Chapter 236: Big Data Price Discrimination! (Seeking Monthly Votes)

The feeling of a hangover is truly very uncomfortable.

If one were to discuss the greatest inventions in human history, alcohol would certainly count as one of them.

Regardless of whether it is domestic or abroad, there has been a history of alcohol from ancient times to the present.

Take Zhou Yi for example; every time he drinks too much, he swears and vows that he will absolutely never drink again.

But every time, he continues to drink; one can only say, this is probably just life.

He took a rough look around the room, and since he hadn't brought much, he packed up casually and then went downstairs to check out.

"Hey Dad, I'll be home very soon. Yes, I went to eat with Teacher Fang and the others last night. Don't worry, it's fine. I'm checking out now, it'll be quick."

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yi arrived at the front desk of Lihua Hotel. He glanced casually at the room rates posted behind the desk and then said, "Checking out of 603."

At this moment, he felt like the alcohol hadn't worn off yet, so he didn't think much of it.

Upon hearing this, the girl at the front desk looked at Zhou Yi and immediately smiled, "Alright sir, please wait a moment. 603, right? Please rest for a moment nearby, it will be done very quickly."

Soon, the girl at the front desk picked up the intercom and called out, "Ma'am, 603 is checking out."

"Alright, received."

This was all standard procedure, and Zhou Yi didn't think there was anything to it.

Many hotel rooms contain drinks, instant noodles, and other items needed at critical moments; naturally, they are more expensive than outside.

Therefore, when checking out, one needs to check; on one hand, to see if you have consumed anything, and on the other, to see if the guest has left anything behind, while also checking if the hotel room facilities have been damaged.

Sitting nearby, Zhou Yi opened his phone to check his bank text messages. Hmm, this hotel room isn't cheap, over three hundred yuan, and he vaguely remembered that this hotel wasn't even a high-end one.

Why is a standard double room so expensive?

Forget it, don't dwell on it; better to hurry back and catch up on sleep.

"Alright sir, your deposit is one hundred yuan. We look forward to your next visit." The girl at the front desk provided smiling service.

Zhou Yi looked at the deposit and suddenly remembered something, saying, "Oh, that's right, could you please issue me an invoice?"

Booking a hotel online is not the same as ride-hailing or game top-ups, where only the platform can issue an invoice.

Instead, depending on the situation, there are times when one must get the invoice at the hotel.

And even if it is the platform, that is actually just an agency platform; they also have to issue the invoice through the hotel.

"Sir, you need an invoice, right? Alright, please wait a moment!"

If he, Zhou Yi, wanted to fleece the system, he could actually just issue a corporate invoice right now and write "Tengda" directly as the title.

But Zhou Yi is not that kind of person, so he just requested a personal invoice.

Regarding such a request, the girl at the front desk didn't feel anything; in the current situation, there are many cases of individuals requesting invoices, so they are all prepared.

This situation went very smoothly, and Zhou Yi felt very gratified now; it seems the System Wife still loves him.

It can't be that trouble follows him everywhere he goes, or else how is a person supposed to live? He, Zhou Yi, also wants to live the life of an ordinary person.

The girl at the front desk tapped away on the computer, then suddenly looked up and said, "Sir, for this invoice, we can only issue you two hundred and forty-six yuan. This is the actual room rate we received."

What? Zhou Yi's face didn't show much emotion; accidents happen, the System Son messes around, it's normal, but he didn't understand these words.

"Miss, I didn't understand what you just said. You issuing an invoice, what does that have to do with this two hundred and forty-six? The price I paid online was not two hundred and something."

Facing Zhou Yi, who still seemed a bit unclear-headed, the girl at the front desk said patiently, "It's like this, sir. You booking the hotel online is no problem, but if we issue an invoice, we can only issue it based on the money actually received."

"Not a single cent can be off here; it's impossible to issue more."

Zhou Yi understood "not a single cent can be off." Anyone who works in accounting knows that if a million, two million, three million, or even ten million in accounts are wrong and don't match, that's simple.

A quick comparison can yield the result.

But, once there is an error of even a single cent in any account, then you're done for.

Today, or even tomorrow, don't think about getting off work on time; you'll be back at the Company recalculating properly.

But it's impossible to issue more...

