Whitbread Plc's (LSE:WTB) hotel chain Premier Inn has been rapped by the advertising watchdog after complaints over a promotion that offered rooms for £35.
An online ad from November said rooms at an Edinburgh Premier Inn were available at £35 per night, but evidence supplied by Whitbread to the ASA showed only 377 rooms were at that price over a whole year. following
Only a small percentage of rooms were available for £35 rather than the many implied by the ad, the ASA said
"We told Premier Inn to ensure that when using 'from' price claims in the future, a significant proportion of the advertised rooms were available at the advertised price," the ASA said:
Premier Inn responded: "As the UK's best-loved budget hotel brand we always have hundreds of thousands of great value rooms available but we accept that this specific digital campaign wasn't up to our usual high standard and it was never our intention to be misleading."
The ASA said it was following up a complaint from someone who said they couldn't find any rooms for £35.
Premier Inn must not use the ad again, said the watchdog.