With recent headlines about Delta Airlines’ CEO floating the idea of personalized AI pricing, and the strong reaction that followed, there’s been a lot of conversation about how AI is being used to set prices. Naturally, we’ve had a few people ask:
“Wait… you don’t do that kind of AI pricing, do you?”
Short answer: No, we don’t.
At TakeUp, we use AI to help properties set dynamic prices based on market demand—not on who a guest is. That’s a big difference from what’s being called personalized pricing, and it’s one we want to explain clearly. So let’s break it down.
Personalized pricing uses individual customer data—things like customer profiles, demographics, or income proxies—to tailor a price to each person.
It asks:
What’s this specific person likely to pay right now?
While that may sound clever, it can also feel unfair. Two people might see different prices for the same room, just because of who they are or where they’re browsing from.
That’s not how we operate.
At TakeUp, our AI asks a different question:
What price is the market willing to pay for this room right now?
It’s similar to how the market dictates the price of gold, it’s only worth what the market is willing to pay at a moment in time, but the entire market gets the same price at the same moment.
We don’t use personal data. We don’t try to guess what an individual guest will pay. Instead, we look at:
From there, our pricing engine sets rates that respond to how demand is behaving overall, not who’s searching.
Our approach is powered by something called causal inference AI. In simple terms, it helps us understand how price changes affect demand. It’s not just machine learning that finds patterns, it’s a way of learning how one thing causes another.
So instead of targeting people, our system learns how demand responds to different prices over time and uses that to help your property make smarter pricing decisions.
It’s dynamic, not personal. And we believe that’s the right kind of AI for pricing.
We know trust is a big deal when it comes to pricing. Guests want to know they’re getting a fair rate. And property owners want tools that help them grow revenue without crossing any ethical lines.
That’s why we built TakeUp the way we did:
✅ Transparent
✅ Demand-driven
✅ No personal data
Our goal has always been to help independent properties thrive by making data-driven AI pricing accessible and fair.
👉 If you’re curious how this actually looks in action, get in touch or check out our product overview. We’d love to show you how dynamic pricing can be powerful and principled.
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