So Disappointed with HAL's Pricing Games

[cruz chic]

May I respectfully suggest, it's not just HAL. Without sounding like too much of a conspiracy theorist, I believe here are algorithms being used when it comes to pricing throughout the travel sector.

 

For the past week, my sister and I had both been visiting an airfare site to find the best fare for an upcoming trip. We had long lists of different prices for different itineraries. Last night, on the phone, we both entered the exact same criteria, on the same site, at the same time. And my prices were well above hers (I had searched more often). Again, without meaning to sound paranoid, it seems (from my own personal anecdata) that the more often you pull up the fare, the higher the fare gets.

 

No idea if this is true but I've seen enough to make me believe something's going on here...

 

I've heard this happen with hotels, too, - the more often you visit the site, the higher the price!

 

Interesting info. Thx

[Linda&Vern]

May I respectfully suggest, it's not just HAL. Without sounding like too much of a conspiracy theorist, I believe here are algorithms being used when it comes to pricing throughout the travel sector.

 

For the past week, my sister and I had both been visiting an airfare site to find the best fare for an upcoming trip. We had long lists of different prices for different itineraries. Last night, on the phone, we both entered the exact same criteria, on the same site, at the same time. And my prices were well above hers (I had searched more often). Again, without meaning to sound paranoid, it seems (from my own personal anecdata) that the more often you pull up the fare, the higher the fare gets.

 

No idea if this is true but I've seen enough to make me believe something's going on here...

I respectfully suggest that I agree with you. More than once I have looked at airfares for a land trip - finally picked a date/time/airline that I liked - and suddenly the fare has gone up from my original search only a few hours earlier. :eek: My DH has learned some new four-letter-words as I bang my head on the keyboard!

[Vict0riann]

My DD has said - do all the research on one computer (I mean email address, I guess), then make the bookings on another, so they don't know you've been roaming around on their sites. Then you get the original price. I don't know for sure if it makes a difference, but that's what we do.

[cruz chic]

My DD has said - do all the research on one computer (I mean email address, I guess), then make the bookings on another, so they don't know you've been roaming around on their sites. Then you get the original price. I don't know for sure if it makes a difference, but that's what we do.

 

Good info:).

[keeponcruising]

It happened to me too for my upcoming Noordam cruise. Family members who had not cruised with Hal since 2005 were priced $250 less per person. I was only allowed to get the same rate as they did I after linking our reservations together. If they were not going, I would have not been aware of the price difference.

[MadManOfBethesda]

Again, without meaning to sound paranoid, it seems (from my own personal anecdata) that the more often you pull up the fare, the higher the fare gets.

 

No idea if this is true but I've seen enough to make me believe something's going on here...

 

For those of you who believe this to be the case, all you need to do to get around the problem is to clear your cookies each time before you visit the site in question. You'll then appear as a first-time visitor each time you check the fare.

[sail7seas]

For those of you who believe this to be the case, all you need to do to get around the problem is to clear your cookies each time before you visit the site in question. You'll then appear as a first-time visitor each time you check the fare.

 

 

Wouldn't the HAL site recognize the ISP address for each computer and know

that computer had visited and had priced previously? :confused: I am totally 'un-tech' but I wonder about that.

 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

First just a slight correct Holland America does in fact offer much lower prices to 1 and 2 Star Mariners for many sailings (not all) Their Canned response is that 3 and 4 Star Mariners already receive many on board benefits :rolleyes: The REAL reason is that on AVERAGE (grant not everyone) but the average 3, 4 and 5 star cruiser does not spend that much money with while they are on board the ship. The cruiser that has not cruised that much spends far more on Shore Excursions, shopping on board and just general spending. Heck I admit I am 4 star and probably spend half of what I did when our number of days were 1 and 2 star. They loved us back then :D But i no longer buy the photos and spend money in the shops and do far fewer shore excursions. Those Newbies are being offered better pricing to entice them to return Plain and Simple definitely no conspiracy. This has actually been going on for well over a year now and it is working quite well for HAL. By the way if travel with other people and even just one person is getting this special pricing they will share that price with everyone. But if you are a 4 or 5 star and a immediately family member is traveling and getting that pricing with their sign in and or you have signed up under a different variance of your name with a different email address you cannot get that lower pricing.

