A DIGITAL marketing expert has given last-minute holidaygoers some money-saving advice, which you may not have previously thought about.

As people across Wales prepare to go on holiday and book their flights and hotels, Ricardo Seixas from One Day Agency reveals how tracking software is helping travel companies predict where you’re going to book, and how they are subsequently upping the price as a result.

Ricardo said travel companies now use AI-powered prediction tools that analyse past purchases, search history and social media activity to target customers with holiday ads that are more personalised than ever before.

Read below to see what Ricardo advised before you make your last-minute bookings.

What many don't realise is that cookies can track when someone is planning a holiday up to three months in advance. The algorithms pick up tiny digital breadcrumbs we leave online like increased searches for sun cream, flight prices, or swimwear.

However, this goes even further. When you begin to search for specific flights or hotels on specific dates, you may notice that after some time, you’ll need to refresh the searches and revisit the site, and when you do, suddenly the price has gone up.

This is because of cookie tracking software, as well as more advanced AI software tools being able to detect consumer patterns and benefit the companies using them, by hiking the prices up once it detects that you’re looking for a holiday at a specific destination or date.

Seixas explained the technology is similar to that of dynamic pricing that many have had frustration with when getting concert tickets.

Ricardo Seixas said: “With advanced technology, beyond just cookie tracking, many face inflated prices by the time they even reach the checkout of their holiday purchase. Holiday providers have put disclaimers on their sites, saying that prices may change at any time, but this change can happen quickly, from the first search you make, to the checkout, requiring you to refresh at the checkout point and be faced with a higher fee that you may feel committed to follow through with.”

The systems work by combining public data with private information users have allowed brands to access through their privacy settings, often without fully understanding what they've agreed to.

Ricardo said: “Most people tick consent boxes without reading them properly. They don't realise how much access they're giving to their personal information.”

However, it can be easy to avoid this targeted price hiking. When you go onto a new site, a pop-up will appear offering you cookie consent options. More often than not, many will just click accept, however, you should always click on ‘Reject All’ if that’s available, or ‘More Options’ and turn off any possibility for targeted ads and cookie tracking.

It’s okay if you’ve allowed cookie tracking software from various sites, but be cautious to accept any price that you may see if you have as there may be a chance that you can get your desired trip but at a massively reduced rate. All you need to do is delete your cookies and the software.

You can do this by following these steps:

In three simple steps, you’ve removed these from your browsing session and you can try and look for the same trip, without accepting the cookies once again, and potentially find that your overall total has dropped by hundreds.