ASA Adjudication on TUI UK Ltd

Ad

An e-mail from a travel agent had the subject heading "Weekend savings - Holidays from Leeds Bradford from £184". Text in the body copy of the email stated "Weekend Winter Bonanza! If you're dreaming of escaping the cold dark nights this winter, then now is the time to book. You could save up to a massive 10% online this weekend only! Hurry though, offer ends Monday". Further text, under the heading "A selection of our best deals", stated "Majorca 09-Oct-2008 Leeds Bradford 4T Self Catering 14 nights from £184".

Issue

The complainant, who had clicked on the relevant link within two minutes of receiving the e-mail but found that holidays to Majorca were priced at £343 per person, challenged the availability of the holiday to Majorca at £184.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

TUI UK Ltd (TUI) said the advertised offer was available for the price of £184. They submitted copies of screenshots from their selling system, which they said showed the offer from Leeds Bradford airport priced at £197 between 30th July and 8th September 2008. They explained that booking via the website would have given the customer a discount of 9%, bringing the price down to £179, which with the addition of a fuel charge of £5 gave a total price of £184.

TUI said that the advertised offer was very specific and that it was only that advertised offer that would have been available to consumers, i.e. Majorca, 9th October 2008, 4T self-catering for 14 nights flying from Leeds Bradford airport. They said, because the offer was so specific, they did not have 10% of those holidays available at the advertised price of £184. TUI said they were willing to amend the wording of their ads in future to make that clearer, and they welcomed suggestions as to how they might do that.

TUI explained that the 'from' price quoted in the ad was based on the maximum occupancy of four people sharing. They pointed out that the terms and conditions at the bottom of the ad stated "all prices are based on maximum occupancy". They explained that when a customer clicked through to the results page on their website, they could see the maximum occupancy stated for each result, as well as the number of people they had searched for, which could be changed to suit their party size. TUI submitted copies of screenshots from their website in order to demonstrate that. TUI said the complaint had highlighted the need to clearly state the full occupancy numbers for each accommodation, so that a consumer would be aware from the start of the booking process how many people would be required to secure a holiday at the advertised price. They said they had taken steps to address that issue.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA noted the screenshots submitted by TUI, and their argument that because the advertised offer was very specific, they did not have as many as 10% of those holidays available at the advertised price of "from £184". We welcomed their willingness to make any necessary amendments to the ad. However, we considered that the advertised holiday to Majorca was not available in sufficient quantities to ensure that consumers had a reasonable prospect of obtaining the holiday at the advertised price of £184. Because of that, we also considered that the ad should have made clear that the advertised price applied to selected accommodation only or had extremely limited availability.

We noted that the 'from' price of £184 was based on the maximum occupancy of four people sharing, and we understood that that price would rise if the accommodation was booked for less than four people. We also noted that the terms and conditions stated that prices were based on maximum occupancy. However, we understood from the screenshots provided by TUI that the results tables returned by a customer's search on their website did not always state the occupancy number on which the price was based on. We also understood that it was not always clear whether the price stated was the rate per person or per room. We acknowledged that TUI had offered to amend their ads to state clearly the maximum occupancy. Nevertheless, we considered that the ad should have made clear that the advertised rate of £184 was based on the maximum occupancy of four people sharing, so that it was clear to customers that the advertised price was effectively a per person, and not a per room, rate. Because it did not, and because the advertised holiday was severely limited in availability, we concluded that the ad was misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 16.4 (Availability of products).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We advised TUI to contact the CAP Copy Advice team for guidance when preparing future similar ads.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)