Orbitz Admits Funneling Mac Users Towards More Expensive Hotels

Have you ever booked a hotel via Orbitz.com from your Mac? You might end up seeing some costlier hotels appear first, as the company admitted they have started to test showing different results to Mac and PC users, based on their research on OS spending habits, notes the Wall Street Journal:

Orbitz executives confirmed that the company is experimenting with showing different hotel offers to Mac and PC visitors, but said the company isn’t showing the same room to different users at different prices. They also pointed out that users can opt to rank results by price.

Orbitz found Mac users on average spend $20 to $30 more a night on hotels than their PC counterparts, a significant margin given the site’s average nightly hotel booking is around $100, chief scientist Wai Gen Yee said. Mac users are 40% more likely to book a four- or five-star hotel than PC users, Mr. Yee said, and when Mac and PC users book the same hotel, Mac users tend to stay in more expensive rooms.

Below is a graphic of different ranked hotel search results compiled by the WSJ, for Miami and El Paso:

Apple products are seen as high end must-have luxury products. So what’s the consensus out there…are you Mac users willing to spend more on hotels versus PC users? Or is it just a stereotype? What if you visit Orbitz from a PlayBook? What happens then?