Lucky enough to have taken your holiday this year or are you still searching for a last minute bargain? Did you know your browsing habits could affect the price you pay?
Every time you visit a site Cookies are created to track and monitor your movement around the web. You will all be familiar with the prompts “This site uses Cookies…” on each new website you visit which is probably about as far as you read before clicking ‘Agree’ and carrying on with your browsing. But what are they and how can they affect your holiday?
Cookies are small text files created by the websites you visit and saved on your PC. By themselves they’re not harmful or malicious they simply store data on your browsing habits and, amongst other things, your time on the site and the searches you make. By storing your preferences they speed up your time on the Internet and improve your web experience. There is some argument that the uses to which they can be applied is a little malevolent but that is for another article.
If you have been spending a lot of your time on a flight website, searching for a bargain trip to the Mediterranean, then those details are safely stored away on your computer. Once you return to those and other holiday websites that information is to hand to help you out. So far so good. However, if on those return visits you start to repeatedly enter the same or similar search criteria, then the websites and the servers that run them can begin to build up an idea of your preferred destination and travel dates.
Once they have determined your holiday dates and destination of choice they will then use this information to bump up the price. It might only be a small percentage, after all they need to stay competitive against your other options, but it will be there.
So what can you do to make sure you get the best price possible? It’s simple, clear out those Cookies before committing to any purchases.
Tucked away in the Tools and Options of each internet browser is the ability to clear away your stored Cookies.
For those of you using Internet Explorer, it’s a simple 2-step process…
1. Open Internet Explorer & click on Tools > Delete Browsing History.
2. Check the box ‘Cookies and website data’ and click Delete.
Once you’ve done this, the next time you visit the site you’ll be seen as a new visitor. After dealing with that annoying ‘this site uses Cookies’ prompt you will be offered the very best price to try and tempt you to jet away for the week.
If you would like further assistance or need help with your browser of choice, do get in touch – just don’t forget to send us a postcard!