ASA Adjudication on Premier Inn Hotels Ltd

Ad

A national press ad was headlined "Everything you'd expect at a 4* hotel. At a budget price." A table of contents was headed "PREMIER INN" and text listed " Your choice of 570 UK hotels - more than anyone else", "All you can eat, cooked breakfast", "Wi-Fi access & digital TV", "Friendly, on-site pub / restaurants", "Comfy beds and spacious rooms", "Awarded Best Business Hotel 2009", with a tick next to each phrase. A roundel stated "ROOMS FROM £50 A NIGHT" and further text stated "And with our money back Good Night Guarantee, it's the smart business choice. Switch today." The contact details were provided. Small print stated "Additional charges apply for breakfast and Wi-Fi. Digital TV available in 83% of rooms."

Issue

1. Seven complainants challenged whether the table of features in the ad was misleading, because it implied that all of the features were available in standard rooms at the advertised price, and because it was contradicted by the small print.

2. One complainant, who did not consider that Premier Inn hotels could be classed as 4* hotels, challenged whether the table of features in the ad was misleading, because it implied the hotels offered facilities of a 4* standard and could reasonably be compared with other hotels which did have a 4* rating.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. Premier Inn Hotels Ltd (Premier Inn) said the ad listed the features of Premier Inn hotels, and stated that rooms were available from £50 a night, but did not state that anything other than the room was available at the advertised £50 price. They felt that was clarified by the small print stating that there were additional charges for breakfast and Wi-Fi access.  They pointed out that some features listed in the ad did not relate to features of a particular room, but to the features of the hotel chain in general; for example that Premier Inn had been awarded Best Business Hotel 2009 or had more hotels than anyone else.  On that basis they felt the list would not be understood to be a list of features automatically provided to customers who booked a £50 room.  They added that the same features were offered in all their hotel rooms, which varied only in size.

2. They said the list of features indicated that their hotels had certain key features a guest could typically expect of a 4* star hotel, but they did not feel the ad suggested that their hotels had every feature that every 4* hotel might. They acknowledged that 4* hotels may have additional features and believed that would be understood by most readers.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA noted that the list described some features that related to the hotel chain, but that some, such as "Wi-Fi access & digital TV", were specific to the hotel rooms.  We acknowledged that the ad stated "ROOMS FROM £50 A NIGHT" and noted that small print in the ad qualified the availability of some listed features by stating "Additional charges apply for breakfast and Wi-Fi. Digital TV available in 83% of rooms".  However, we noted that each feature on the list was ticked and considered the combination of the checklist of features and the positive tick would suggest to customers that each listed feature was standard in Premier Inn hotel rooms.  We considered that the prominence of the "£50", combined with the ticked checklist of features, gave a strong visual impression that all the features listed were included in a standard £50 price, and that customers might not understand some features were subject to extra charges.  Because of that, we considered that the small print explaining the additional charges contradicted the visual impression given by the main copy in the ad and concluded the ad was misleading.

On this point, the ad breached CAP Code clauses 7.1, 7.2 (Truthfulness) and 19.1 (Other comparisons).

2. Upheld

We understood that national quality assurance standards offered star ratings on the basis of a combination of the availability of facilities and services offered and the quality of those facilities and services.  We noted that the ad listed some of the features the hotel chain claimed to offer and understood that some of those features would be expected at 4* hotels and one (wireless) at a 5* hotel.  However, we noted that the ad claimed "everything you'd expect at a 4* hotel" and considered that 4* hotels would generally offer a more extensive range of facilities and services than just those listed in the ad.  Although we noted that the ad listed the services it offered, we considered that customers might understand that the Premier Inn hotels offered the same range of facilities and the same quality of services as 4* hotels.

Because the ad claimed Premier Inn hotel rooms offered "everything you'd expect at a 4* hotel", but were unlikely to offer the same range of facilities and services as most 4* hotels, we concluded the ad was misleading.

On this point, the ad breached CAP Code clauses 7.1, 7.2 (Truthfulness) and 19.1 (Other comparisons).

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)