The ASA has delivered yet another ruling on pricing this week. This time, it was in the context of two holiday listings seen on www.loveholidays.com:
- The first listing, seen on 20 March 2025, was for a hotel and return flights to New York. Text stated "£1,090pp [crossed out] £749pp".
- The second listing, seen on 24 March 2025, was for a hotel and return flights to Tenerife. Text stated "£1,119pp [crossed out] £699pp".
Two complainants found that when they came to book the holidays featured, the prices had increased, so they complained that the price claims seemed misleading.
We Love Holidays admitted that there were a few occasions when search results were out of date. However, they said that flight data on their website was updated continuously throughout the day, and accommodation data was updated three times a day. In that context, they believed they had reasonable systems in place to ensure the prices displayed on their website were as accurate as possible when considering the dynamic nature of the travel industry and their use of third-party suppliers.
They stated that they were taking steps to prevent similar issues from occurring in future. That included improving the speed and accuracy of price updates on their website, working with third-party suppliers to reduce the time it took for loveholidays to be notified of price changes, and reviewing their advertising practices to ensure that pricing information was presented clearly and accurately.
Decision
The ASA upheld the complaints. It considered that, in the absence of any qualifications, consumers would understand the price claims in both ads to mean those prices were available at the time they viewed the ad, and that amount was the price they would pay per person to book that holiday. They understood that when the complainants attempted to book the respective holidays online, the price of the holidays increased. They were informed this was due to live pricing, which was subject to change. It further understood that despite the price increase, the holidays continued to be advertised on the loveholidays website at the original lower price after the complainants attempted to book them.
The ASA reiterated that Love Holidays was responsible for taking reasonable steps to ensure that its stated prices were genuine and did not mislead.
CAP issued guidance on travel marketing in May, and the CMA has recently issued guidance on dynamic pricing. The CMA guidance specifically states that advertisers must be clear that prices can change and mustn't create the impression that a specific price is fixed or guaranteed, if prices are actually changing – traders must consider if they need to tell people upfront that prices can change and are not static. They must also make sure that any marketing of prices doesn't become immediately out of date.
It is important for advertisers to take steps to reduce the likelihood of consumers being misled, for example, by describing prices that are subject to change as "from" prices and stating when those prices were last updated.
Pricing claims in the spotlight
In this case, the ASA investigated, but the CMA could investigate the travel sector more widely as part of its work on dynamic pricing. As a result, it's important that travel companies get their house in order. For more information, see our consumer hub.
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