ASA rejects challenge against Booking.com TV advert

A complaint against a Booking.com claim in TV advertising that it is ‘Planet Earth’s number one accommodation site’ has been rejected.

A complaint against a Booking.com claim in TV advertising that it is ‘Planet Earth’s number one accommodation site’ has been rejected.

The Advertising Standards Authority ruled out any action against the Priceline-owned site following an investigation prompted by a viewer challenging whether the claim could be substantiated.

“Because the evidence demonstrated that Booking.com sold more hotel-room nights worldwide than any other accommodation site we concluded that the claim had been substantiated,” the ASA ruled.

The TV advert for featured a woman on holiday at a resort participating in various activities such as horse riding and dancing.

The company told the advertising watchdog that it believed viewers would interpret the claim to refer to the fact that Booking.com had more bookings for holiday and leisure accommodation than any other online travel agents.

The ASA cited independent travel market research from the third quarter of 2013 and the first quarter of this year which demonstrated that the Priceline group consistently sold more hotel-room nights than its nearest rival and had done so since at least 2012.

“We understood that the percentage of those bookings which Booking.com were responsible for meant that Booking.com had more hotel-room night bookings than any other accommodation site worldwide,” the authority said.