A hotel company which failed to prove that guest testimonials on its website were genuine has been rapped by the advertising watchdog.
The Advertising Standards Authority was alerted when a consumer challenged whether the reviews for the Queen Park Letting Flats published between June and October last year were genuine.
Upholding the complaint against the Queens Park Hotel Group, the ASA said: “We noted that some of the pictures of people featured next to the testimonials appeared to be exact matches of pictures featured on other websites, including a picture that appeared to have been sourced from a news article.”
The authority concluded that the ad was in breach of its rules as the company failed to provide any evidence that the testimonials were genuine.
The ASA banned the company from running the advert again on their website.
The ASA said it was concerned by Queens Park Hotel Group’s lack of response and “apparent disregard” for the code of advertising.
“We reminded them of their responsibility to respond promptly to our enquiries and told them to do so in future,” the ruling said.