MSE Forum poll: Is dynamic pricing a good or bad thing?

MSE_JC

Some services (Uber, for example) have a dynamic pricing system, raising prices on the fly when demand is higher and reducing them when demand is lower.

It's a double-edged sword, but it can mean getting a cheaper deal if you've found yourself buying/booking when there's a lull in customers.

On the whole, how do you feel about dynamic pricing?

youth_leader

My poor 31 year old son had to share a room with me recently because of 'dynamic pricing'. 

Travel Lodge in Belfast was £191.00 for a room, I couldn't afford to pay for two rooms.  Also Easyjet flight out to Belfast was £35.99 on the Saturday ... on the Sunday night it was £135.00 each.  I couldn't afford to pay for luggage too.

twopenny

It seems to have got so complex now and not in the customers favour.
The big hotel chains have it carefully worked out that what you save on one day you pay more on another.
 I've even looked at using 2 over a week and you can't roll 4 or 5 days in a row without a huge price hike at some point.

Not quite so bad with airlines but nearly. You have to be really flexible on date and time but then you end up paying extra to hotel.

The only one I can win is West country to Scotland by train even by splitting tickets.
It's cheaper to go from west to London then London to Scotland by a very considerable amount.