Travel costs change depending on your IP

November 13, 2025

By Kim Komando

Last month, my friend Anna was getting ready for a dream trip to Italy. Flights were booked, hotels lined up, but when she went to rent a car in Milan, the price came back at nearly $1,400 for the week. She texted me: “Kim, this is ridiculous.” I texted right back: “Open your VPN, set your location to Milan, and try that booking again.”

A few clicks later, the rental dropped to $800. Same car. Same dates. Same rental site. Mamma mia!

That’s not luck. It’s location-based pricing. And it’s happening everywhere.

🇮🇹 They’re Rome-ing around

You’d be shocked how many companies change prices based on where you appear to be. Hotels, car rentals, even subscriptions and online shopping sites are using your IP address (your digital location) to tweak what they charge you.

This practice is so common, the FTC published a report this year warning about companies’ “surveillance pricing.” This means they use your precise location and personal data to set individualized prices.

• A study by Nord tested this exact scenario. It found a one-week car rental in Italy was 11.43% cheaper when booked from an Italian IP address ($541) compared to a U.S. one ($611).
• An investigation by SFGATE found booking sites showed “substantially higher” prices to San Franciscans. For one Manhattan hotel on Expedia, Bay Area users were quoted $829/night while people from Phoenix and Kansas City saw a price of $318/night for the exact room.
• A YouTube Premium subscription can cost $13.99/month in the U.S. but under $2/month when purchased from an IP address in India.

It’s not just your location. It’s your device type, cookies, currency settings and even your browsing history. These companies are watching and adjusting accordingly.

🧳 Don’t get ripped off

Now, don’t get sneaky. Always follow the terms of the site and the region you’re booking from. 

The next time you are buying something big like a trip, try this. Turn on your VPN. Search from a few different locations, especially in the country you’re traveling to. Compare prices. You might be shocked.

Anna was. And that $600 savings? It paid for her Amalfi Coast tour.

⚠️ One last thing 

Before you go shopping around the world, please don’t use a free VPN. 

Most are based in China, and they make their money by logging, tracking and stealing your data. The whole point of a VPN is privacy, right? So if you’re using a shady one, you’re trading one set of spies for another.

I’ve used ExpressVPN for years. They’ve been a longtime sponsor of my national radio show for great reasons. They don’t log your activity, they’re lightning fast, and it literally takes one click to use it. 

✅ You can get four extra months free when you sign up using my link. So protect your wallet and your privacy. Use the VPN I trust, which means you can trust ExpressVPN, too. By the way, if you sign up, I get no residuals or kickbacks.