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Airbnb management company Facebook ad banned
A company that manages Airbnb properties on behalf of their owners has been banned from claiming it is the biggest in the world after failing to provide any evidence to back up the statement.
Advertising watchdogs told Airsorted not to repeat the claim seen in a Facebook advert in May this year after it was challenged by one of its competitors, Hostmaker.
A subsequent investigation by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) found that the claim was misleading as it could not be substantiated.
Airsorted said it had used the term ‘World’s largest’ because it operated in more cities and more countries than its competitors. It provided a list of competitors that had operations in both one country and at multi-country level.
Airsorted also stated that based on publicly available information from its competitors, it managed more properties overall. It stated that the information was verifiable on both their own and their competitors’ websites.
In its ruling, the ASA said: "We noted that Airsorted stated that they managed more properties in total than their competitors. However, because Airsorted had not provided any evidence to demonstrate that was the case, we concluded that the claim was misleading."
Also, the ASA said advertising codes require an ad that features a comparison with an identifiable competitor, ‘including one that could be identified by implication’ needs to include or direct consumers to information to back up the claim.
"The ad did not provide any information to ensure consumers were able to check the comparative claim, nor did it include a signpost to information on the basis of that comparison," added the ASA.
"Therefore, because the ad did not allow consumers to verify the comparison, we concluded that the ad breached the Code."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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