Consumers Association: Travel providers violate advertising code
Travel providers still massively violate the Advertising Code Travel Offers and the Unfair Commercial Practices Act by advertising online with trips, cars and houses that cannot be booked for the low offer price. This has emerged from a survey by the Consumer Association for the Travel Guide.
The Consumers' Association investigated offers from travel organisations, airlines, bus companies, car and camper rental companies and holiday home rental companies. More than 80% of the 54 online providers do not comply with the rules. During the booking process, prices sometimes increased by more than 100% or offers were not bookable at all.
A last minute at Arke.nl turns out not to cost € 285 during booking, but € 459. And at travel provider Travelbird, the price for a trip rises by more than 500% from € 79 to € 419. Travelbird wrongly conceals the price in the offer. minimum stay of 4 nights, as well as € 20 administration costs.
Things are also wrong with lessors of motorhomes and cars: 7 of the 8 providers investigated violate the code by posting offers on the website without indicating when those offers are available. Anyone looking for a date on which the means of transport can be rented for the advertised price will be disappointed. 'It's like looking for a needle in a haystack', car rental company Hertz admits.
Advertising Code Travel Offers
The Advertising Code for Travel Offers – signed by, among others, the trade association ANVR – contains rules that all travel providers must adhere to. For example, travel offers must be reasonably available for the advertised price and that price must include unavoidable fixed costs. The Consumers' Association has submitted the research results to the regulator Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) with a request to take action.
The full results can be read in the Guide from September.
It is a plague not only in the Netherlands, but also in Belgium. The prices quoted are NEVER incorrect. So-called administration costs or other costs are always added after bookings and always at the last minute. Only a few indicate that a certain amount is added, but report that there may also be additional costs if certain payment methods are used.
Firms or agents who do these things on a daily basis still know through experience what the additional costs are. Please mention them from the start, not at the end or after the bookings.
Last month, when booking tickets at Expedia.nl, I experienced that all the steps of completing the booking go through and just before the final final approval, I get the message that the tickets per item will still be € 35 more expensive.
This is from Expedia.nl misleading and cheating the customer.
But especially those providers of hotel rooms, for example Agode, there is still a room or 3 people viewing this hotel.
All deception there is still a room available, let's take that with a grain of salt no a bag of salt.?
Oh well, keep watching and reading carefully. The hotel providers, you name them, almost all balance on the border of the permissible. Prices excluding breakfast or including, with or without additional costs, how much do you pay in case of cancellation and until what date? As a consumer you also have to be a bit alert and read and compare carefully. Pay for internet in a hotel where you are staying? Ridiculous. Those men from the travel world are now in turmoil again because of the fact that Travelbird, together with HEMA, is going to plunge into the cheap travel segment. We as consumers like that, but the travel world certainly does not and it is looking for smart options to tempt the consumer. Blame them. Just pay attention, read carefully and compare that saves a lot of nagging afterwards and yields benefits.