Booking.com admits advertised rates not always accurate
Accommodation website Booking.com admitted it was unable to guarantee its advertised hotel rates were 100% accurate during an investigation by advertising watchdogs.
Due to the amount of data that needed to be updated regularly, it said it was impossible to maintain 100% accuracy.
The Advertising Standards Authority was investigating a complaint by a customer who queried whether a hotel room was available at the price advertised on Booking.com.
The ad, for the Portland Heights Hotel & Leisure Centre, said the room was £102, a saving of £235 for two nights.
Booking.com said the ad contained a "real-time" rate based on the check-in/check-out data stored in the complainant’s cookie.
It said the vast majority of its re-targeted ads displayed accurate rates and that the cache that fed the prices to those ads was updated when rates became unavailable.
However, occasionally there would be differences between the data stored in the cache and the data stored on its booking system.
It said consumers would (or should) understand that a price might become unavailable due to fluctuations in the room rate and limited availability.
The ASA upheld the complaint and ruled that the ad was misleading. It said that customers would expect the price shown to be available at the time they saw the ad.
It told Booking.com to ensure it held adequate evidence to demonstrate that hotels were available at the advertised prices in future.
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
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Higher departure tax and visa cost, e-arrival card: Japan unleashes the fiscal weapon against tourists
Singapore to forbid entry to undesirable travelers with new no-boarding directive
Euromonitor International unveils world’s top 100 city destinations for 2025
U.S.A. and Israel attacks on Iran impact air movements in the Gulf (Update 1.00pm CET)
Global tourism exceeds 1.5 billion travelers announces UN-Tourism