Principal Hotel Company warned of ‘misleading’ room photos by ASA

Principal Hotel Company has been warned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over the use of “misleading” room pictures on its website.  

The pictures in question are in regard to the De Vere Horsley Estate which included photos of the grounds, facilities and rooms with a principal image of a country manor.

The ASA said that the main guest room listings for De Vere Horsley Estate were misleading because they did not make clear that these rooms were in a separate training centre from the manor.

Principal said the website’s booking engine clearly stated where each room type was located (the Towers or the adjacent management Centre, Horsley Place) and the main guest room listing clearly stated in the first line of the room description that it was “located within our adjacent training centre”. They said that was also prominently stated on the ‘Rooms’ subsection of the website.

The Principal Hotel Company said it had made clear which building a guest was booked into by splitting the room types between the buildings – only deluxe rooms and suites were available within the Towers. Guest rooms and superior rooms were only available in Horsley Place, reflected in the price of the rooms.

During the investigation Principal Hotel Company also agreed to amend its advertising to include emboldened text alongside each of the room listings that stated the room type locations and on the website’s booking engine.

However the ASA ruled that the ad in the absence of additional information failed to indicate otherwise and stated that it considered consumers “would understand that should they make a booking, they would stay in the advertised mansion house”. It added: “Because that was not the case, we concluded the ad was likely to mislead.”

Subsequently the standards body stipulated that the ad must not appear again in its current form and the Principal Hotel Company must “prominently state if rooms were not in the mansion house”.