Thomas Cook, loveholidays and DialAFlight ads all broke advertising rules by using terms such as ‘Eco Resort’, ‘Eco Hotel’ and ‘eco-conscious resort’.
Ads for three travel firms have been banned for making misleading claims about the “eco” credentials of their holidays.
Thomas Cook, loveholidays and DialAFlight ads all broke advertising rules by using terms such as “Eco Resort”, “Eco Hotel” and “eco-conscious resort” without making clear what those environmental claims were based on.
A Meta ad for DialAFlight, seen in July for Jumeirah at Saadiyat Island Resort, said: “Reconnect with yourself and your surroundings at our eco-conscious resort …”
DialAFlight said the claim “eco-conscious resort” had been taken from a factsheet provided by the accommodation, while the hotel provided the ASA with a list of environmental initiatives and activities undertaken at the resort.
Two Google ads for loveholidays, also in July, promoted the “Green Garden Eco Resort” and the “Marvida Family Eco Hotel”.
The online travel agent explained that in both cases the term “Eco” was part of the accommodation’s name rather than an environmental claim formulated, adopted or endorsed by loveholidays.
Thomas Cook explained that the “Sandos Caracol Eco Resort” changed its name in July 2025 and the travel firm had taken steps to block “Sandos Caracol Eco” as a search term to prevent it appearing in future searches.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) found that consumers were likely to interpret the claims as meaning the accommodation had environmental characteristics or benefits, but were not given enough information to understand what those were.
ASA director of complaints and investigations Miles Lockwood said: “For people looking to make more environmentally conscious choices when it comes to booking their holidays, it’s important that they can trust the claims that they see in ads.
“Today’s rulings make clear that if a hotel or resort is described as ‘eco’ or ‘eco-conscious’, advertisers need to be clear about what that means, so people have the information they need to make an informed choice about where to book.”
A loveholidays spokeswoman said: “As an online travel agent, we do not own, operate or manage the accommodation we sell. The hotel names displayed in our advertising reflected the trading names of the properties, rather than environmental claims made by loveholidays.
“We have updated the listings for the hotels concerned and removed the advertisements. We will continue to review our processes to ensure the information we provide to customers is clear and transparent.”
