Travelzoo accused in Center Parcs pricing row
Monday, 15 Sep, 2009
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Center Parcs has demanded an apology and legal assurances from Travelzoo over a "miseading" holiday offer.
The £199 ‘early bird’ 50% off deal was used with a Center Parcs logo for around a week without the company giving permission.
The offer on Travelzoo was also picked up by Facebook and Yahoo!
Complaints to both the Advertising Standards Authority and trading standards officials over copyright infringement are now being considered, Center Parcs sales and marketing director Colin Whaley revealed.
He accused Travelzoo of running misleading advertising which undermined the domestic holiday company’s brand position.
“We have taken legal advice on this because it is not right,” he said. “We will be asking for reassurance that it won’t happen again because we don’t want to be associated with misleading advertising.”
Whaley said he was particularly concerned that Travelzoo users were being given the impression that Center Parcs had started offering special price cuts when it is the company’s policy not to promote percentage discounts.
He conceded that a number of £199 rates had been made available but Travelzoo had made no attempt to seek permission to promote these or to use the company’s logo, he said.
Travelzoo Europe managing director Chris Loughlin said that a “genuine error” had been made and the company had apologised to Center Parcs.
Attempts were made to contact Center Parcs about running the offer and it had been taken down once Travelzoo was alerted to the error, he added.
by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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