Ad description
An e-mail, sent by Holiday Extras Ltd, stated "Airport Parking Offer: Save up to 60% + exclusive discounts" in the subject line. Text in the main body of the e-mail stated "Get 10% off airport parking with this email", followed by a "Book now" button which linked to the advertiser's website. Underneath the button, text stated "Book your airport parking early to save up to 60% on the price you'd pay on the day".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the claim "Book your airport parking early to save up to 60% on the price you'd pay on the day" was misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
Holiday Extras Ltd said the savings claim was based on a comparison between the pre-booking price and the price a customer would pay if they arrived at the car park without a booking and paid on the day (the "gate rate"). They provided a spreadsheet which they said showed all bookings at the 29 airports at which they offered parking, in the month leading up to the date on which the complainant viewed the ad. They said 17% of all their customers in that period saved 60% or more off the gate rate. In addition, at least 10% of customers who booked parking at 12 of the airports saved 60% or more off the gate rate, and smaller percentages of customers saved at least 60% at a further six airports. They said they did not claim that customers could save up to 60% at all airports; rather, they offered a booking service through which customers could save up to 60%. They said that, by including all airports where savings of 60% were available, then 91% of bookings during the period were at airports where it was possible to achieve or exceed the advertised saving. They considered that saving, which could potentially be accessed by over 90% of their customers, was one which could fairly be advertised as it was in the challenged claim.
Holiday Extras said the prices in the spreadsheet were drawn from the reservations system that underpinned their website, which contained all their selling prices and allowed them to see the price paid by a customer at the point of booking. They said the calculations were based on the actual prices paid by customers rather than on a price list, because that was easier and more accurate. The system also stored gate rates, which were provided by the suppliers. Holiday Extras said they had not considered it necessary to corroborate the supplier's claims about pricing. They said they generally acted as agents for the suppliers and sold at prices set by them.
Holiday Extras said they had been making the advertising claim, or versions of it, for at least 15 years, and had not previously received any complaints.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA understood from Holiday Extras that some of the car parks at some of the airports did not allow customers to turn up on the day without pre-booking and that it was predominantly the case that those car parks included a 'meet and greet' service which necessitated pre-booking.
We reviewed the data provided by Holiday Extras. Whilst we acknowledged that, when taken as a whole, the data showed that 17% of all their customers in the period covered had saved 60% or more off their selected car parks’ gate rate (in instances where there was a gate rate to compare against), we noted that at five airports where at least some car parks did have a gate rate against which to compare Holidays Extra's rate, no customers saved 60% or more against the gate rate. We therefore concluded 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), 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), 3.11 3.11 Marketing communications must not mislead consumers by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product. (Exaggeration) 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 ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Holiday Extras Ltd to ensure they held sufficient evidence to support their savings claims.