[cruz chic]

First just a slight correct Holland America does in fact offer much lower prices to 1 and 2 Star Mariners for many sailings (not all) Their Canned response is that 3 and 4 Star Mariners already receive many on board benefits :rolleyes: The REAL reason is that on AVERAGE (grant not everyone) but the average 3, 4 and 5 star cruiser does not spend that much money with while they are on board the ship. The cruiser that has not cruised that much spends far more on Shore Excursions, shopping on board and just general spending. Heck I admit I am 4 star and probably spend half of what I did when our number of days were 1 and 2 star. They loved us back then :D But i no longer buy the photos and spend money in the shops and do far fewer shore excursions. Those Newbies are being offered better pricing to entice them to return Plain and Simple definitely no conspiracy. This has actually been going on for well over a year now and it is working quite well for HAL. By the way if travel with other people and even just one person is getting this special pricing they will share that price with everyone. But if you are a 4 or 5 star and a immediately family member is traveling and getting that pricing with their sign in and or you have signed up under a different variance of your name with a different email address you cannot get that lower pricing.

 

I kind sort of see what you are saying about the spending. It's been forever since I purchased a photo. That said, I've replaced it with other spending such as Internet, a few years ago I never would have purchased any. Maybe Hal doesn't make as much on that. When I was on Princess this year I purchased a fair bit from their stores. I love to shop but Hal doesn't generally have anything I'm interested in.

[mudscraper]

Wouldn't the HAL site recognize the ISP address for each computer and know

that computer had visited and had priced previously? :confused: I am totally 'un-tech' but I wonder about that.

 

I do know that United Airlines does this. Clearing cookies is not enough.

[Hlitner]

The pricing gets even more complex when you shop around among multiple large cruise agencies. On one particular HA cruise we saved over $3000 by booking through one of our favorite TAs...vs the same cruise pricing on HAs web site. Although HA (and most of the other lines) do impose some price controls on TAs....there do seem to be exceptions to the rule :)

 

Hank

[voyageur9]

So Disappointed with HAL's Pricing Games

 

You're entitled to be disappointed but not surprised. It's called yield management and it's why there's literally hundreds of different prices , for instance, for seats on the same airplane flight. It's more complicated with a cruise because there's a variety of revenue streams; from excursions to shopping to gambling, but it boils down to HAL (and everyone else) wants a ship full, or nearly full, of the highest-yielding passengers. And, the sophisticated yield-management algorithms will target a potential passenger that might be regarded as a long-term good bet to cultivate and develop rather than a 30-trip, habitual, returnee whose frequency is dropping and per-day yield is dropping too.

 

The bottom line (in this instance HAL's bottom line) is to keep high-paying loyalists coming back at minimum cost; a reception, trinkets, a chat with the captain, and to identify, target and develop potentially higher-yielding and longer-horizon clients for future growth.

 

There's nothing nefarious about this. It's modern business and dynamic pricing (up and down) to meet dynamic demand and capture the highest-yielding customers is key.

[solocanadian]

I kind sort of see what you are saying about the spending. It's been forever since I purchased a photo. That said, I've replaced it with other spending such as Internet, a few years ago I never would have purchased any. Maybe Hal doesn't make as much on that. When I was on Princess this year I purchased a fair bit from their stores. I love to shop but Hal doesn't generally have anything I'm interested in.

 

Hal only has crap for sale except for that expensive diamond store which I'd never frequent on a ship. If I were going to spend that kind on money it would be at home. I spend all my money in the bars and thermal suite and possibly one shorex.

