Ad description
An ad for a B&B stay, seen on www.kgbdeals.co.uk, was headed "Idyllic farm retreat in South Devon £79". Text below stated "value: £298 discount: 73%". Further text stated "£79 for a two-night stay for two guests at Sampsons Farm Hotel worth up to £298 - save up to 73% on bed, breakfast and true English country hospitality" and "Our price and discount is based on Sampson Farm Hotel's published rate for a two-night stay in the Lustleigh Room with Queen Bed and breakfast ... how we calculated our discount ... The discount of 73% was calculated using the published rate of £298 for a two-night stay in a double room with breakfast found on Sampson Farm Hotel's website located here The following stay was available from Sampson Farm Hotel at 13:12 on 16/11/2012 for a two-night stay with breakfast for two starting on the 23rd November 2012".
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the savings claim was misleading and could be substantiated.
Response
kgb (UK) Ltd (kgb) said the advertised price and savings claim were calculated using the hotel's online booking facility. They provided a screenshot from the booking facility on 16 November that showed a cost of £298 for a two-night stay in the Lustleigh room, based on two adults sharing on a date within the offer period. They believed this substantiated the savings claim made in the ad. They said the deal related to all double rooms in the hotel, but they had been advised by their sales team that when double rooms were no longer available, customers who had purchased the offer had been offered rooms better than the Lustleigh room type at no additional charge.
Assessment
Not upheld
The complainant believed that one night's stay in the Lustleigh room was normally £87.50, and therefore two nights' stay would cost £175 rather than the £298 quoted in the ad. The "Tariff" page on the hotel website gave the cost of a one-night stay as £87.50, although the ASA had not viewed the page prior to the offer ending. We considered that consumers would understand the claim that the stay on offer was worth £298 to be based on what the room usually sold for, and noted that the ad clearly stated the basis of the savings claim. Whilst there appeared to be a potential discrepancy between the prices shown on the "Tariff" page of the hotel website and the prices shown on the booking page, we considered the prices shown on the booking page were the most relevant in substantiating the savings claim as they related to what was actually paid for the stay. We also noted that customers had been offered rooms of a higher specification once the lower value rooms had been fully booked. We concluded the claim was not misleading and had been substantiated.
We investigated the ad under 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) 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.
(Prices) but did not find it in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
