Families planning mid-term vacations face paying up to 50 percent more on Booking.com if they use a computer instead of the travel company’s smartphone app.
And one London hotel even charged an extra £200 a night, a Mail on Sunday investigation found.
Room prices for a family of four in the UK and Europe during the half-period were on average 16 per cent more per night (almost £50) if the booking was made on a laptop or desktop computer.
In the worst example, The Cumberland hotel in London charged a family of four £388 to book two rooms through the Booking.com smartphone app, but £588 on its website – a 52 per cent increase .
Experts said the pricing system meant families were “unintentionally and unfairly” paying more than expected.
Room prices for a family of four in the UK and Europe during the half-year period were an average of 16 per cent more per night. (File photo)
Experts said the pricing system meant families were “unintentionally and unfairly” paying more than expected. (File image)
For two adults without children, only six hotels charged an average of 10 percent more on the website. (File photo)
Although some of the cheaper-priced apps were labeled “mobile only,” many were not. (File image)
We compared 35 hotels listed on Booking.com in popular half-term destinations in the UK and abroad, including Tenerife and Mallorca. We looked at rates for a family of three booking one room and a family of four booking two for the night of October 31st.
In total, 30 of the 35 increased prices by between 4 and 52 per cent: a family of four booking two rooms paid an average of £49 more per night through the website, while a family of three booking a room paid an average of £49 more per night. from £36 more.
We discovered that a family of four was being charged £108 more (£538) on the website for two rooms at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Edinburgh. The price of an apartment at the Royal Tenerife Country Club was 30 per cent higher (£237) compared to £182 on the app. And it was 25 per cent more at Meliá Palma Marina, Mallorca (£257 instead of £206) for a family of four booking two rooms.
For two adults without children, only six hotels charged an average of 10 percent more on the website.
Although some of the cheaper-priced apps were labeled “mobile only,” many were not. And there was no indication to the website’s customers that the apps’ prices could be cheaper.
Consumer expert Helen Dewdney of The Complaining Cow website described the practice as “absolutely bizarre”. Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, warned: “Families are paying higher prices for their holidays, unintentionally and unfairly.”
A Booking.com spokesperson said hotels set their own prices, adding: “Our accommodation partners offer mobile-only rates as a way to attract customers.”