Author | Jinlai
Source | Financial Observer Network
Soon, the online tourism industry has been in constant disarray and will finally be put on a "spell", the Interim Provisions for the Administration of Online Tourism Business Services will come into force on October 1, 2020. October 1, 2020 will come into force.
The provisions of Article 15 clearly: Online tourism operators shall not abuse big data analysis and other technical means, based on the tourists' consumption records, travel preferences, etc. to set up unfair trade conditions, violating the legitimate rights and interests of tourists.
The reason why the state has made such a provision in the regulations is mainly because of the rapid growth of the domestic online travel market over the years, and the use of big data by the relevant companies and platforms to kill people.
Big Data kills, and online travel is at the top of the list
So what's "Big Data kills"?
The Baidu encyclopedia gives the definition of "big data kills" as: the same commodity or the same service, Internet companies use the user data they have, to give the old users a higher price than the new users, so as to maximize profits.
This is because new users are less viscous and more sensitive to price, and platforms want them to become loyal users, so they will offer more incentives to retain new users; while old users are already loyal users, they basically don't compare prices, so platforms don't feel the need to come in for special treatment.
The essence of this behavior is a differentiated pricing strategy, whereby companies recommend products or services that match their personal characteristics, and charge higher prices, based on different customer preferences and price sensitivities.
This strategy is based on a huge amount of user data, and the breakthrough is that there is no corresponding legal regulation in this area, allowing platforms to have a loophole to drill.
This phenomenon is now commonplace in online consumption, and many people have been killed, not just guessed, but surveyed.
In response to the phenomenon of "big data kills", last year the Beijing Municipal Consumer Association specifically commissioned the Beijing Sunshine Consumption Big Data Technology Research Institute to carry out a survey.
The survey results show that nearly 90% of the people surveyed believe that the phenomenon of big data "kills" is widespread, and 56.92% of the people surveyed said they had been "killed" by big data.
So what goods and services are people most likely to be "ripped off" by big data when they buy them?
The answer is online shopping, tourism, hotel accommodation, online car rental, takeaway, film and television consumption scenarios.
In the 56.92% of consumers who have been "ripe" experience, 44.14% were "ripe" by the shopping APP, 39% were "ripe" by the online tourism APP.
In addition, takeaway APPs, video APPs, and movie APPs also have different degrees of big data "killing" phenomenon, with the proportion of 16.26%, 15.10%, and 13.94% respectively.
And in the 57 samples of the experience survey, online tourism has the most problems, where to go, flying pig two platforms appeared old user fees than new users expensive.
In response to the results of this survey, where to go, flying pig and other platforms have denied the existence of "big data to kill" behavior, said all users offer the same.
The price change is a result of real-time price changes due to promotional activities (red packets, newcomer discounts) as well as changes in inventory of hotels and flights, which can lead to different prices for the same item when purchased by different people, and different prices for the same item when purchased by the same person at different times.
However, the eyes of consumers and the public at large are very discerning, and we can clearly see from the following 3 cases that several major online travel platforms have traces of kills.
4 major platforms all "kill", consumer rights difficult
Case one, the black cat platform anonymous user complaints The same way . .
I've been using the same trip for over 3 years, and have been using the same trip to book hotels, flights, train tickets, etc., is a Platinum member, my lover basically do not use, but at the same time to book a hotel, check in time and requirements, room type and so on the exact same case, I this Platinum card need to pay a lot of money in total, the details of the room rates are also a lot more than the average user, see the picture, the details, and the total cost is much more. This can be seen for many years has been in the name of the members to spend more money, is now claiming a year difference of 10,000, the claim totaling 30,000 yuan.
Case two, black cat platform user oakhl complaint Ctrip.
July 13, 2018 a Beijing couple at the same time in Ctrip for a large number of people booked 23 and 26 Beijing round-trip air tickets to Sanya, is a Ctrip platinum user's wife several times inquired about and found that airfares are rising sequentially, and then rushed to the order and support; and at the same time in also in the Ctrip query to order a husband to ask ask his wife the price and found that the price per person than the price of him are higher than Several hundred. And contact Ctrip to request a refund, Ctrip customer service not only does not recognize the kill, but also counter-charge 1800 yuan refund fee.
These two cases are both husband and wife Li two people at the same time in the same platform booking tickets, hotels, the result is that the old user instead of the new user to spend more money.
In addition to this way of killing the familiar, online travel platforms another trick with the "sold out" means to force the old customers in a hurry to buy high-priced tickets.
A nearly three-year annual average of more than 300 tickets bought in each year (paid about 500,000 yuan) of customers in the evening of August 17, 2020 in the "where to travel official flagship store" booking August 18 Chengdu to Lhasa MU5825 flight, the platform shows that the flight tickets The platform shows that the ticket price of this flight is 920 RMB (8 tickets left), and after placing the order and paying on the payment page, it shows that the flight has been sold out.
Back to the home page to refresh the re-booking, the fare of 920 yuan (8 left) of the information still exists, in order to avoid delays in the trip, and then chose the fare of 1550 yuan for the purchase of the operation, to pay the page, the platform prompted the fare rose to 1795 yuan, plus the cost of air, fuel, etc., the transaction price of 1895 yuan.
Currently in the black cat complaint evaluation platform, such "big data kill familiar" complaint cases up to more than 400. This may seem like a small number, but it's actually a lot, because a lot of people don't complain when they realize they're being "ripped off".
The survey results show that only 26.72% of people who realized they were being "ripped off" chose to file a complaint with the Consumer Council, the market regulator, or to expose it to the media; the remaining nearly 3/4 either swallowed their anger, recognized their own bad luck, or chose to vote with their feet.
This is because many people know that complaints, lawsuits, and exposure are useless.
Because even if consumers find themselves being "killed", due to the complexity and hidden nature of the platform this means that there is a real difficulty for consumers to prove; and even if they get the exact evidence, it's hard to win through lawsuits, complaints, or media exposure, etc.
This is a very important part of the process, because it's not just about the quality of the product.
In addition to this, the majority of consumers do not realize that they have been "ripped off" by the technology.
So even if the travelers keep complaining, these domestic online travel platforms are still "emboldened" and don't stop "killing the familiar" because it's a fast way to get money.
Regulations and Penalties
And after so many years of consumer complaints, the state has finally decided to fix this mess.
On October 9 last year, the Interim Provisions for the Administration of Online Tourism Business Services (Draft) was released, and a year later, the Interim Provisions for the Administration of Online Tourism Business Services came into force.
However, compared to the exposure draft, the formal implementation of the "regulations" for the online travel operator's penalty is greatly reduced.
The exposure draft stipulates that, for the "big data kill" behavior, the county-level culture and tourism administrative departments in accordance with the "Chinese people's **** and the State e-commerce law" the provisions of Article 77 of the punishment.
That is, the confiscation of illegal income, ordered to make corrections within a specified period of time, and can be imposed a fine of 50,000 yuan or more than 200,000 yuan; the circumstances are serious, and impose a fine of 200,000 yuan or more than 500,000 yuan.
And in the official regulations, this penalty was deleted, only through interviews and other administrative guidance to remind, warn, stop, and ordered to rectify.
Of course, the implementation of this regulation is certainly helpful in standardizing the development of the industry and helping to reshape the credibility of the online travel industry.