Travel watchdog slams operators for ‘rush-to-book’ offers

An investigation by Which? has found that tour operators are unfairly rushing customers into booking holidays with time-limited offers.

In 43% of adverts examined by Which?, it found that some of the holidays were available at the same or lower prices after the sale ended, suggesting there was no need for customers to rush to book.

Which? found examples of deals where prices were cut after a sale period ended and cases where short term sales were undercut by follow-up sales soon after.

It identified three practices that travel companies use which it believes are misleading:

* Extending deals beyond the advertised deadlines – for example, Reader Offers advertised for an Adventure of the Seas cruise at a saving of £500 if holiday makers booked before 17 April. However the same saving was still available on 26 April, nine days later

*Cutting prices after the ‘hurry deal’ offer has finished – an advert by Warner Leisure Hotels told people to ‘hurry book by 1 May’ and ‘save up to 40% on selected summer 2012 breaks.’ However, on equivalent deals that appeared 10 days after the discount was supposed to end, five prices had gone down further

* Repeating ‘hurry deals’ one after another – for example, Princess Cruises sent an email stating a ‘dream cruise’ was ‘only available for five days’ and three and half weeks later started a 6-day sale with lower prices for the same cabins.

Which? also investigated emails sent to customers, including one from Thomson Al Fresco which promised 50% off selected holidays for bookings made within 10 days, however the same holiday was still available at the same price 20 days later.
 
Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: "It’s unacceptable that holiday-makers are hurried into making decisions that might not give them the best value for money.
 
"Travel companies understandably have to adjust prices up or down according to demand. But they shouldn’t kid consumers that the prices on offer won’t be around for long."
 
Which? wants travel companies to stop hurrying consumers into buying holidays when it might be in their interests to wait and research their holidays further.

It has not reported any of the companies investigated for false advertising.

** What do you think about the Which? report? Do you think operators are wrong to offer ‘hurry’ deals? Are customers better off waiting to get the best value for money? Send us your views by clicking on POST YOUR COMMENT below.

By Linsey McNeill