Hostel company told off over false TripAdvisor claims
A walking tour operator has been reprimanded by advertising chiefs after falsely claiming it was recommended on TripAdvisor.
Dublin-based HostelCulture International had put out a leaflet promoting walking tours in London, which stated ‘London Free Tours by HostelCulture Recommended on TripAdvisor’.
But someone complained to the Advertising Standards Association that the advertiser was not actually recommended on TripAdvisor.
When investigated by the ASA, HostelCulture International said recommendations for the London walking tours had been posted on TripAdvisor and supplied a link to the page.
But the ASA noted that the recommendations had only been posted on TripAdvisor after the complaint had been raised.
This meant it broke the code, which stipulates that any claims need to be in place before an ad is published.
The ASA upheld the complaint and told HostelCulture International not to publish claims that consumers were likely to regard as objective unless it held adequate evidence for them at the time of publication.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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