THE Business Improvement District and the tourist information centre have been caught up in an embarrassing publicity fiasco.

It centres around an announcement that the town’s Bayard’s Cove Inn had won a national accolade.

Now the media boss behind the statement has been forced to retract the misinformation and apologise for his mistakes after the press release was described as ‘inaccurate and unacceptable’.

The news release was issued by the BID’s new publicity representative Philip Cooke, managing director of The Destination Marketing Group, based in Gloucester.

Mr Cooke said that the historic Bayard’s Cove Inn had been voted one of Britain’s nine greatest bed and breakfast establishments, thanks to the initiative of the Dartmouth BID and TIC. He claimed the holiday and travel comparison website travelsupermarket.com had recently sent out a call for nominations for a ‘prestigious award’ and the inn was put forward by the BID and the TIC.

In the press release, he supported the statement by quoting TIC manager Lesley Turner as saying she congratulated the Bayard’s Cove Inn on the ‘well-deserved accolade’.

The story then appeared on another newspaper’s online news pages.

However, after an investigation by the Chronicle, it was discovered that no such award existed and a voting process had not taken place as had been claimed.

Mr Cooke eventually issued a retraction of the press release and was asked to get it removed from any websites. A revised press statement issued later correctly stated that Bayard’s Cove Inn was included in a list of Britain’s greatest B&Bs as part of a piece of writing by a freelance travel journalist.

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But Mr Cooke accepted that it was not part of an awards programme and it was not voted for.

‘Instead, it was featured on the www.travelsupermarket.com website as a blog entitled Nine of Great Britain’s Greatest B&Bs,’ he said.

‘Any misrepresentation or misunderstandings were entirely unintentional.

‘The words “voted for” should not have been used and I have been asked by travelsupermarket.com to clarify that the Bayard’s Cove Inn was part of an inspirational round up of great B&Bs up and down the UK only.

‘The use of the term “voted for” in the original media release was unintentionally inappropriate.

‘Please accept my apologies for any errors or confusion caused.’

Emma Morris, head of travel PR at travelsupermarket.com, said: ‘The context of the article featuring the Bayard’s Cove Inn was not part of an awards programme and was also not voted for.

‘The article on the travelsupermarket blog featured the bed and breakfast in an inspirational round up of great B&Bs up and down the UK only.

‘There was a PR request from the journalist writing the piece asking for suggestions for the article, however, this was not under the premise of nominating a B&B for an award.

‘Travelsupermarket does not currently run an awards programme. As an independent and unbiased travel comparison website, it is something we’ve, up to now, consciously steered away from.’

She added the press release was ‘inaccurate and unacceptable, hence us asking for it to be retracted’.

When approached by the Chronicle about the inaccuracies in the news release, Mr Cooke said it was never his intention to misrepresent the facts.

‘Why does everybody want to take a cheap shot at Dart­mouth?’ he said. ‘I have never known anything like this in all my 30 years [in marketing].’

Mr Cooke explained that he had received an inquiry on June 22 from a freelance travel writer wanting do a piece for the travelsupermarket.com blog about the UK’s best bed and breakfasts and would love to hear about any potential candidates.

He said the inquiry stated: ‘I need starting rate per night, basic info, hi-res, truly spectacular/beautiful images and one unusual fact about the place in question by the end of Tuesday [June 23]. 

‘Please note that I also clearly need to outline what makes the place in question truly special, so I also need to know exactly what sets each place apart and what justifies its inclusion.’

Mr Cooke added: ‘Seeing this as an opportunity to promote Dartmouth, I passed this request over to the TIC who then sent an email to all of its accommodation subscribers on June 23, asking if anyone was interested in entering for recognition as one of the UK’s best bed and breakfasts. Two properties responded positively. I then submitted both of them for inclusion on behalf of the BID and the TIC.

‘On June 29, Bayard’s Cove was selected for inclusion as one of nine of Great Britain’s greatest B&Bs. The other property wasn’t selected for inclusion.

‘I don’t know how many applications [nationally] were received and assessed for this recognition.’

Angie Cairns-Sharp, chairman of the TIC, said: ‘The TIC notified all its B&B subscribers and asked if they wanted to be considered. Lesley just commented once it was known Bayard’s Cove Inn had made the list – which is really good news for Bayard’s and, of course, Dart­mouth, hence her comments.’

Bayard’s Cove Inn is run by Charlie and Zuzana Deuchar. The building in Lower Street is owned by the Castle Hotel (Dartmouth) Ltd, whose directors are BID chairman Nigel Way and his wife Anne.

In Mr Cooke’s original news release, Mr Deuchar was quoted as saying: ‘This is excellent news for us and for Dartmouth town and I’d like to thank the TIC and the BID for putting us forward!’

He later told the Chronicle: ‘We know we haven’t won an award, it’s a promotional thing.

‘These people [marketing] always make it sound better than it is.’

Mr Cooke, 66, is the sole director of his company and lists his skills as business development, consultancy, marketing and communications strategies.

He is member of the Public Relations Consultancy Assoc­iation that has code of conduct towards the public, the media and other profess­ionals which maintains to ‘have a positive duty at all times to respect the truth and shall not disseminate false or misleading information knowingly or recklessly, and to use proper care to avoid doing so inadvertently’. 

When asked if he felt he had adhered to the PRCA’s code of conduct, Mr Cooke replied: ‘Yes.’

Repeated attempts by the Chronicle to contact the BID’s management for a comment have so far failed to get a response.