According to the Guardian, an Airbnb in Australia has been ordered to pay $30 million in penalties and compensation after misleading tens of thousands of Australian consumers about its accommodation prices for nearly four years. Between January 2018 and August 2021, Airbnb Ireland, which operates in Australia, admitted to misleading customers by displaying prices with only the ‘$’ sign. It was not made clear that the prices were in US dollars, not Australian dollars.
According to a federal court ruling, Airbnb must pay A$15 million in penalties and an additional A$15 million in compensation to affected customers. It is estimated that the miscommunication affected 63,000 of the 77,000 Airbnb bookings made during the specified period.
“Consumers were misled about the price of accommodation, reasonably assuming the price referred to Australian dollars given they were on Airbnb’s Australian website, searching for accommodation in Australia, and seeing a dollar sign.
“By paying in US dollars, these consumers were charged more than they expected and were deprived of the opportunity to make an informed decision about whether to make the booking as a result of this misleading conduct,” said ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb.
During the relevant period, Airbnb received over 2,000 complaints from Australian customers who were concerned about being charged in US dollars, according to the court. The company did not change its platform and instead blamed a software bug. However, on August 31, 2021, Airbnb changed its platform and began displaying US prices with the symbol ”USD”.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) initiated proceedings against the company and its Irish subsidiary in June 2022, alleging that they misled consumers about the currency for Australian accommodation bookings.
Airbnb will contact eligible customers within the next 45 days to arrange for payment. Customers are expected to receive A$230 in compensation on average.
