December 20th 2023.
Airbnb has come under fire from the Federal Court for misleading tens of thousands of Australian customers over their accommodation prices for almost four years. As a result, the short-stay accommodation website has been ordered to pay a penalty of $15 million.
Furthermore, Airbnb has agreed to offer up to $15 million in compensation to the affected customers. The issue arose between January 2018 and August 2021, when the Australian branch of Airbnb’s website displayed prices with a dollar sign without indicating whether these prices were in foreign currency or Australian Dollars.
It turned out that the prices were in fact in US currency, and 63,000 consumers ended up making 70,000 bookings. Over 2000 complaints were received regarding this issue, yet no action was taken until August 31, 2021, when the website was amended to clearly denote prices in US dollars with the use of “USD”.
ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb remarked that consumers were misled about the price of the accommodation, as they reasonably assumed the prices were in Australian dollars. She also mentioned that they were deprived of the chance to make an informed decision about their booking because of the misleading conduct.
The Federal Court has also ordered Airbnb Ireland UC to launch a court-enforceable compensation program for the 63,000 affected consumers. This compensation could total up to another $15 million, with the average compensation amount expected to be around $230 per consumer.
When contacted for comment, Airbnb Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand Susan Wheeldon said that the currency confusion was rectified promptly once brought to their attention. She also mentioned that the US currency code was displayed on the final booking page before guests confirmed their purchase. She concluded by apologising to those guests who were affected by this.
Eligible customers will be contacted by Airbnb within the next 45 days to receive their compensation.
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