Another ploy I have come across, is when companies advertise a great holiday deal for 2 people from a particular airport when there is only 1available seat on the only charter flight.
The company was still advertising the same offer for 2 people 24hrs after they had told me it was not avaiable

Report this comment

Darren

I can not but agree; bookable websites should be real when you look that is price you get. However this is not possible via adverts does not matter how you advertise a live price, it is a live price, and 10 minutes later it will not be.

With regards to false pricing this has already been taken up by trading standards and you will notice a change in the 50% off cruise prices because of this. Rule you have to at some stage sell the price you advertise.

The travel industry is not alone in this, I got a pound off voucher from a supermarket chain, and visited 2 stories 8 times in total over 3 weeks and not once was it in stock.

Report this comment

“Mundi vult descipi” is the credo here I believe. It means so much as the consumer wants to be lured into a cheap vacation and the provider plays along. I hate it.

I’m passionate about rate integrity. I hate it if I find out I am sitting in a plane while I paid 200 and my neighbor who is sitting next to only payd 49…but many people tell me I’m not of this world when I vent this complaint. The guy next to me is “smart” and I’m just stupid…I strongly believe travel providers should treat equal equal….

Report this comment

I agree everyone would benefit from transparency.
The industry is ridiculed because of all the stupid tricks of separate taxes, separate fuel charges etc.

The industry has after 30 years still not cleaned up its act.
And it is getting worse.

The airlines latest trick is “unbundling” which is unbelievable when you think about it. Here we have a whole world going the exact opposite way with all inclusive prices.

Now airlines who are one of the huge drivers in the global economy tries to granulate the flight purchase experience into molecule levels.

Just imagine yourself if we bought oil and had to pay a fee to have it transported via the pipelines and then more fees to get it refined.

The separate taxes is a big joke enough.

Stephan

Report this comment

Legislation regarding sales of goods and services makes it clear that you cannot advertise products that aren’t available. Its similar to claims of £xx off the RRP. A product has to be sold at at least one location at the “RRP” to be able to advertise the discount.

Pricing is a minefield in every field, not just travel.
However although you can tempt potential customers through the door or onto a website with cheap prices, if they find that those prices aren’t actually available, then they get very disappointed.

The net result is likely to be that they will not bother with that company again. Not good business sense on behalf of that company.

Report this comment

Darren I have lost count the amount of times I have seen £299 7 nts Greece on the homepage to find out that the holiday is actually nearer £499. I am not sure if the ASA are responsible for ads on heir own websites but something needs to be done about this.

Report this comment

It’s a good ploy. Gush over the benefits of the “free” market, then break it by not revealing the price of a good or service until it’s time to put down the credit card. An unregulated market dependent upon tricking the consumer is not a free market, it’s a thieves’ market. Always will be.

james

Report this comment

What John said – misleading, cloudy or false pricing tactics only serve to alienate potential customers and damage the integrity of the company offering them. You don’t go into a shop and buy a Twix only to be hit with local taxes, unwrapping fee’s and a biscuit base surcharge – clearer, truer pricing is better for everyone.

Report this comment

I agree, you should get the price advertised. Nothing is worse than going through with a booking to find it was WITHOUT airport fees/taxes, but I think when dealing with “Brick and mortar” travel agents it also has a lot to do with their competency. For example, I have seen agents that book a transfer for a passenger and specify their own drop off. This is meant to be used to select an area or hotel thats not on the normal list of drop offs, but they enter an address 7 hours away! Of course the next day the price will be up by around 300 dollars.

I think its difficult online, but when you book with an agent you need to stick with someone who you trust or comes highly recommended.

Report this comment

This has happened to us time after time. Last week we finally found a holiday that we wanted to book. Loved the hotel, the resort, perfect departure and arrival times and within our budget.

Contacted the company on the telephone and that offer had sold out but the same holiday, same flights, same everything was now £149 more expensive. We felt that annoyed that we booked the same holiday elsewhere and paid slightly more.

