Advertising Standards Authority and Travelodge solve airport hotel conundrum
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and budget hotel operator Travelodge have informally resolved a tricky complaint over the way in which it advertised its Birmingham Airport hotel.
The company had indicated in a website listing that the hotel was just "0.4 miles from the airport" but a complainant took issue with the claim, pointing out that by road, it is actually around 2.5 miles away and takes longer to get to the airport entrance than the ad implied.
When contacted by The Caterer, Travelodge explained that it had been left in something of a Catch 22 because the same Google tool that it uses on its website to show the location of all of its hotels measures the distance from the airport runway as the crow flies.
In addition to this, Travelodge also wanted to emphasise the hotel's physical proximity to the runway not just to the plane spotters that it is apparently popular with, but also so as not to surprise guests with the fact that planes fly in quite close proximity.
The ASA said that it contacted Travelodge to discuss the listing, seen on 26 April 2017, and that the hotel operator agreed to amend it, despite the fact that the regulator saw both sides of the query.
The website now states that the hotel is two miles away by road.
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