Mercury Holidays has been censured for advertising a package holiday which misleadingly described it as including a ‘free’ week.
The advertising watchdog banned the ‘Winter Warmers’ advert for all-inclusive winter trips to Madeira which appeared in the Daily Mail in May.
The ad featured various offers on holiday durations including a listing for a fourth week ‘free’ on selected dates.
However, a consumer, who was unable to book a holiday with a fourth week included as free within the dates seen in the advert, challenged whether the price claims were misleading.
Sunspot Tours, trading as Mercury Holidays, insisted that consumers had been able to book a four-week holiday via its website with the fourth week included for free.
The company provided the Advertising Standards Authority with two examples of eligible holidays for dates between November-December 2024 and January-February 2025, which it believed demonstrated that the fourth week was free for consumers as advertised.
But the ASA, upholding the complaint, said: “We noted that when the complainant had tried to redeem the ‘free’ offer and book a four-week holiday, they were quoted a cost greater than the advertised price of a three-week holiday to the same destination within the same timeframe.
“Because we considered that consumers would expect the cost of a four-week holiday to be the same as that for a three-week holiday, if the fourth week was advertised as ‘free’, and as that was not the case, we concluded therefore that the ad was misleading.”
A one-week stay for November 2024 and January 2025 was shown as costing £709 and a three-week stay as £2,129.
For January 2025, one week was listed as costing £689 and three weeks was £2,119.
“However, when the complainant had attempted to book a four-week holiday, they found they were quoted over £500 more than the advertised price of a three-week stay for the same period,” the ASA said.
“We understood that the three-week holidays listed in the ad were subject to a separate 15% ‘early bird’ discount.
“However, because that discount did not apply to the cost of a four-week holiday, it meant that the overall price of a four-week stay was more than that of a three-week stay and accounted for the higher price quoted to the complainant.”
The ASA ruled that the advert must not appear again in the form complained about.
“We told Sunspot Tours trading as Mercury Holidays that they should not describe a holiday as including a ‘free’ period of time, if the overall cost increased when adding the extra time period.”