Which? investigation reveals major hotel chains potentially misleading consumers with too-good-to-be-true sales claims

The internet is littered with enticing holiday offers - but Which?’s latest investigation has revealed that, among these deals, there are instances of major hotel chains using “bait pricing” to reel in customers.

This is where a product - in this case a hotel room - is advertised at an unrealistically low price. Either the discounted rooms do not exist in a reasonable quantity to satisfy demand or in more extreme cases, they do not exist at all. 

While this cynical pricing practice disappoints customers, it can boost sales for hoteliers, as once a consumer goes down a bargain hunting rabbit hole, they are far more likely to make a booking so that the time and effort that they have already invested is not wasted. 

In one example, Which? examined a promotion run by Travelodge advertising hotel rooms in London ‘from £55’, and outside of the capital ‘from £39.’ The adverts were phrased in such a way as to create urgency and leverage consumers’ fears of missing out on a bargain - in one example the advert read: 'Book Your Room Now! Book Early So You Don't Miss Out! Rooms from £55. Book Online Today. Book for Tonight.” To verify the adverts’ claims, Which? researchers collected thousands of prices for 138 participating Travelodge hotels over a six-month period to see how many rooms were actually available at the advertised price. Overall, 15 hotels Which? checked had less than 10 per cent of nights available at the advertised price - but there was nothing on the adverts to suggest limited availability.

For example, during July Travelodge was advertising stays in King’s Cross in London ‘from £55’, but when Which? checked availability for the six months from that date, it only found three nights available for £55 (1.7%). All three nights were Sundays in January - when hotels are likely to be struggling to fill rooms. Anyone seeing that advert in real time and expecting to book that rate for that month, or even a few months’ time, would be bitterly disappointed.

Slightly more £55 nights were available at the Travelodge London King’s Cross Royal Scot down the road, but still only eight per cent of those Which? checked. The majority of nights (64%) cost upwards of £100, and one example Which? found was an eyewatering £220.

In some locations, there was a reasonable chance of getting the deal - two thirds (66%) of nights Which? checked were £39 or below, as advertised, at Travelodge Burton, for example.

Under ASA guidance on travel marketing, retailers must make it clear that stock is limited, and the availability of a product must be “spread evenly across the advertised travel period” - but Which? believes this was not the case for a number of Travelodge’s examples.

The CAP code also says that retailers must monitor stock and withdraw or amend advertising once a product sells out at that price - yet Which? found examples of sales where it believes these rules were not followed.

For example, in July and August this year, Accor ran a 15% off member exclusive offer for its French hotels on Facebook. One of the hotels included in the promotion, a Mercure property near the Eiffel Tower, looked like a bargain with nightly rates advertised ‘from £129’, based on a two night stay. However when Which? checked on the last day of the sale, it found no nights available at this price over the whole 64 day travel period. The cheapest room Which? found was priced at £142, but the majority of nights (62%) cost well over £180, and peaked at £252. This was not an isolated incident though - in all, 15 of 19 (79%) Accor hotels advertised had no nights at the promotional rate when Which? checked on the sale’s final days. Per the CAP code rules, the adverts should have been withdrawn if the promotional rate rooms were sold out.The consumer champion is concerned that like Accor, Hilton also continued to promote some hotels at the sale rate after they sold out of rooms. Over the summer, Hilton ran a 20 per cent off sale. It had been running three months when Which? checked in September, and had less than a month remaining. Which? checked 13 of the participating hotels and found good availability at most - in fact 71 per cent of nights were available at the advertised price at the DoubleTree in London’s Chelsea. 

However, when Which? checked availability at Hilton’s historic Grand Hotel des Sablettes Plage - advertised as ‘from £133’ - it found no nights remaining at this price for the remaining 18 days that the offer was valid. In fact, the cheapest available night was £180. Hilton’s Tcs and Cs did state the offer was ‘subject to availability’, going some way to managing consumers’ expectations - but according to the CAP code, caveats like this are not enough.

