ASA upholds complaint against Owners Direct
Owners Direct has been told to ensure future marketing campaigns are not misleading, after a complaint to the Advertising Standards Association was upheld.
A customer complained an email promoting holiday accommodation in Malaga from £119 per week could not be substantiated.
HomeAway UK Ltd, trading as Owners Direct, said the promotion included a ‘prices correct as of’ qualification and said it had no control over pricing as owners of properties used the website to promote their accommodation to rent out and directly entered the cost.
The company also said an image used in the promotion was intended to represent holiday accommodation in the specified area and did not believe consumers would interpret the image and claim to mean that the property shown was available at the advertised ‘from’ price.
The ASA told Owners Direct to ensure future marketing communications did not misleadingly imply that holiday accommodation was available at a minimum price and that they held sufficient documentary evidence to demonstrate that a property was available at the advertised ‘from’ price for a sufficient number of weeks.
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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