Wait, hold on. Zhou Yi felt his muddled brain suddenly clear up a little.

The thing called an invoice is related to taxation; it can be said that this is solid and real.

If you sold something for one hundred, you can't issue an invoice for two hundred; even a fool wouldn't do that.

If someone pays one hundred, you issue an invoice for fifty—that would be a real "operation," wouldn't it?

"I understand. You mean the actual room rate your hotel received is just over two hundred and forty?"

"Yes, sir!" The girl said again, "This is also the highest price for this room type of ours, so it's impossible to issue an invoice for a price higher than this."

Now Zhou Yi was a bit confused. He took out his phone and said, "That's not right. I paid over three hundred for this! That's nearly one hundred yuan higher than your actual room rate!"

As he spoke, Zhou Yi showed his order to the girl at the front desk.

The girl looked at it and didn't react for a moment, or perhaps she understood in her heart but didn't say it.

"I'm a regular customer on the Chengdu APP. Look at this level, I'm a Diamond Customer. I often book hotels and flights here when I go out, and the discounts given on weekdays should be very large."

"How could the price booked online be so much more expensive than in reality?"

Zhou Yi didn't quite understand the situation, but he knew that he had probably encountered a problem again...

So he quickly prepared his equipment.

The discount given was indeed very large; it was already close to a fifty percent discount, only it was in reverse.

After thinking about it, he decided to contact the customer service of the Chengdu APP; this couldn't just be let go.

He dialed the customer service number, and there was a response very quickly.

"Hello, how can I help you?"

"It's like this. I booked a hotel on the APP yesterday and spent over three hundred. But when I got up to check out today, the hotel told me that their highest room rate is only over two hundred and forty. What's going on?"

"Please wait a moment. You booked the hotel using this mobile number, right?"

"Yes."

"Alright, you booked a standard double room at Lihua Hotel for a room rate of three hundred and seventy-nine. Are you saying the hotel told you the room's highest price is only over two hundred and forty?"

"Right, I just can't figure out what's going on. I'm one of your Diamond Members; never mind the discount, how is it that it's now twice as high as the highest room rate others are paying!"

"Please wait a moment, we are currently investigating this on our end."

Then came another period of silence, and finally, the customer service representative on the other end spoke.

"Sir, your situation has been reported, and our staff will contact you within three business days to handle it. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

It was a very familiar situation: three business days, five business days, ten business days.

Indeed, large companies now need time to handle problems, but this kind of drawn-out time is very annoying.

The most critical thing is that if there were a result after waiting a few days, that would be one thing, but if there is still no result and you have to look for customer service again, then it's just various excuses.

To put it bluntly, just like the little cat from before, it's outsourcing; they outsource as much as they can.

It was only a little over a hundred yuan, so it wasn't a big deal.

Zhou Yi then said to the front desk: "Chengdu APP said they would give me an answer, so I'll be going first. As for the invoice, just issue it according to the actual room rate."

After leaving the hotel, Zhou Yi felt it was still not a good idea to drive, so he called a designated driver to go back. After a hangover, sometimes you can still be caught for drunk driving the next day.

Zhou Yi left, and the girl at the front desk continued to busy herself with her work.

She was actually very clear about the situation Zhou Yi had encountered.

Just kidding, she had been working here for almost two years, and this wasn't the first time she had encountered such a situation.

Are online quotes always cheaper than store quotes?

You have to look at when you're asking that; in the past, things online were indeed cheaper.

Whether it was some treasure or elsewhere, because there were no costs like rent, water, or electricity, and some could even be shipped directly from the manufacturer, the selling price would be very low compared to physical stores.

Because of this, online shopping was able to develop wildly in a very short time, directly forming a giant.

Of course, that was in the past, and now, people who open online shops all know that it's not that easy anymore.

There are too many online shops; if you want your online shop to appear at the front, it's simple: pay money.

You have to pay money for everything you do; you must spend money for your online shop to have traffic, and only with traffic can you have business.

Getting off track, let's return to these third-party platforms.

These platforms actually mostly relied on burning money at the beginning to attract users, with all kinds of ridiculously high subsidies, directly crushing other peers, and then occupying the market position themselves.

Many people remember this point: taking a taxi cost one yuan, and booking a hotel that was originally two hundred yuan could even drop to one hundred yuan after discounts.