[NoWhiners]

This is interesting info. I am assuming from reading this that people are booking direct through HAL? We have never done this, all but 1 cruise was booked through a major big box club (rhymes with boscoe), and we have gotten great deals. Price has always been less what HAL advertises, and we get OBC too. We booked our first cruise through a major auto club--never again.

 

I wonder if we would be offered a lower price if we tried to book Celebrity--never been on them and we were thinking of trying something different, just to compare.

 

ML

[Sanlin]

All that being said, I guess my future cruises will be on Celebrity where I'm a "one star" or Princess or RCI where I am also a "one star" or their equivalent. I usually reward good service with repeat busines - too bad good customers are not simarly rewarded.

 

For this Volendam cruise my TA did manage to get me my daughter's one star rate when I asked for the upgrade.

[Tampa Girl]

You don't have to look everyday. I have a website that sends me an email when the price goes down. You pay $1 per cruise and it's saved me a lot.

 

 

Lorene,

 

Would you be so kind as to e-mail me below and give me the website? Thanks so much.

 

Virginia

[iancal]

It seems to be common practice.

 

We booked a Princess South American cruise a month or so ago. We keep getting these 'big' sale or 'special' offer memos. When we check the price it has always been the same or more than when we booked. They seem to play around with cruise air credits....only in our case Princess cruise air was about 60 percent higher in price than we can book on our own.

 

Some savings! Now we just delete the ebumph without reading-as we do for all the other cruise lines that send us e junk.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

It seems to be common practice.

 

We booked a Princess South American cruise a month or so ago. We keep getting these 'big' sale or 'special' offer memos. When we check the price it has always been the same or more than when we booked. They seem to play around with cruise air credits....only in our case Princess cruise air was about 60 percent higher in price than we can book on our own.

 

Some savings! Now we just delete the ebumph without reading-as we do for all the other cruise lines that send us e junk.

 

This is exactly the truth with all cruise lines, think of them as car dealerships that are constantly advertising. Their hope is they happen to catch you at the one time you were thinking you might be interested in taking a cruise. It is no different that selling cars. We do not always NEED a new car but when someone does you would be surprised on those ads bring in the people :D The prices is not any different than it was last week in most cases sometimes higher when they are offering something to go with it to pay for the extra. ;)

[cruz chic]

Lorene,

 

Would you be so kind as to e-mail me below and give me the website? Thanks so much.

 

Virginia

 

You've got mail.

[Iwant2BatC]

What I am really annoyed about is when they drop the prices substantially after final payment. That happened to me earlier this year. My TA called them and all they would give me was a $300 good will credit. (the fare had dropped $1200). You can imagine how much good will that brought me! To make matters worse- I had been trying to get a certain cabin for 6 months and was always told it wasn't available. Chatted on board with the couple that got it and they got it as an upsell two weeks out and paid about $4 k less for their cruise than I had. Ugh

[Skorpora]

Try these tips for anonymous browsing: in Google Chrome, use the "Incognito" browsing option; in Safari on the ipad, go to settings>Safari> and slide the toggle to "private browsing" I'm sure this is not completely foolproof, but worth a try.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[hhnew]

You don't have to look everyday. I have a website that sends me an email when the price goes down. You pay $1 per cruise and it's saved me a lot.

 

Would it be possible for you to email me the web address as well? I would really appreciate it. I'm just starting to plan my first cruise.

 

Heather

heather@hlhplace.com

[Sammiday]

Lorene, I'm sure you mentioned name of website before but I didn't note it. Would you kindly send me a personal email with the name. I promise to make note of it this time. When I sailed earlier this year with Marcia, she was great at checking for price drops.

Thanks, Gail.;)

 

Could I possibly get that site as well? Email is sammiday@aol.com. Thank you, Samantha.

[cruz chic]

Would it be possible for you to email me the web address as well? I would really appreciate it. I'm just starting to plan my first cruise.

 

Heather

heather@hlhplace.com

 

I just saw your post now. You have mail.

[cruz chic]

Could I possibly get that site as well? Email is sammiday@aol.com. Thank you, Samantha.

 

You have mail