---
title: "What is Drip pricing? | Benefit Systems"
description: "Drip pricing is a sales practice in which mandatory costs only become visible step by step during the booking process."
source: "aus dem gebauten HTML abgeleitet"
---
# What is Drip pricing?

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](/de/glossar/tropfenweise-preisanzeige)

## Related terms #

- [Ancillary revenue](/en/glossary/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](/en/glossary/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](/en/glossary/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 #

- [Why your hotel bill is higher than the rate you booked](/en/knowledge/resort-fees)
- [Book direct or through an online travel agency?](/en/knowledge/direct-vs-ota)
- [When do you have to pay to choose a seat?](/en/knowledge/seat-selection-fees)