The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that an advert run by Inspired Luxury Escapes was misleading as it did not show the difference between two all-inclusive listings.
The Inspired Luxury Escapes website featured a listing in April for the Cook’s Club hotel in Corfu.
The listing showed two types of board were available to be booked: “All Inclusive” and “Ultra All Inclusive from +£151pp”.
The complainant, who believed there was only one type of ‘all-inclusive’ offered at the hotel, challenged whether the ad was misleading.
Broadway Travel Service (Wimbledon) – trading as Inspired Luxury Escapes – said that, as a travel agent, it acted “purely as an intermediary in the transaction”.
It said the relevant terms and conditions were based on the supplier’s description and pricing, and that pricing often differed between suppliers for the same properties based on various criteria.
In this instance, there were two suppliers who had worded the description differently, something Broadway Travel Service said was a frequent occurrence.
After being informed of the complaint, Broadway had been in contact with the supplier whose description referred to an ‘Ultra All Inclusive’ option, and this description had been amended on the website to ‘All Inclusive’.
The ASA upheld the complaint, saying it considered that Inspired Luxury Escapes was responsible for the contents of its website.
“We noted that the ad did not provide any information to explain to consumers what each board type included,” said the ruling.
“We considered that, in the absence of that information, consumers were likely to understand that the ‘Ultra All Inclusive’ booking option offered better accommodation or more comprehensive services or facilities than the ‘All Inclusive’ option.
“Because consumers were likely to interpret the ad to mean there was a material difference in the level of accommodation or services/facilities on offer between the two board options, and we had not seen evidence that this was the case, the ad was likely to mislead.”
The ASA said the ad must not appear again in its current form. It also told Broadway Travel to ensure the agency included material information about different board types in its ads.
Picture: Cook’s Club hotel in Corfu