Airbnb Admits Misleading Australians By Charging In US Dollars, Faces $30 Million Fine

An Airbnb in Australia has been ordered to pay $30 million in penalties and compensation after misleading tens of thousands of Australian consumers over its accommodation prices for almost four years, Guardian reported. Airbnb Ireland, which operates in Australia, admitted that it misled consumers by displaying prices using only the '$' sign, between January 2018 and August 2021. It did not make it clear the prices were in the US not Australian dollars.

A federal court ruling ordered Airbnb to pay A$15 million in penalties and an additional A$15 million in compensation to affected customers. It is believed that some 63,000 consumers who made 77,000 bookings on Airbnb were affected by the miscommunication during the time specified.

"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 U.S. dollars, these consumers were charged more than they expected, and were deprived of a chance to make an informed decision about whether to make the booking because of this misleading conduct," said Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb.

The court noted that Airbnb received over 2,000 complaints from Australian consumers who raised concerns about being charged in US dollars during the relevant period. The company still did not modify its platform and blamed a software bug instead. However, on August 31, 2021, Airbnb amended its platform and began displaying US prices with ''USD''.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in June 2022 initiated proceedings against the firm and its Irish unit, alleging that they made misleading representations to consumers about the currency for Australian accommodation bookings.

Eligible consumers will be contacted by Airbnb within the next 45 days to receive their compensation. Customers are expected to receive an average of A$230 in compensation as a result.