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Four major players have contributed to the travel industry commercials Banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for misleading consumers.
ASA ruled on that booking.com and hotel group Accor, TravelodgeAnd hilton All used “from” price claims for hotel rooms, which overstated the number of rooms available at the advertised rate.
With only a limited proportion of rooms offered at advertised prices on various dates, the ASA deemed the promotions misleading and consequently banned their future use.
In case of Booking.com, a Advertisement On 6 May it said, “Places to stay in Sheffield – Best Price Guaranteed”, with further text reading “Easyhotel Sheffield City Center from £28”.
Booking.com said that the dates and prices displayed were “dynamically selected” from data provided by Google, meaning they may differ for each user and search.
He believed that the information displayed in the advertisement was accurate and not misleading.
The ASA said data provided by Booking.com showed that seven bookings were made at the easyhotel Sheffield City Center at the advertised price in May.
It added that it did not receive any other information from Booking.com, such as the number of dates on which rooms were available for £28, that would allow us to adequately assess the proportion of rooms in the hotel available at the advertised price and therefore considered that the information provided was insufficient to substantiate the “from £28” claim.
Supervision Accor’s advertising found that £27 rooms at its Ibis Budget Birmingham Center were only available for a one-night stay on 30 July, and therefore was “not an accurate reflection of the price most consumers could expect to pay”.
It said consumers would understand the claims “Travelodge Nottingham Riverside from £25” and “Travelodge Swansea M4 from £21” would mean that a significant proportion of rooms at each hotel would be available at the advertised price.
However, it was understood that the advertised prices were only available to book for a one night stay on 18 May.
In the case of Hilton, the ASA said it had not seen sufficient evidence to demonstrate that a significant proportion of hotel rooms were available at the advertised prices of £68 at the Hampton by Hilton Hamilton Park or the advertised prices of £59 at the Hampton by Hilton Newcastle.
ASA operations manager Emily Henwood said: “Advertised prices must match prices actually available.
“If only certain rooms are actually offered at the price shown, or it only applies to a specific date, this information should be made clear to avoid misleading people.
“Otherwise, it is unfair to anyone who is trying to find a good deal or make an informed choice about where to book.
“People should be able to trust the prices they see in adverts and these decisions show that we will take action when the rules are broken.”
Travelodge said in a statement: “Travelodge takes its responsibilities under the ASA advertising guidelines seriously. Prices shown in adverts were generated from our live pricing feed and represented the cheapest bookable date available.
“We recognize that customers expect clarity and transparency in pricing, and we continue to work closely with Google to ensure that all ad formats are clear and fully compliant. This particular ad format was removed prior to the ASA decision, and we remain committed to providing transparent, accurate, and great pricing for all of our customers.”