What kind of concept is this? The store price has no influence in the face of such discounts.

Thus, everyone generally developed a habit: booking in advance online would be very cheap.

But now that's not necessarily the case; new users might still get large discounts, but old users...

The girl at the front desk didn't dare to speak recklessly, but in reality, she often encountered situations where the store price was cheaper than the platform price.

This is the product of collecting all kinds of personal information and calculating it based on constantly developing internet algorithms.

Many people call this situation Big Data Price Discrimination.

It is very common in fields like online shopping, food delivery, ride-hailing, and online hotel booking.

But she certainly wouldn't warn the guests; she was just a worker, and she just needed to do her own job well.

…………

Zhou Yi went all the way back home, greeted his parents, and then fell asleep, not waking up until the afternoon.

"Woke up? Mom made dumplings for you. Why did you drink so much?" Mother Zhou said from the side.

"It's because I was happy yesterday, so I drank a bit more with Teacher Fang and the others. Don't worry, I won't drink casually," Zhou Yi laughed.

While talking, his mouth didn't stop; the dumplings his mom made were the most delicious—pork and green onion filling, one bite after another, it was just refreshing.

He ate forty dumplings in one breath before stopping, feeling like he was ready to go again.

He greeted Mother Zhou and planned to prepare to go to work, but just then, his phone rang.

He picked it up and looked; it was an unknown number.

"Hello, sir, hello. I am the customer service representative for Chengdu APP."

Eh, it's only afternoon now; it's only been a few hours, this response speed is quite fast.

"Mm, go ahead, I'm listening. What exactly is the situation, and also, how is this going to be handled?"

The customer service representative on the other end said: "Hello, sir. According to our investigation, there is no problem with this price; it is a corresponding price adjustment made by the system based on the shortage of rooms."

"Wait!" Zhou Yi said quickly.

"It's just a corresponding price adjustment? And then the price I booked online can be over a hundred yuan more expensive than the actual one?"

"And I am still your Diamond Member. According to your regulations, I should be able to enjoy a 15% discount on room bookings. How come this wasn't included?"

This matter was indeed not big, but Zhou Yi himself was a person very sensitive to numbers.

It was agreed that you should give a 15% discount, but now not only do you not mention the discount, but you can even attribute this price difference to system adjustment.

"Also, why is there that service fee? I did stay, but what does this money have to do with me?"

Zhou Yi expressed that he didn't understand.

"I'm very sorry, sir. In this situation, the discount will not apply. This is the Company's regulation, and I hope you can understand."

Company regulation again; this inexplicably felt a bit familiar.

Zhou Yi said directly: "Don't tell me it's your regulation. I only know that your platform's selling price, according to my membership level, should definitely be lower than the store's."

"But you are not only higher than the store, but you are also this much higher. Do you know that this already constitutes consumer fraud? And do you know about False Propaganda?"

Having just learned a bit about the Consumer Rights Protection Law in the last case, Zhou Mouren was rattling these things off one after another.

Zhou Yi certainly wasn't sure if it really constituted it, but he would just say it anyway.

"I'm very sorry, sir, but this is indeed the Company's regulation."

"Company regulation, right? Not compensating a single cent, right? Fine, I get it."

With a 'pop', Zhou Yi hung up the phone directly, and after thinking about it, he decided to ask Lawyer Fang first.

After dialing the phone and chatting casually about yesterday's events, Fang Dazhuang hung up on Zhou Yi and went home to sleep; he had only just arrived at the law firm a short while ago.

And very quickly, Zhou Yi learned the answer from Fang Dazhuang.

"Big Data Price Discrimination?"

"Yes, it is Big Data Price Discrimination. They use various methods to collect your location information, order data, and other types of private data to build your user profile and understand your consumption preferences."

"At the same time, because you are already a loyal user of the platform, they believe you won't notice if the price is a little higher."

Speaking up to this point, Fang Dazhuang paused: "Of course, the difference this time was a bit large, and since you wanted to request an invoice, it ended up being exposed."

The morning throat-moistening chapter is here; I fell asleep while writing yesterday, so here it is this morning!

The average subscription count is over twenty-nine thousand; I hope it hits thirty thousand. Brothers, I'm counting on you!

(End of chapter)