Two major travel agents slapped with advertising bans

Sunshine.co.uk and Southall Travel have both been ordered not to repeat adverts that misled consumers about the overall cost of their travel.

The Advertising Standards Authority upheld complaints against both companies regarding price claims made on their websites.

Sunshine.co.uk ran an ad in February 2017 for the Grande Villas Resort in Florida in which it stated that customers ‘may’ be charged a resort fee, which was usually 6%, but it didn’t include this in the ‘total’ holiday price.

A customer complained that the advert didn’t make it clear that the room tax wasn’t included in the package price of £983.40.

In its defence, Sunshine.co.uk said it’s website did make it clear that additional taxes might be charged. It said it was selling holidays 18 months in advance of travel, during which time taxes could change. If it included the cost of the tax in its prices and the tax increased, it would have to pay the difference at a cost to its business.

However, the ASA said quoted prices must include non-optional taxes and fees that applied to all or most buyers. The only exception was when those fees and taxes could not be calculated in advance, it said.

"We considered that the additional costs were material information that consumers needed in order to make an informed decision about whether to make a booking," added the watchdog.

"We understood the resort fees and tourist taxes were subject to change and that if a customer booked far in advance the cost could change in the interim, between booking and the date of holiday.

"However, we considered that those costs at the time of booking could still be calculated in advance. The fact that the fees were subject to change did not preclude the advertiser from presenting the costs at the time the booking was made, and making clear that those fees were subject to change.

"Because the ad did not make clear the total price of the hotel including the cost of the additional taxes and fees at the time of booking, we concluded that the ad was misleading."

Southall Travel advertised flights with Air France from £222 on its website last December, but when a customer was told that the advertised fare wasn’t available after they called to book, they challenged whether the price claim was misleading.

Southall provided the ASA with screenshots of 55 return Air France flights priced at £222 or lower and said the prices were valid at the time the ad was seen. They stated that the offer started in late 2017 and had ended in early 2018. They said that all flight prices and availability emanated from Air France.

They said that they were satisfied that advertising the prices as ‘from £222’ was not misleading to consumers because it was described as a "special offer" and as a "from" price.

However, the ASA said the promotion did not include any qualifications to indicate that the offer was subject to availability, nor did it set out any qualifications as to which flights the fare applied to.

"The ASA considered that in that context consumers would understand the claim ‘Economy fr £222’ to mean that a reasonable quantity of Air France economy flights available through Southall Travel would be priced at £222 and that there would not be any restrictions such as travel dates and destinations for those flights in the absence of information that stated otherwise," it said.

"We understood from the information provided by the advertiser that the offer did not apply to all destinations and travel dates. Although the advertiser provided evidence to show that a number of flights were available at or below the ‘from’ price of £222, we considered that the ad breached the Code because it did not state the applicable conditions and qualifications which applied to the offer."

Both companies were told not to repeat the adverts in their current form. Southall Travel was told to ensure that significant limitations and qualifications for promotional offers, including restrictions on travel dates and destinations, were clearly stated in future ads.
Sunshine.co.uk was told to ensure they made clear the total cost of the booking including the resort fee and tourist tax.