Background
Ad description
An offer on the deals website www.kgbdeals.co.uk, stated "£99 for a two night Isle of Wight escape for two, with a balcony room worth up to £296 at The Ocean View Hotel - save up to 67% and enjoy a delicious 3 course dinner on both nights!"
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the savings claim was misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
kgb (UK) Ltd (kgb) told us they had confirmed that the claimed prices were accurate with the merchant, prior to publishing the deal, but they did not have any supporting documentation to verify that those rates had actually been charged.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted kgb had requested written confirmation of the rates referenced in the ad from the merchant but, in the absence of any supporting documentation to demonstrate that those rates had actually been charged by the hotel, we considered that was insufficient substantiation for the savings claim and we concluded that the ad was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so. (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 3.7 Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation. (Substantiation).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told kgb to ensure that any savings claims were adequately substantiated in future.