Report this comment

This is something that has been addressed recently in Australia where the ACCC (Anti competition & consumer commission) implemented sweeping changes (not just for travel) where all costs that the consumer is required to pay to obtain the product must all be calculated and included in an all up price for display in all advertising. This includes all taxes, fuel levies (one most airlines got away with) processing fee’s, any local payments, currency charges even down to any tips that are ‘required’ to be paid.

Report this comment

Darren

One other thing I will point out is print advertising lead in times. I am currently putting together an advert for a newspaper. The paper goes to press on the 29th. Now I have an offer with over 40 rooms left, do I put it or not, 40 rooms should last 3-4 weeks, but a good offer and could be gone by the time the paper hits the press…….. This is problem we face with a lot of advertising. E-shot, professionally done, send to day with a request for it to be made up, the company does it and sends out in 3 days, you call next day it has gone… then your cross with the company.

As I said websites should advertise a really price, but do you know what your looking at when you search… the current price…NO…. the price an hour ago…NO…. your looking at the price as it was between 1-3 am this morning… due to the weight of searches and speed of response that is need it is all the current UK systems can handle, (keep in mind one search can take 5 minutes to return and more you leave open longer it takes, why it takes 2 hours each night just to download the deals). The systems then store this price and then you get to see the real price when you book….well even that depends …sometimes your not even seeing something that is there…that’s why some company’s have disclaimers saying they can cancel and offer a full refund within 24 hours.

Why is just travel like this, well it is not … price comparison websites, insurance, white goods, are all like this. Travel is no different.

Report this comment

I’ve always been puzzled how operators can advertise “Free Child Places” as there is no such thing as a child free place. If a “Free Child” Place is given the Child does not count towards the occupency level of the accommodation and therefore is charged a supplement. Hardly Free!!!
Personally I’d love to see the whole issue of pricing sorted out and clarified as I would love to see the abolishment of Discounting. At least then the Consumer Would know what they have to pay and could book with whoever gives them the best service.
The Problem is the Consumer ( and Darren ) have been led over the years by Tour Operators into demanding cheaper and cheaper Prices and once you get into this spiral, ther’es only one way down, Service and standards go down hill and something has to give. During this Recession should be a good time for the Whole Industry to Come to a universal agreement so that in forward years Clients should be able to Choose a holiday,
be Quoted 1 Price and no matter Where the Client goes to book it, that Price should be the same at the time it is Quoted, Operators would still be able to Lower or Higher prices as their Yields are adjusted, but If this happens and the Holiday is £30.00 more expensive if the client returns a day later, then again this price would be the same at all agencies. The Motto being the earlier you book, the better the Price.
By the way I’ve just seen a Pig flying by!!!!

Report this comment

This is a point that can’t be understated. I like to use hotwire.com for hotel reservations because their ratings tend to be accurate, and their prices tend to be excellent, but I could not believe the markups on my recent trip. After electing to book, I got markups of upwards of 20%!

Now, one hotel was in New York City, a city known for its high accommodations taxes, but what annoyed the hell out of me was the fact that the hotwire invoice did not offer a breakdown of the fees. I had no way of knowing what portion was city tax, and what portion was hotwire fees. AFAIK, the price I was quoted included the taxes, and they simply levied hefty fees of their own and masqueraded them as taxes.

I find it infuriating. Furthermore, the fact that so many of these outfits operate internationally means that the potential for abuse is immeasurable. A framework for regulating these outfits must be put in place.

I agree with you completely, Darren. This issue is totally out of hand.

Report this comment

I hate this too and it’s a difficult problem to work around. I suppose the companies have found that getting enough people through the door translates enough into sales to keep doing it. Too bad there’s not a standard like there are on food (labeling ‘low fat’ has requirements for example).

Report this comment

As for confusion what about twitter? I have seen a few dynamic travel combinations (ie a low cost low frills flight plus a hotel) ‘packaged’ together and shown on twitter at a single all-inclusive price, with a link to the companies site which then shows the components at separate prices. Now that’s confusing and I think legally wrong to advertise on twitter a single price when it’s not a ‘package’. But I happy to be corrected.

Report this comment