Holiday firm ordered to change misleading advert

A holiday company has been told to alter its advertising after only one break instead of five was available at a promised price.

Haven Leisure, which is based in Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, advertised prices at a caravan resort near Tenby, South Wales, that were not widely available.

A customer complained to the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) after seeing a Facebook advert which said four nights were available at Penally Court Holiday Park from £55.

Haven previously told the watchdog that only one break was available at the lower price point due to booking errors and the limited size of the site.

It said when the Facebook post was seen there should have been five dates available - but two had already sold out and another two had been "incorrectly priced too high".

In a statement, a Haven spokesperson said: "We are aware of an Advertising Standards Authority ruling for Penally Court Holiday Park.

"In line with ASA assessment, we have paused all adverts related to Penally Court and will ensure promotional prices are accurately communicated in future."

A further claim on their website said the same length of time was available from £59, which the ASA said made things unclear.

Haven told the regulator that the price claims for Penally Court had been removed and it would ensure promotional prices were dynamically updated in the future.

The Advertising Standards Authority upheld the complaint, concluding people would expect a significant number of breaks to be available at the advertised "from" prices across a range of dates outside of school holidays, which was not the case.

It also concluded the ads breached advertising codes on pricing, misleading information and substantiation.

"Because only a small proportion of the available breaks were available at that price, which did not cover a suitable range of dates, we concluded that the claims "4 nights from £55" and "4 nights from £59" were misleading and could not be substantiated," the authority ruled.

Haven was told the adverts must not appear again and to ensure more breaks were available at the promised price in the future.

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