Holiday price cuts provoke complaints
The cut-throat, cut-price war in the package holiday sector has escalated, with complaints being made to the Advertising Standards Authority, the Independent Television Commission and trading standards officers around the UK.
Lunn Poly was reported to the ASA by Dennis Hart of Edinburgh travel agent Sibbald Travel. According to Hart, early advertising for Lunn Poly said consumers could get discounts off holidays from “operators”, when in fact discounts were available on packages for only one operator, Panorama Travel. Hart claims that Lunn Poly is now offering discounts on package holidays from two operators.
Hart has also complained to trading standards officers over Going Places’ discounting policy. He claims that guidelines issued by the Department of Trade and Industry, the Code of Practice for Traders on Price Indicators, say that terms such as “up to X per cent off” should not be used unless the maximum discount applies to at least ten per cent of the total number of holidays.
Hart claims that this cannot be the case with Going Places’ offers.
