Drip pricing is a sales practice in which mandatory costs only become visible step by step during the booking process.
Drip pricing is a sales practice in which mandatory costs only become visible step by step during the booking process.
Also called: Staged pricing.
How it works#
The headline price in search looks low while service fees, payment charges and compulsory surcharges appear at the final step. The tactic works because travellers are reluctant to abandon a booking already under way. Consumer regulators in several jurisdictions now require the total price to be shown from the outset, though the scope of those rules differs.
Not to be confused with#
Drip pricing is not the same as unbundling: unbundled extras are optional, whereas dripped costs are mandatory and merely hidden at first.
In German#
The German term is Tropfenweise Preisanzeige. German version of this term
Related terms#
- Ancillary revenue: Ancillary revenue is income from services stripped out of the ticket price and sold separately, such as bags, seats or changes.
- Resort fee: A resort fee is a mandatory daily hotel charge for bundled amenities, added on top of the room rate that was displayed.
- Online travel agency: An online travel agency is an intermediary that sells flights and hotels in its own name, sitting between the traveller and the airline or hotel.
Articles that use this term#
TopicEvery article and term onBooking and flight search.