code due to come into force next week.
From March 1, travel company adverts on social networking sites such
as Facebook and Twitter are to come under the scrutiny of the
Advertising Standards Authority for the first time.
At the moment, the ASA has jurisdiction only over paid-for adverts and
sales promotions online, but its powers are being extended.
The expansion of the remit has been partly funded by a £200,000
donation from search engine giant Google.
Travelzoo warned today that the new code will be difficult to police
without the assistance of the public.
It said its own researchers have found that over 80% of the travel
offers they currently review are misleading to consumers or do not
represent good value.
Under the new code, the ASA will be able to remove paid-for search ads
that link back to web pages hosting non-compliant marketing
communication, and "name and shame" companies that continue to not
comply with advertising regulations.
Travelzoo's European operations director Stephen Dunk said: "Travelzoo
very much welcomes the extended regulations, but we are concerned that
they will be difficult to police, given the sheer scale of the
internet and how prolific social media now is.
"To come up with our weekly Top 20 deals, the team searches through
hundreds of travel offers, advertised in all forms of media including
print, broadcast, online and social media.
"Each week, we have to reject over 80% of the deals that we find for a
number of reasons, including misleading deal information or prices
that are out of date or not available.
"Just last week we found hotel deals advertised in the weekend papers
at under £40 per night. When the team tried to test-book the deals,
some rates were only available for one or two nights."
He said the main issues Travelzoo's deal experts come across each week are:
- Deals have already sold out or are no longer available at the price
originally advertised
- Deals where there are significant hidden costs involved that change
the final price of the deal
- Deals that cannot be booked online and sales teams are not aware of
the deal when customers call to book.
By Bev Fearis
