So, Orbitz has spilled the beans, well some of them, and says it in essence up-sells to people based on which browser they use.
The site told The Wall Street Journal (
subscription required) that it discovered that
Mac users tend to pay as much as 30 percent more for hotel rooms. (Well, they
are paying a premium for the computer too so it's not that surprising, although $20 to $30 more is significant.) Leveraging that information, Orbitz decided to experiment with displaying pricier hotels in search results to Mac users than to Windows users. Before you get too miffed, Orbitz says that it isn't showing different rates for the same hotel rooms and that user history and location, as well as hotel popularity and promotions play an even bigger part in how the results are displayed. Also, you can just sort results based on price to see unadulterated bargains on top.