Last week, Target offered Target Circle members a free one-year membership to TripAdvisor Plus (regularly $99) — a plan that provides special travel deals, discounts, and other perks. Consumer World even made it part of our “Bargain of the Week.”
Mindful of how many memberships work, we were concerned that the plan should not automatically self-renew after a year and stick readers with an unexpected $99 charge. Target explicitly allayed our concerns in the details of the promotion:
*MOUSE PRINT:
Despite these assurances, the way TripAdvisor implemented the offer was the exact opposite of this. On the sign-up page, TripAdvisor not only explicitly said that the membership would auto-renew after the first year, but they also required you to provide your credit card number.
*MOUSE PRINT:
When advised by a reader what TripAdvisor was doing, we immediately contacted Target executives and PR folks. Later that day, a day-and-a-half into the promotion, Target called to say that TripAdvisor had changed their fine print to say that the membership would NOT self-renew. But looking at the revised sign-up page, they still were requiring a credit card in order to receive the free travel club membership. So, we asked TripAdvisor’s PR folks multiple times to justify why the company was still requiring a credit card to sign up. They did not respond, but their fine print explained it this way:
*MOUSE PRINT:
Your credit card information provided at checkout will be saved to enable more seamless hotel booking.
In our view it is totally inappropriate for a company to require a credit card when they are giving away a totally free service. If and when a member makes a reservation and buys a travel service, that is the time a card needs to be provided and not before.
So what do you think? Is it appropriate for TripAdvisor to require you to provide a credit card to get a year of their free service?