ASA Adjudication on Lorraine Nevins

Ad

a. One ad, on a holiday website, gave information about an apartment in Larnaca, Cyprus. Text stated “It is a short walk to the local supermarkets, restaurants, pubs and the beach … Nearest Airport: Larnaca - 15 mins. Nearest Restaurant: Pyla Village Tavern - 0.5 kms [sic]. Nearest Beach: Larnaca - 1 miles [sic] … You may want to visit the local Bowling Centre which is only a 15 minute walk away where you will find a cafe, 2 floors of bowling, pool tables and a childrens [sic] play area … A 20 minute car ride from the Villa takes you to the exciting town of Ayia Napa where you can find a large variety of restaurants and night clubs … A detailed map will be provided upon booking.” b. a second ad made similar claims and also stated “A Stunning 3-bedroom Villa close to the tourist area and only a 15-minute drive from Larnaca Marina" and “Larnarca - 1 km”.

Issue

The complainant challenged whether the following claims in the ads were misleading and could be substantiated.  

1. "The penthouse is about a 15 minute drive from Larnaca Marina";

2. "A 20 minute car ride takes you to ... Ayia Napa";

3. "The property is located within a 15 minute drive from Larnaca Airport";

4. "the local bowling centre ... is only a 15 minute walk away"; and

5. "A detailed map will be provided upon booking".

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1.-3. Lorraine Nevins stated that she had personally made the journeys and considered the travel times to be correct, although they could depend on traffic.   She said that the 3-bedroom villa was only a short walk from the apartment and there was therefore little difference in journey times from that site.  She provided the address of the villa.

4. She stated that the bowling centre might be a 25-30 minute walk.

5. She provided a copy of the information sheet given to the guests, which included local contact numbers and directions.

Assessment

1.-4. Upheld

The ASA noted that Lorraine Nevins had acknowledged that the bowling centre might be more than 15 minutes walk from the properties and had not provided any documentation, such as maps or distances between sites, in support of the claims.  Because we had not seen sufficient substantiation in support of the claims relating to journey times from the apartment and villa, we concluded that the ad was misleading on those points.

On these points, the ads breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 and 7.2 (Truthfulness).

5. Upheld

We noted that the information sheet provided to guests included directions to the villa from the airport, but did not include any maps.  Because we had not seen sufficient substantiation to support the claim that "A detailed map will be provided upon booking", we concluded that the ad was misleading on that point.

On this point, the ads breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 and 7.2 (Truthfulness).

Action

The ads must not appear again in their current form.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)