Upheld

The ASA acknowledged that Groupon said an "up to" statement had been omitted from the promotion and we welcomed their assurance they would correct this in future. We noted one screenshot of the hotel's website showed that the best available rate for the date searched for, for a standard double room, for a one-night stay for two people, was £149 and that this included a full English breakfast.  We also noted that the other screenshot showed that the price normally charged by the hotel for an optional extra of providing a bottle of wine was £16.50 and that these two prices were equal to £165.50.  We acknowledged that Groupon had shown that a one-night's stay for two with a bottle of wine provided by the hotel could cost up to £165.50.  However, we considered most readers would understand from the ad that £165.50 was the price at which a one-night stay for two with breakfast was generally offered by the hotel. We noted the room price of £149 on which the savings claim was based related to a Friday night, when prices were likely to be higher than the average, and considered that, without the inclusion of the prefix "up to" before the discount and savings claims, the promotion was likely to mislead about the savings on offer for the one night stay.  Furthermore, we noted that the bottle of wine cost £16.50 when purchased as an upgrade to a standard reservation made via the hotel's website, but that neither ad made clear that the headline "value" included this additional cost.  We considered that the promotion should have stated more prominently that the value of the deal on offer was "up to" £165.50 and that it was based on a one-night's stay for two with breakfast and a bottle of wine on arrival.  We concluded that the "value" of the deal as stated was therefore misleading.

The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising), and 3.17 (Prices).