Travel and leisure Advertising can be Deceptive

All you need to do is go on enough travel blog sites or even on Yelp! to see the travel horror stories to understand that tourism advertising has become much more deceptive. Consumers have to be careful before purchasing travel packages from tour operators or online advertisements. Sometimes these “bargain” deals can leave you stuck in a seedy, dirty hotel room in a bad part of town in a foreign city.

It is exactly what happened to me once when I went to New York City for a company conference. I purchased a travel package that looked good on paper. The package advertised a very low round trip airfare to the Big Apple plus a lovely, “quaint” room in mid-town Manhattan. Avoid the words “quaint” and “cozy”. These words really just mean small and cramped. I was dropped off by the taxi that I picked up at JFK airport in front of a dumpy looking building with crackheads wandering by in front. Unruffled, I went in and was shown to my 5 per night room. For that amount of money, which I was told was a bargain in New York City, I still expected a fairly decent room. Instead I was shown to a closet sized filthy room with no bathroom. Bathroom I was to share with every other guest on that floor. This was totally unacceptable to me and I left to find a higher priced room that was better quality even though I’d already paid for the dumpy place. I ended up paying way more than I would have if I had just gotten the better quality, more costly room in this first place . So that you have to beware and realize that especially in the world of travel, tourism advertising can be very untruthful and you definitely get what you pay for.

You see it all the time in tourism advertising: beautiful white sand beaches, lovely cabanas by the beach, a good swimming pool, large sunlit rooms, etc. What they don’t show you are the panhandlers which make your life impossible when you try to relax at the beach, or the scores of drifters and vagrants that line the streets near your crappy hotel. This is the same hotel that appeared so inviting from the pictures they showed on the website. The website showed happy upscale couples (beautiful people only of course) all having the time of their lives at the gorgeous resort. The reality can be starkly different. Many times, specially when visiting the Caribbean, Central or South America, or Mexico you will end up at a motel looking place with broken air conditioners, leaky faucets, dirty linen, squeaky mattresses and bug infestations. The swimming pools at these places can make you sick if you actually go in them. You have to be very careful when you go out at night at many of these places because of the riff-raff and criminal element that hang around the sidewalks just outside your rooms.

Yes you have to be very, very careful when it comes to believing tourism advertising. The perfect option to avoid this is to check out actual customer reviews on blog sites like Yelp.com or the blog pages of Travelocity or travelzoo.com. A good review can save you from a ruined vacation.

Learn more about camping tents. Stop by www.outdoorlivingguide.net where you can find out all about outdoor camping tents

Retrieved from “http://www.articlesbase.com/camping-articles/travel-and-leisure-advertising-can-be-deceptive-3890059.html”

(ArticlesBase SC #3890059)

Liked this article? Click here to publish it on your website or blog, it’s free and easy!

Cynthia W -
About the Author:

Dale Morin

Questions and Answers

Ask our experts your Camping related questions here…200 Characters left

What is the punishment for deceptive advertising?
What are the best cities to raise a family ?
How many kids is a large family ?

Rate this Article

1
2
3
4
5

vote(s)
0 vote(s)