ASA BANS ADS BY THOMAS COOK, LOVEHOLIDAYS AND DIALAFLIGHT OVER ECO CLAIMS

The Advertising Standards Authority has banned advertisements from Thomas Cook, loveholidays and DialAFlight for making misleading environmental claims about holiday accommodation. The three travel firms used terms including "Eco Resort", "Eco Hotel" and "eco-conscious resort" without clarifying what those environmental claims were based on. A Meta ad for DialAFlight, seen in July, promoted Jumeirah at Saadiyat Island Resort as an "eco-conscious resort", whilst two Google ads for loveholidays in the same month advertised the "Green Garden Eco Resort" and "Marvida Family Eco Hotel". The ASA found that consumers would interpret such language as indicating the accommodation possessed environmental characteristics or benefits, but were not provided sufficient information to understand what those were.

DialAFlight stated that the term "eco-conscious resort" came from a factsheet supplied by the accommodation, and the hotel provided the ASA with a list of environmental initiatives undertaken at the resort. loveholidays explained that "Eco" formed part of the accommodation's official name rather than an environmental claim made or endorsed by the travel agent itself. Thomas Cook said the "Sandos Caracol Eco Resort" changed its name in July 2025, and the firm took steps to block the old search term to prevent future appearances in advertising.

Miles Lockwood, the ASA's director of complaints and investigations, stated that advertisers must be clear about what "eco" or "eco-conscious" descriptions mean to allow consumers to make informed choices. The rulings establish that environmental terminology in holiday advertising requires substantiation and transparency. A loveholidays spokeswoman noted that the online travel agent does not own, operate or manage the accommodation it sells.