Mercury Holidays has been ordered by advertising watchdogs not to repeat an advert in which it offered a fourth week free to customers booking three-week winter holidays to Madeira.
The ad, which appeared in the Daily Mail on 11 May 2024, was for ‘ultra all-inclusive’ five-star holidays in Madeira, which cost from £689 for a week.
The advert included a table of prices for holidays from November 2024 to February 2025, which showed that the fourth week was free for departures from 1 November to 15 December 2024 and from 3 January to 28 February 2025.
However, when a customer tried to book a four-week holiday, they were charged £500 more than the advertised price for a three-week break, said the Advertising Standards Authority.
Mercury Holidays’ parent, Sunspot Tours, gave the ASA two examples of eligible ‘winter warmers’ holidays between November and December 2024 and January and February 2025, which it believed demonstrated that the fourth week was free for consumers as advertised.
In its ruling, the ASA explained that the complainant was charged more than £500 for the extra week because while three-week holidays benefited from a 15% early-booking discount, this didn’t apply to four-week holidays.
Upholding the complaint, the ASA said advertising codes state that products must not be described as ‘free’ if the price of the product the consumer must buy to take advantage of the offer had been increased, except where the increase resulted from factors that were unrelated to the cost of the promotion.
“Because we considered that consumers would expect the cost of a four-week holiday to be the same as that for a three-week holiday, if the fourth week was advertised as ‘free’, and as that was not the case, we concluded therefore that the ad was misleading,” it said.
It told Mercury Holidays that it should not describe a holiday as including a ‘free’ period of time if the overall cost increased when adding the extra time period.
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The ad, which appeared in the Daily Mail on 11 May 2024, was for ‘ultra all-inclusive’ five-star holidays in Madeira, which cost from £689 for a week.
The advert included a table of prices for holidays from November 2024 to February 2025, which showed that the fourth week was free for departures from 1 November to 15 December 2024 and from 3 January to 28 February 2025.
However, when a customer tried to book a four-week holiday, they were charged £500 more than the advertised price for a three-week break, said the Advertising Standards Authority.
Mercury Holidays’ parent, Sunspot Tours, gave the ASA two examples of eligible ‘winter warmers’ holidays between November and December 2024 and January and February 2025, which it believed demonstrated that the fourth week was free for consumers as advertised.
In its ruling, the ASA explained that the complainant was charged more than £500 for the extra week because while three-week holidays benefited from a 15% early-booking discount, this didn’t apply to four-week holidays.
Upholding the complaint, the ASA said advertising codes state that products must not be described as ‘free’ if the price of the product the consumer must buy to take advantage of the offer had been increased, except where the increase resulted from factors that were unrelated to the cost of the promotion.
“Because we considered that consumers would expect the cost of a four-week holiday to be the same as that for a three-week holiday, if the fourth week was advertised as ‘free’, and as that was not the case, we concluded therefore that the ad was misleading,” it said.
It told Mercury Holidays that it should not describe a holiday as including a ‘free’ period of time if the overall cost increased when adding the extra time period.
The post Advertising body bans operator’s misleading ‘free week’ ad appeared first on Travel Gossip.
Continue reading...
