Ad description
A sponsored ad on Google stated "Travelodge - Edinburgh - Rooms From Only £19 Per Night".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the ad was misleading, because she was unable to find any rooms available at £19 per night in Edinburgh on the Travelodge website.
Response
Travelodge Hotels Ltd (Travelodge) said £19 a night reflected their lowest promotional price, which they referred to as their saver rate. They said in the past 12 months they had sold 14,000 rooms in Edinburgh for £19. They noted, however, that the lowest promotional rate available was now £22 for Edinburgh for the booking period 7 May 2013 to 24 March 2014, and that 22% of their rooms in Edinburgh were available for £22 in that period. They said they had asked for the ad to be amended.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA understood that Travelodge promoted the "Rooms from only £19 per night" message for their brand and therefore across all their hotels. We noted, however, that the ad specifically referenced Edinburgh and we considered that most consumers reading the ad would believe that a number of rooms would be available in Travelodge's Edinburgh hotels for £19 a night. We also noted that the ad did not state whether the £19 price was a standard price or a promotional price offered over a limited time period. In the absence of any further qualification, we considered that consumers would believe that the £19 price was a standard price and that a reasonable number of rooms would be available at that price throughout the available booking period.
We noted that although Travelodge had stated that over the last year they had sold 14,000 rooms in Edinburgh for £19 or less, there were no rooms available at that price for the promotional period May 2013 to March 2014 and that the lowest price was £22 a night. We welcomed the fact that they had amended the ad to state that rooms were available from £22 but considered that when the complainant viewed the claim, as there were no rooms available at £19, it was misleading and in breach of the Code.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules
3.1
3.1
Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.3
3.3
Marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead the consumer depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the marketing communication is constrained by time or space, the measures that the marketer takes to make that information available to the consumer by other means.
(Misleading advertising),
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),
3.9
3.9
Marketing communications must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify.
and
3.10
3.10
Qualifications must be presented clearly.
CAP has published a Help Note on Claims that Require Qualification.
(Qualification),
3.17
3.17
Price statements must not mislead by omission, undue emphasis or distortion. They must relate to the product featured in the marketing communication.
and
3.22
3.22
Price claims such as "up to" and "from" must not exaggerate the availability or amount of benefits likely to be obtained by the consumer.
(Prices).
Action
The claim should not appear again in its current form. We told Travelodge to ensure that if they promoted a "from" price, they held evidence to demonstrate that rooms were available in sufficient quantities at that "from" price.
CAP Code (Edition 12)
3.1 3.10 3.17 3.22 3.3 3.7 3.9
