Row over hotel's airport poster

The region’s premier hotel has hit out at the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after it ruled that a poster at Bristol Airport saying the hotel is 10 minutes away was inaccurate.

The DoubleTree by Hilton, Cadbury House, in Congresbury is being forced to replace the poster after just one anonymous complaint to the ASA.

Despite the fact that evidence was given to the ASA that five out of 10 timed journeys to the hotel from the Airport took less than 10 minutes the authority have ruled against them.

The ASA has now requested that the poster be replaced at a cost of thousands of pounds and the hotel claims that nobody from the authority has checked the journey times.

In support of its case the management team from the hotel made 10 separate trips to and from the airport timing each journey. These were made at different times of the day with half being made under 10 minutes.

They are now calling on the ASA to either look into a host of other travel claims to the airport, which it says are also inaccurate, or review its procedures when investigating cases.

Many Bristol city centre hotels claim to be 15 minutes from the airport – a journey which can take much longer depending on traffic.

Mark Hands, group general manager at DoubleTree by Hitlon said: “The claim that Cadbury House is not 10 minutes away from Bristol Airport is totally unfounded. We have literally been out to make sure that what we are saying is true with 50% of our test runs being under the stated time.

“As far as we are aware the ASA has not visited the area to carry out a similar analysis and has based its judgement on the spurious claims of one individual.

“This case has not only cost us a lot of time but will also mean a hefty bill to replace the poster. And in these times of austerity, it’s a bill we could do without.

“We can’t believe that the ASA has acted on just one complaint from an individual who seems to have an awful lot of time on their hands.”

Employing over 200 local people Cadbury House is now one of North Somerset’s biggest employers. It also uses many local suppliers and is integral to the local economy.

Mark added: “How the ASA have arrived at their judgement is unsure and we will review its report before deciding what to do next.

“Online route finders indicate the route to Cadbury House is via the A38. However the quickest route is through Brockley Combe along the A370 where you will arrive at our hotel often under 10 minutes – obviously if there is heavy traffic it may take slightly over that.”