The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld complaints about two separate loveholidays adverts for discounted packages that were not available when clients tried to book.
The first listing, seen on 20 March 2025, featured details for a hotel and return flights to New York. The text ‘£1,090pp’ had been crossed out and replaced with a new price of £749pp. However, when a customer tried to book, the price had increased.
The second listing, seen on 24 March 2025, featured details for a hotel and return flights to Tenerife. The text ‘£1,119pp’ had been crossed out and replaced with ‘£699pp’. Again, when a customer tried to book, the price had increased.
The customers complained to the ASA that the adverts were misleading.
Loveholidays acknowledged that the stated price in the first advert was not up to date when it was seen and said it was reliant on third-party advertisers for flight and hotel pricing, which could change rapidly. It said a delay in its system in updating accommodation information may have caused the holiday to have been advertised at the incorrect price.
It also acknowledged that the complainant had experienced a price increase when attempting to book the holiday in the second advert and said that was because their pricing was dynamic and subject to change based on third-party suppliers. The lower price continued to be displayed after the complainant had made their booking due to a delay in their website’s system updating the supplier’s new pricing.
The ASA said loveholidays should have made clear when the last price update was, and that the price featured was liable to change.
It added: “It was also unclear how the reference price and associated savings claims featured in both ads had been calculated, given that the prices on loveholidays’ website were frequently subject to change.
“The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told We Love Holidays Ltd t/a loveholidays to ensure that advertised prices were based on genuine prices available to consumers.
“We also told them to take steps to reduce the likelihood of consumers being misled, for example, by describing prices that were subject to change as ‘from’ prices and stating when those prices were last updated.”
