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Travelodge criticised by advertising watchdogs
Budget hotel chain Travelodge has been criticised by advertising watchdogs for a spring promotion in which it claimed to offer rooms in central London from £39 a night.
Upholding a complaint from a consumer who had been unable to book a room at that price, the watchdog found the offer breached its advertising code.
Travelodge claimed more than 30,000 rooms were available in central London at £39 or less during its promotion which ran from March 22 to June 9.
However, out of the 79 nights for which the offer had run, there had been 17 for which there had been no availability at all at any hotel and a further 22 nights where availability had been significantly restricted, while almost two-thirds of availability had been over the 15 Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays that had fallen during the offer period, said the Advertising Standards Authority.
Of the remaining 19 hotels, availability across the offer period had been significantly restricted at two of them.
Although the ad suggested there might be some limited availability, the ASA said Travelodge needed to demonstrate that availability had been spread reasonably evenly across the offer period and the locations that were included in it so that recipients would have a reasonable chance of being able to take advantage of it.
The ASA said: "Because we considered Travelodge had not demonstrated that, we concluded that the claim had not been substantiated and was misleading."
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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