they vacationed.
For example, a Hotels.com booking for a 14-night all-inclusive luxury stay in Los Cabos, Mexico, for a family of four cost a US user $84,929.
But the same booking made by a computer with its VPN set to Mexico saw the price drop to $27,514.
Similarly, car rental company Hertz charged investigators $348.87 for a 7-day rental from Mexico’s Cancun airport.
But the local price was less than half, at $135.28.
A 10-day car hire booking in London through Budget via comparison site Expedia resulted in a price of $2,157.32 from a US website.
Travel booking websites have long been under fire for appearing to “follow” their customers and raise their prices as soon as they know they’re interested
But when the VPN was switched to England, the price was reduced to $1,166.
Researchers also found that in June Disneyland Paris offered a 3-night stay at the Hotel New York for $3,524 for a family of four — a 10% savings ($409) compared to the US site.
The research was commissioned by NordVPN and conducted by a third-party company between February 24 and March 13.
Marijus Briedis, Chief Technology Officer at NordVPN, said: ‘Online tracking used by travel websites means they can see earlier what holiday we are looking for, while algorithms can adjust holiday prices to the purchasing power of different countries.
“Never assume that you will get the same deal as everyone else. Your location, the number of visits you make to a website and how your search fits into the school holiday schedule can all affect the price you are offered.’
Booking websites have long been under fire for appearing to ‘follow’ their customers and raise their prices as soon as they know they are interested.
It led to a surge of travelers booking flights and vacations in “incognito” mode, so a website couldn’t figure out the customer’s identity or location.
Recently, however, experts have maintained that putting your computer in “incognito” mode to save money is a myth.
Google Flights product manager James Byers recently said so The Washington Post that browsing history and private searches do not affect rates.
He said prices naturally change “by the second,” and any changes customers see when they normally book before switching to incognito are just a coincidence.
“For example, there could be billions of potential ticket combinations for travel between Los Angeles and London when you factor in variables such as connecting flights and the different prices available on different booking sites,” he added.
Dailymail.com has contacted all Hotels.com, Hertz, Budget, Mas and Avis for comment.