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Always using Booking.com? We did an EXPERIMENT & saved 30% by a few clicks

We took one hotel & checked the pricing offered by Booking.com in 3 ways: on the desktop, through the mobile website & on their app.

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By Aistė

Published: Mar 07, 2023 min read

Always using Booking.com? We did an EXPERIMENT & saved 30% by a few clicks

We found out the price without commissions, added 20%, which Booking most often applies, and checked what discounts are activated when booking in different ways.

 

Here's how the price changes when booking ON A DESKTOP: 

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Only the Genius Discount may be applied, so the final price is 810€. 

 

Here's how the price changes when booking ON THEIR WEBSITE BUT ON A PHONE: 

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The Genius & the mobile-only discounts apply, so the final price is 729€. 

 

Here's how the price changes when booking ON THEIR APP: 

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The Genius, the mobile-only & the Booking.com discounts apply, so the final price is 810€. 

 

EXPLANATION: 

Travelers can book hotels on Booking.com in 3 ways: 

  • On their computers (desktop version).
  • On their phones (going through the website). 
  • On the app (after installing it). 

And to their surprise, the price IS DIFFERENT ON ALL OF THEM because each applies different discounts. What kinds of discounts does Booking offer? 
 

There are 3 main types: 

  • Genius Discount. That’s the most popular one, it gives various bonuses & most often - a 10% discount for frequent users. 
  • Mobile-only discount. This deal only applies to bookings made through a mobile device. Why? Simply put - it’s a trick of marketing. Attracting users to book through a mobile phone costs less, so they can give you a better deal. Also - 10% off. 
  • Booking.com discount. And this one only goes when booking through their app, for almost the same reason: Booking spends 0 for recurring app users (if you installed it, you’re mostly making bookings there), so they give you an additional 6.5% discount. 

There are a bunch of factors that fate the final price that reaches your eyes. RatePunk browser extension considers most of them, always showing you the lowest hotel price on the internet. 

Here's an example where booking on mobile saves 780€: 

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Mar 07, 2023

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