In the past year, there have been multiple occasions where the ASA has taken action against firms for advertising breaches. Premier Inn for example was taken to task for a promotion advertising rooms in Edinburgh ‘from £35’. The ASA ruled that the offer was ‘likely to mislead’ due the low percentage of rooms available at the advertised rate. Earlier in November the ASA ruled against Eurostar for the second time this year, after an advert promoting fares “from £39’’ was found to have lacked significant booking availability.

Despite the ASA taking action in these cases, Which?’s latest research suggests more needs to be done to ensure businesses are complying with advertising rules and regulations through more effective deterrents. Which? has shared its findings with the ASA and is also calling for a review of Trading Standards to ensure adequate enforcement of consumer protection laws.  

Naomi Leach, Deputy Editor of Which? Travel, said: 

"All too often we see holidaymakers misled by too-good-to-be-true sales, where hotels reel consumers in with the promise of a great deal, only for it to be almost impossible to make a booking at the bargain rate.

"It is completely unacceptable that holiday companies feel they can push the boundaries, and it’s clear that stronger enforcement of consumer law is needed to ensure businesses know that misleading pricing will not be tolerated."

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:  

Methodology:

- Travelodge: Between late July and early August Which? collected 26 Travelodge adverts from Google’s Ad Transparency Centre. Researchers then collected prices for 138 properties over a six-month period to determine how many nights were available at the ‘from’ price promoted.

-Accor: In July and August this year Which? collected nine Accor adverts from Facebook and Instagram, with some of them promoting a 15% off members' sale. Researchers then collected prices for 46 participating properties (19 were for a French getaway promotion and 27 were for a generic promotion) for 180 days (or the travel period specified) to determine how many nights were available at the ‘from’ price promoted. 

-Hilton: In early August and early September Which? collected five adverts from Instagram, promoting two separate sales. Researchers then collected prices for 24 participating properties (13 of which were in the 20% off sale) for 180 days (or the travel period specified) to determine how many nights were available at the ‘from’ price promoted.

CAP Code:

- The guidelines on how many items in a sale must be sold at the advertised price in the CAP Code are vague. Up until 2016, the ASA applied a rule of thumb that at least 10 per cent of products or services should be available at the ‘from’ price, but the current guidance no longer sets out a fixed minimum threshold instead stating it must be “a significant proportion”. 

ASA Rulings:

-See here for further information on the ASA rulings against Premier Inn (January 2024) and Eurostar (January 2024, November 2024)

Rights of Reply:

A spokesperson for Travelodge said: “Travelodge fully complies with Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) guidelines and is confident in its data, advertisements and offers. We have reviewed this advertisement in detail and the number of rooms available at the low price of £55 is well over the ASA minimum requirement.

“While room availability at individual hotels is affected by customer booking patterns and local circumstances, our price messaging fully complies with ASA requirements and we remain transparent with our customers about costs, supported by our Best Price Finder* tool on our website.

“As the UK’s first budget hotel brand, Travelodge provides great value through competitive room prices, promotions and discounts. Our pricing and advertisements are regularly updated to ensure transparency and accuracy.”

*Travelodge’s ‘Best Price Finder’ tool on www.travelodge.co.uk is where our customers can go to find our best prices for the places they want to go, when they want to go. All a customer needs to do is click on our Best Price Finder, type in a place they want to go, or even their ideal budget, and the tool will help them find the right place at the right price and at the right time.

Hilton and Accor did not provide a response ahead of publication.

About Which?

Which? is the UK’s consumer champion, here to make life simpler, fairer and safer for everyone. Our research gets to the heart of consumer issues, our advice is impartial, and our rigorous product tests lead to expert recommendations. We’re the independent consumer voice that influences politicians and lawmakers, investigates, holds businesses to account and makes change happen. As an organisation we’re not for profit and all for making consumers more powerful.

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