If you've ever bought an airline ticket, rented a car, or booked a hotel room for a big event, you've experienced dynamic pricing software in action. Companies use sophisticated algorithms to determine the optimal price for products and services offered at specific dates and times. These prices change depending on when customers reserve the offerings and- drawing from cookies and other information sources-even based on who is doing the booking. The airline, hotel, and rental car industries have been doing this for years, and consumers have come to expect it. However, the use of dynamic pricing software in the apartment rental market is newer and confusing to many would-be renters. Instead of publishing rental rates on their websites that must be honored week after week, landlords now decide what the rent for a specific unit  should be at any point in time and only need honor a given price for a few days. Using both internal information, such as square footage and number of bedrooms, and external information, like the strength of the market, competing prices, and total occupancy, the software helps them maximize revenue on every single unit.

What are the ethical considerations of changing rental rates on apartment units? Which consumers win and which lose with dynamic pricing?