Airbnb
has been fined AUD 15 million, around $10.1 million, by the
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
for misleading consumers about its
pricing practices
in
Australia
between 2018 and 2021. As a result of the
federal court
's order, Airbnb will also offer millions of dollars in compensation to users who were affected by the same incident.
It was found that Airbnb made false or misleading claims to about 70,000 customers between January 2018 and August 2021. The prices were displayed in
US dollars
using a “$” sign, but it was not made clear that they were not in
Australian dollars
.
In a federal court ruling, Justice Shaun McElwaine stated that the company did not properly disclose that the pricing was in US dollars, except at the bottom of the first three web pages of the booking. It was only more prominently displayed on the fourth page when a user confirmed the booking.
Airbnb has admitted to breaching Australian
consumer law
by not clearly disclosing that the pricing was in US dollars. This company has attributed the issue to a software bug that failed to default Australian customers to their local currency. The board of Airbnb was aware of these customer complaints as early as 2018.
The company has been ordered to pay compensation of up to $15m to affected customers in the form of refunds and conversion fees. The customers are expected to receive an average compensation of A$230.
Susan Wheeldon, Airbnb's country manager for Australia and New Zealand, stated that they promptly fixed the lack of clarity regarding currency on their site after it was brought to their attention.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb stated that providing compensation would result in a significant outcome for the affected consumers.
“Eligible consumers will be contacted by Airbnb within the next 45 days and invited to lodge a claim, but they can also contact Airbnb to ask about their claim if they think they are eligible for compensation and have not been contacted by that date,” Cass-Gottlieb said.
In the said time frame, 63,000 users made approximately 77,000 reservations. Airbnb has already refunded the full price of accommodation to 8,000 users, totalling A$9.4m. Out of these, about 2,000 customers complained to Airbnb.
“While only a very small percentage of Australian guests are believed to have been impacted, we are disappointed that this happened. Airbnb would like to apologise to those guests,” Wheeldon said in a statement.
The court has found that the total value of the difference between Australian and US pricing for the bookings in question was $16.8m, with Airbnb receiving approximately A$9m in revenue.
As part of the agreement with the ACCC, Airbnb will pay an additional $400,000 to cover the commission's court costs.
English (US) ·