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How to Avoid Geographic Pricing and Save on Travel Bookings

world map seen at night representing the concept of geolocation at the basis of geographic price discrimination

Did you know that online booking prices for flights, hotels, or attractions might change depending on where you’re located?

This is known as Geographic Pricing, Geographical Pricing or Geographic Price Discrimination—a strategy where companies adjust their rates based on your location.

In the travel and tourism industry, this practice is common among major booking platforms and websites as well as proprietary sites for hotels, airlines, and even car rental companies.

It’s important to note that geographic pricing goes beyond simple service or currency conversion fees. Companies use your location to estimate your spending power or local demand and set prices accordingly. While this practice is mostly legal, it can result in you paying more than necessary.

In this article, we’ll explain how it works and share a quick solution to help you avoid overpaying.

1) How It Works

As mentioned, Geographic Pricing uses your location and other data to adjust prices for the same service. Here’s how it happens:

  1. Location Tracking: Websites detect your location using your IP address or cookies,
  2. Dynamic Pricing: Prices are set based on income levels or spending habits or demand in your region,
  3. Currency Adjustments: Sites may include hidden markups when converting prices into your local currency.

For example, a traveler booking a hotel from a high-income country might see higher prices than someone booking from a lower-income region, even for the same room and dates.

In the same logic, always for example, a flight booked from a device located in one country (e.g., Italy) may cost differently than the exact same ticket, date, and seats and booked from the same platform but from a device geolocated in another country (e.g., Mauritius).

Geographic pricing is a common and usually legal practice, not just in the travel and tourism industry. Besides event tickets or hotel and transportation bookings, it also affects other goods and services sold globally online.

la geolocalizzazione negli smartphone e altri device consente alle aziende di applicare la discriminazione geografica dei prezzi
Geographic pricing relies on the geolocation of your devices. (Credit - Ingo Joseph via Pexels)

2) What You Risk

  • Higher Prices: You could pay more for identical services simply based on your location.
  • Different Offers: Depending on where you’re located, you may be presented with a different selection of products or services available.

3) How to Avoid Geographic Price Discrimination

Use a VPN and change your virtual location: this can help you access prices displayed in other regions. Many travelers save money using this method. Do all VPNs bypass geographic pricing? Be cautious as some platforms detect VPNs and might block access or request additional verification. It’s important to choose a VPN service with anti-blocking features to avoid these issues. If you’re curious about the one I personally use, check out –4) My Experience With NordVPN– below.

Compare Regional Sites: Check different regional versions of the same website (e.g., “.com,” “.uk,” “.fr”) to spot lower prices. Some sites may redirect you automatically to your local version based on your IP. To avoid this, combine this method with a VPN or proxy to access regional prices effectively.

However, be mindful of currency conversion rates: sometimes the price difference may genuinely be due to standard conversion fees applied by payment providers or banks.

a VPN service screen for choosing a server i a different country and to circumvent geographic price discrimination.
Interface for selecting a server from a country. (Credit - NordVPN)

4) My Experience with NordVPN

4.1 What Is a VPN Service?

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) service offers two key benefits:

  1. Enhancing Online Security: By encrypting your internet connection, a VPN protects your data from being intercepted on unsecured networks, such as public or unknown free Wi-Fi.
  2. IP and Location Masking: VPN services reroute your internet traffic through servers in various countries, allowing you to simulate browsing from a different location.

However, while some VPNs can alert you about potentially unsafe websites, they cannot fully shield you from scams, phishing attempts, or malware. These risks remain, especially if you willingly interact with untrusted sources.

a promo banner from Nordvpn which underlines how through its servers you can simulate your connection from different countries and avoid geographic discrimination
VPN services allow you to simulate your connection from different countries and avoid Geographic Discrimination. (Credit - NordVPN)

4.2 Why I Chose and Use NordVPN

In 2023, a work trip required me to spend several weeks in a small hotel. Knowing I’d need to rely on their Wi-Fi for an extended period, I was concerned about the risks of unsecured networks.

Having already heard about NordVPN, I decided to give it a try.

Initially, my priority was to protect my passwords, sensitive work data, and private browsing activity. However, I quickly discovered that NordVPN offers much more. Thanks to its vast global network of servers located in multiple countries, now I can:

Monitor and Bypass Geographic Price Discrimination: by comparing price variations and avoiding inflated rates based on my location.

Unblock Restricted Content: Whether it’s accessing region-specific streaming libraries, discovering information and services, or browsing entire websites and platforms unavailable in my country, this is easily my favorite and most frequently used feature.

logo of NordVPN services that allow safer browsing and to circumvent geographical price discrimination
I actually use NordVPN a lot – click the image or follow the link below to discover the latest offers.

NordVPN also offers valuable and useful additional services like:

  • NordPass: A password manager that securely stores and simplifies managing your credentials.
  • Incogni: A data removal service that helps protect your privacy by managing requests to remove your personal data from brokers.

What I’m saying is that even when I’m not traveling, NordVPN remains a reliable, simple, and affordable solution that enhances my online security and gives me access to global content and services that might otherwise be restricted.

Curious to try it for yourself? Check out their latest offers from here!

They often include a free trial period, and by subscribing a plan through this page, you’ll not only enhance your browsing experience but also support our work.

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