Consumer body which says it has found ‘potentially misleading’ mobile deals advertised by accommodation sites Hotels.com and Expedia.
It said it found that half the ‘mobile exclusive’ deals it found on Hotels.com were the same price when it cross checked the bookings on a laptop.
In the case of Expedia, four of the mobile ‘deals’ it checked were the same price on a laptop, and one – a two-night stay in Athens – was actually £15 more expensive if booked on a mobile.
“Even where savings could be found, they were sometimes exaggerated,” said Which?
“For example, Hotels.com advertised a ‘40% off mobile exclusive’ offer for a two-night stay at Ocean Drive Hotel in Seville, with the original price of £392 crossed out and a price of £235 in its place. While this was a saving of 40 per cent, mobile users would only save 14 per cent compared to booking on a laptop where the advertised price was £274, also down from £392,” it added.
Hotels.com encourages users to download its app with a pop-up message that reads “Save even more on the app – get up to 20% off select hotels”. However, Which? spot checks found no instances where its app prices were cheaper than on a regular phone browser.
Which? has raised concerns about Expedia and Hotels.com’s pricing practices with both the Advertising Standards Agency and the Competitions and Markets Authority.
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It said it found that half the ‘mobile exclusive’ deals it found on Hotels.com were the same price when it cross checked the bookings on a laptop.
In the case of Expedia, four of the mobile ‘deals’ it checked were the same price on a laptop, and one – a two-night stay in Athens – was actually £15 more expensive if booked on a mobile.
“Even where savings could be found, they were sometimes exaggerated,” said Which?
“For example, Hotels.com advertised a ‘40% off mobile exclusive’ offer for a two-night stay at Ocean Drive Hotel in Seville, with the original price of £392 crossed out and a price of £235 in its place. While this was a saving of 40 per cent, mobile users would only save 14 per cent compared to booking on a laptop where the advertised price was £274, also down from £392,” it added.
Hotels.com encourages users to download its app with a pop-up message that reads “Save even more on the app – get up to 20% off select hotels”. However, Which? spot checks found no instances where its app prices were cheaper than on a regular phone browser.
Which? has raised concerns about Expedia and Hotels.com’s pricing practices with both the Advertising Standards Agency and the Competitions and Markets Authority.
The post Accommodation sites could be misleading customers with mobile offers, says consumer body appeared first on Travel Gossip.
Continue reading...
