Hurtigruten has blamed an IT error for an erroneous discount on a Northern Lights cruise after being hauled up by the UK’s advertising watchdog.
Norway is selectively targeting markets with different peak travel patterns to Europe to help smooth seasonality
The line said a recent change to its IT systems had resulted an incorrect price pulling through to the Hurtigruten website.
Text stating "Northern Lights expedition cruise from London" was accompanied by crossed out text reading "Price from £4,932", with larger text stating a new price of £1,994.
The complainant, who had previously booked the cruise at a price lower than £4,932 and had never seen it sold at the stated new price, challenged whether the savings claim was misleading.
Get unlimited access to the latest travel industry news and analysis, comment on articles and sign up to newsletters.
Register for free
Already registered? Login here or below.
Having difficulty logging in? Try these tips, or contact support@ttgmedia.com
Hurtigruten has blamed an IT error for an erroneous discount on a Northern Lights cruise after being hauled up by the UK’s advertising watchdog.
Norway is selectively targeting markets with different peak travel patterns to Europe to help smooth seasonality
The line said a recent change to its IT systems had resulted an incorrect price pulling through to the Hurtigruten website.
Text stating "Northern Lights expedition cruise from London" was accompanied by crossed out text reading "Price from £4,932", with larger text stating a new price of £1,994.
The complainant, who had previously booked the cruise at a price lower than £4,932 and had never seen it sold at the stated new price, challenged whether the savings claim was misleading.
Hurtigruten said the savings claim was pulled from the wrong location on its website due to a recent change in IT systems. It said it would correct the IT error as a matter of urgency.
The line went on to explain the incorrect savings claim affected only one category of cabin on the cruise, and added Hurtigruten did not intend to publish misleading savings claims.
The ASA said in its ruling that while it accepted the error had been due to an IT issue and that it welcomed Hurtigruten’s swift action to correct the mishap, it nonetheless had to uphold the complaint after concluding the ad was likely to mislead.
"We told Hurtigruten Ltd to ensure their future savings claims did not mislead by including a crossed-out price that was not the usual selling price of the cruise," said the ASA.
The ad must not appear again in the price complained of.
"The ASA considered consumers would understand the crossed-out price of £4,932 to represent the price at which the cruise was usually sold and therefore they would be able to make significant savings by purchasing the cruise at the discounted price of £1,994," said the ASA in its detailed ruling.
"We understood the crossed-out price had been included in error due to an IT issue and we welcomed the action of Hurtigruten to correct the error as soon as they became aware of it.
"However, because Hurtigruten were unable to supply evidence that showed £4,932 was the established usual selling price of the cruise and that the price reduction represented a genuine saving for consumers, we concluded the ad was likely to mislead."
Take our Matchmaking quiz to discover the agencies who are best-suited to your requirements. Select the option that describes your current situation below:
New to travel New to homeworking Travel trade professional Experienced homeworker
