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10 Things We Don’t Want To See In Travel Ads Anymore

10 Things We Don’t Want To See In Travel Ads Anymore

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Travel agencies and businesses have a responsibility to those of us who are up late at night feeling suppressed by our jobs, depressed by our sickly complexions under florescent lights, and just the right amount of empowered by the new credit card we just received. If we make an impulse buy based on your travel ad, that ad better deliver. Here are 10 things we no longer want to see in travel ads.

streetpoolparty.com
streetpoolparty.com

Happening pool scenes

After hiring some models, renting some colorful umbrellas for the day and buying some pool toys, a hotel can make its tiny, depressing pool look like a happening scene where you can socialize, maybe flirt a little, and party the day away. But a hotel pool either is a social destination or it is not, and often at small hotels and motels, it’s not. So they should stop getting our hopes up.

treating-fibromyalgia.com
treating-fibromyalgia.com

Gorgeous women in Jacuzzis

If you see a photo of the hotel hot tub, you can almost guarantee there will be a stunning woman in a fashionable bathing suit sitting all by herself with her head tilted in a seductive way, sipping a cocktail. And suddenly men believe gorgeous, single women just hang out in hot tubs by themselves at hotels all over the world. No they don’t. That woman’s husband is just in the bathroom.

www.jetsetter.com
www.jetsetter.com

 

Photos that make the beach look close

With the right angles, a photographer can make it look like the beach is just steps away, when it’s actually across a freeway and through a sketchy tunnel that smells funny.

residenceinnmoncton.com
residenceinnmoncton.com

 

Beautifully plated free breakfasts

Hotels and motels are always looking for new ways to make their complimentary breakfasts sound different from the rest, from adding a “waffle bar” (aka a tired little waffle grill and some generic-brand jam) to an omelet bar (aka one employee who disappears constantly who should be manning a table with one pan and some onions). The most annoying thing they do is get a professional photographer to make a plate look fancy with a packaged, greasy muffin, a few grapes, some cantaloupe and some yogurt.

hotels.about.com
hotels.about.com

Balconies that aren’t balconies

Unless you can actually stand on the balcony and, furthermore, fit a table and some chairs out there, a hotel should not be allowed to draw you in with photos of a couple enjoying wine or breakfast on their “balcony.” Often what looks like a spacious balcony you could lounge on for hours is just some iron bars and half a foot of floor space.

essentialstyleformen.com
essentialstyleformen.com

Things you’d never actually be allowed to do

Airlines trying to brand themselves as “young” and “trendy” will produce ads with women blow drying their hair in their seat, or passengers singing karaoke on a tiny private machine. As if the airline staff would ever allow that to happen.

mid-day.com
mid-day.com

 

60-year-old men with 30-year-old wives

Enjoying breakfast on the balcony, cocktails by the pool, or dinner on the restaurant patio, you’ll see them all over hotel ads — model couples with the man easily 20-to-30 years older than the woman. As if to say that a 60-year-old man could snag himself a 30-year-old girlfriend just by staying at this hotel.

express.co.uk
express.co.uk

Size 0 models

Leave those to the Vogue magazines. Whether they should be in ads at all is a subject of debate but teeny, tiny models have no place in travel ads. That doesn’t make a potential guest think, “I want to go there!” It just makes them think, “I need to go work out.”

reviewjournal.com
reviewjournal.com

 

Wild animals

To give the “anything goes” vibe, some hotels are featuring tigers, lions and other dangerous or exotic animals walking around their property in ads. But do we really want to go there? We doubt anybody has ever seen one of those ads and thought, “Oh! All I’ve ever wanted was to find a tiger walking down my hallway!”

 

mexicoholiday.com
mexicoholiday.com

Massages on the beach

Resort hotels with on property spas will often show images of women getting massages right on the beach, but many don’t actually offer massages outside of the actual spa. So this is false advertisement.