Hotel chains promoting cut-price rooms may be misleading customers using “bait pricing”, says a new investigation by Which?.
The consumer champion called advertising at unrealistically low prices a “cynical pricing practice” that boosts sales for hoteliers by “reeling in” customers.
It found that during a promotion run by Travelodge advertising hotel rooms in London “from £55” and outside of the capital “from £39” – 15 hotels had less than 10 per cent of nights available at the advertised price.
Which? researchers collected prices for 138 Travelodge properties over six months to see how many rooms were available at the advertised “from” price.
In one example, Travelodge King’s Cross had just three Sundays in January available for £55 when Which? checked availability for the six months from that date.
Elsewhere in London, Travelodge King’s Cross Royal Scot offered just 8 per cent of nights for £55 with 64 per cent of room rates costing over £100.
Which? found certain locations that gave a better chance of finding the advertised deals, including Travelodge Burton, where 66 per cent of nights the watchdog checked were £39 or below.
Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) travel marketing guidelines state that retailers must make it clear that stock is limited, and the availability of a product must be “spread evenly across the advertised travel period”.
In the summer of this year, Accor promoted a 15 per cent off member’s sale for its French hotels with nightly rates advertised “from £129” on Facebook.
Investigators found that 15 of 19 Accor hotels advertised had no nights at the promotional rate across the whole 64-day travel period when Which? checked on the sale’s final days.
Instead, 62 per cent of rooms cost well over £180, with prices peaking at £252.
CAP Code rules – the rules that specify standards for accuracy and honesty that businesses must stick to – outline that these adverts should have been withdrawn if price-cut rooms sold out.
Hilton Hotels similarly advertised two separate sales over the summer.
According to Which? prices from 24 participating properties checked in September proved that Hilton was promoting some hotels at a 20 per cent-off sale rate after they sold out of rooms.
While 13 hotels still had good availability within the offer, at Hilton’s Grand Hotel des Sablettes Plage - advertised as ‘from £133’ - no nights remained at this price for the remaining 18 days that the offer was still valid. Instead, the cheapest available night was £180.
In 2024, the ASA ruled against Premier Inn and Eurostar for breaking the CAP Code.
Eurostar was reprimanded for the second time in November after an advert promoting fares “from £39’’ lacked significant booking availability.
Which? said that “more needs to be done” to ensure businesses are complying with advertising rules and regulations.
Naomi Leach, deputy editor of Which? Travel said: “All too often we see holidaymakers misled by too-good-to-be-true sales, where hotels reel consumers in with the promise of a great deal, only for it to be almost impossible to make a booking at the bargain rate.
“It is completely unacceptable that holiday companies feel they can push the boundaries, and it’s clear that stronger enforcement of consumer law is needed to ensure businesses know that misleading pricing will not be tolerated.”
Travelodge said its adverts fully complied with ASA guidelines.
A spokesperson for Travelodge said: “Travelodge fully complies with Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) guidelines and is confident in its data, advertisements and offers. We have reviewed this advertisement in detail and the number of rooms available at the low price of £55 is well over the ASA minimum requirement.
“While room availability at individual hotels is affected by customer booking patterns and local circumstances, our price messaging fully complies with ASA requirements and we remain transparent with our customers about costs.”
For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calder’s podcast
