WALK along any UK high street and the chances are you’ll see a travel agency whose shop front is plastered with ‘offers’ posters and cards.
Never mind if the offers are out of date or unavailable – for some, luring the customer into the shop is the name of the game.
But late deals need to be accurate and, as Travel Weekly reported on May 27, Trading Standards is clamping down. Going Places and TUI UK have both faced charges in court, with the former being fined £4,500 and its rival awaiting a decision.
Trading Standards lead holiday officer Bruce Treloar said unless offers in windows are both available, and at the advertised price, the agent is flouting two regulations.
“If the holiday is not available, the agent is guilty of an offence under the 1968 Trades Description Act,” he said. “And if it’s available but only at a higher price they are guilty under the 1987 Consumer Protection Act.
“We call it the bait-and-trap syndrome. Customers take the bait in the form of the offer, but once they are in the shop and the offer is not available, they feel trapped and are sold something else.”
And the increasing pressure on agents to make a sale is worsening the situation. “Agents are competing for a diminishing market,” said Treloar.
In the crackdown, officials posing as holidaymakers will take the details of three or four window offers into the shop, ask the agent for availability and reveal their identity if the laws have been abused.
In most cases, Treloar explained, officials recognise the difficulty in checking offers every few minutes and give retailers a chance to rectify the situation. But repeat offenders will end up in court.
Inaccurate window displays are not the only pitfall facing agents dealing with the lates market. Advertising ‘from £100’ means 10% of all holidays on sale must be available at that price. Equally, with discount ‘up to’ offers, 10% must have discounts of the advertised amount.
Treloar warned the trade that when availability during the lates season is scarce, operators and agents must not advertise a price that exceeds the brochure price.
