Teletext to make website changes after misleading price claim
Teletext Holidays has promised to make changes to its website after being hauled before advertising watchdogs.
The Advertising Standards Authority launched an investigation into the company after a consumer complained that they were unable to book a holiday for the price advertised on teletextholidays.co.uk.
The complainant questioned whether the price claim was misleading as when they tried to book a £377 holiday at 2pm on March 9, they were told it was unavailable, yet when they checked website more than three hours later, the holiday was still being advertised for the same price. Next to this text was an icon which, when hovered over, said "Prices correct at 09/03 – 17.33pm".
In its defence, Teletext told the ASA that while flight prices were updated automatically every four hours, accommodation prices were only updated daily at 5am. As the flight price of the holiday in question had not changed between 2pm when the complainant tried to book and 5.33pm it was shown as still being available, however the accommodation was not.
The sales agent had initiated a process to remove the offer immediately after the complainant had called to book, however, Telextext said that as it offered approximately 100 billion holiday combinations at any given time, the removal process was not simple. As a result, the accommodation price was not updated until 5am the next day.
Teletext said it had been its intention for prices to be displayed as ‘fron’ prices and it wasn’t sure why the complainant hadn’t been served ‘from’ prices.
For this reason, the ASA considered the advert was likely to mislead customers. "We told Teletext Holidays to ensure that where they stated a specific time that a price had been updated, that should relate to the updated price of the advertised holiday package as a whole, or alternatively that the ad should specifically state the times at which prices of the component parts of the holiday package had been updated," it said.
"We also told them to ensure that, where holiday prices were subject to change and had limited availability, that was made clear in a prominent statement, and that such prices were described as ‘from’ prices."
However, it the ASA said that by undertaking systematic daily price updates Teletext had met the requirements for monitoring stocks when promoting third-party holiday packages.
"We further noted that Teletext Holidays had engaged in a rapid removal process when they became aware that the price was no longer available," added the ASA.
"We considered that the steps taken by Teletext Holidays to withdraw the advertised price when they became aware that it was no longer available was sufficient."
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 
Qatar Airways offers flexible payment options for European travellers
Airlines suspend Madagascar services following unrest and army revolt
Digital Travel Reporter of the Mirror totally seduced by HotelPlanner AI Travel Agent
Strike action set to cause travel chaos at Brussels airports
Phocuswright reveals the world's largest travel markets in volume in 2025