Ad description
A website for Hilton Hotels' loyalty scheme included a web page headed "EENY, MEENY, MINEY... MINIBREAK. BOOK EARLY AND SAVE UP TO 20%. Choose from over 290 hotels, across 54 countries and stay from only £65 this spring". Underneath it featured a price grid which displayed hotel names and prices along with "BOOK NOW" buttons. This grid included “Bed & Breakfast Prices from”, "Courthouse DoubleTree by Hilton London Regent Street ... £204", "DoubleTree by Hilton London - Tower of London ... £125", "DoubleTree by Hilton London – Victoria ... £113", "DoubleTree by Hilton London - West End ... £179", "Hilton London Euston ... £163" and "The Bentley London, A Hilton Hotel ... £210".
Small print at the bottom of the web page stated "Terms & Conditions. Subject to availability at participating hotels in the UK, Ireland, Europe, Middle East & Africa. Prices featured are Advance Purchase rates, based on weekend arrival dates, and already represent the 20% saving for booking in advance. They must be booked at least 21 days prior to arrival. Full non-refundable payment by credit card required at time of booking. All rates are per room per night based on 2 adults sharing a standard double or twin room, and other than VAT exclude taxes, gratuities and incidental charges. The prices featured are 'from' and as such may increase prior to booking depending on availability and demand at any given time. Length of stay requirements and blackout dates may apply".
Issue
The complainant challenged the availability of rooms at the advertised "from" prices.
Response
Hilton International Hotels (UK) Ltd (Hilton) said in recognition of the fluctuating nature of hotel prices their terms and conditions stated that prices "may increase prior to booking depending on availability and demand at any given time". However, when advertising "from" prices they said they made every effort to ensure that at least 10% of their advertised inventory was available at the "from" price. They said they operated a yield management system, which meant that prices fluctuated regularly depending on factors such as demand and proximity to the stay dates, and that it was therefore very difficult for them to provide availability data. However, they were able to provide booking data and provided a spreadsheet for the relevant hotels that detailed the prices and number of room nights that were sold during the period for which the ad ran ‒ between 20 February and 30 June 2013.
They said that the "from" prices in the ad were not live and that this would not be technologically feasible, but that they were updated twice during the period for which the ad ran. They provided a breakdown of the "from" prices during this period and of the percentages of bookings made that were at the "from" prices or less. These varied from 32% to 72%. They said that with the exception of the DoubleTree Victoria, the bookings were spread fairly evenly during the period of the ad, and that such bookings were made at around the time the complaint was submitted. They said that in light of this complaint they had introduced more comprehensive training on lead rate advertising and would roll this out throughout the organisation. They said that in future they would update their "from" prices on a monthly basis, and they were also considering shorter promotional periods to reduce the likelihood of any issues occurring.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA noted Hilton could show the number of rooms sold at the "from" prices, but because of their flexible yield management system, could not identify or substantiate the number they had made available at the "from" prices during the time the ad appeared.
The ad made clear that the prices were "from" prices and stated in the terms and conditions that the prices "may increase prior to booking depending on availability and demand at any given time". However, we considered that consumers would still expect a reasonable number of rooms to be available at the "from" prices during the period for which the ad was live. The complainant said they had tried to book at the advertised rates over a period of several months, but had been unable to find rooms at the advertised "from" prices.
The ad contained a list of hotels and gave "from" prices for each one. The ad stated you could book early and save up to 20%, but did not state that the advance purchase rates applied to a specific period only. In the absence of any qualification regarding the relevant period we considered that consumers would expect to be able to find rooms at the stated "from" prices in those hotels when booking stays for the foreseeable future. Whilst we acknowledged that the booking data provided by Hilton Hotels demonstrated that well over 10% of bookings made during the period the ad was live were at the "from" prices or less, these included bookings for stays up to the end of January 2014. The ongoing period that we considered the rate reduction was presented as applying to, meant these bookings represented only a fraction of the total number of rooms available, and the sold data was not sufficient to demonstrate availability.
Because Hilton had been unable to show that at least 10% of the relevant hotel rooms had been available at the "from" prices, we concluded they had not substantiated the price claims in the ad and had therefore breached 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. (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) and 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 ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Hilton to ensure they could demonstrate that they had sufficient availability of rooms at "from" prices at the time future ads appeared.
