Virtual location pricing

[Himeno]

Many people, including VPN advertising, keep saying that if you change your presumed location online (such as with a VPN), you can get cheaper prices for hotels, flights etc. eg they claim that if you view a hotel price for the same hotel for the same dates from a US IP address, you can get a cheaper price then from an AU IP address.

Has anyone ever noticed this?

In my experience, once exchange rates are accounted for, the prices are the same.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Can’t say i’ve noticed it. I book hotels before leaving AU, and the. check again once i’m ‘in country’, like the USA, to see if they price has changed. Can’t say I’ve come across any huge price differences.

Consolidator or comparison sites pretty much mean you can get your hands on the cheapest price, IME.

The one area that used to be different was cruises. Lots of cheap caribbean cruises for example if you book in the USA, that are ‘area restricted’ if trying to book outside of the US.

A notable exception I guess is AA’s website… prices on the AU site can be higher, or offer fewer options than the US site. But you can easily change that from here, no VPN required.

 

[Warks]

I saw a post on Reddit a week ago where someone was trying to buy an airfare between Aus and NZ (not sure of the cities) and found if they set their VPN to Slovenia they got it for a much lower price. Sorry I'm kind of vague but it was interesting. I will try and find the post. Edit - found it:

https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/comments/142zuzd

 

[vetrade]

Five years ago Master Vetrade had his passport and wallet/credit cards stolen in Mexico. He emailed me to book & pay for a US domestic flight with UA for him and gave me the flight details and ticket price he found on the 'net. Using Skyscanner the best price I could get was over $AUD200 more than what he told me; and the UA website had the same price as skyscanner. (Prices adjusted for exchange rate differences)

I then changed my VPN to the US and I could immediately see and book at the price my son had told me.
So, it's something that's well worth keeping in mind