Holiday Extras has been ordered to ensure its advertising does not mislead about booking cancellations, following a complaint to the sector watchdog.
The Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint which queried the add-on company’s ‘free cancellation’ policy for parking at Stansted.
The Holiday Extras website detailed that a cash refund can be requested less £10 which will be saved against the next booking.
The company argued that, “because the circumstances in which £10 was retained as a voucher were infrequent,” it considered that it was “fair and reasonable” for that information to appear in the terms and conditions.
It was implemented as a safeguard against a small number of customers making a large number of bookings and then cancelling at the last minute.
To explain the voucher provision on the first page of booking “would cause more confusion than benefit,” according to the company.
But the ASA considered consumers would understand from the ‘free cancellation’ claims in the advert that they would be able to cancel or amend a booking until their booked arrival time without incurring a financial penalty, and for any cancellation they would be refunded in full.
Concluding that the advert was misleading, the ASA ruled that it should not appear again in the form complained of.
“We told Holiday Extras to ensure their advertising did not mislead about booking cancellations, and included material information clearly and prominently,” the authority added.