An Australian court on Wednesday ordered Airbnb to pay a fine of 15 million Australian dollars for misleading customers by not clearly showing that the prices for its property rentals were listed on US dollars, rather than Australian dollars, which are worth less.
Airbnb admitted to the Federal Court of Australia that it made “false or misleading representations” to about 63,000 customers who used the accommodation booking platform between January 2018 and August 2021.
In addition to the fine of 15 million Australian dollars (or about $10 million), Airbnb will provide up to 15 million Australian dollars in compensation to affected customers, who made more than 70,000 bookings paid in US dollars.
Gina Cass-Gottlieb, the chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, a government regulatory agency, said in a statement that customers reasonably assumed prices were in Australian dollars because “they were on Airbnb’s Australian website, looking for accommodation in Australia and saw a dollar sign.
“By paying in US dollars, these consumers are being charged more than they expect to pay, and are being denied the opportunity to make an informed decision about whether to book because of this price misbehavior,” continued statement.
Airbnb will contact customers who qualify for compensation by Feb. 5, 2024, according to the commission. The agency began proceedings against Airbnb in June 2022.
Susan Wheeldon, Airbnb country manager for Australia and New Zealand, said in a statement that the company adjusted how it presented currencies after the problem was raised in Australia.
“While only a very small percentage of Australian visitors are believed to have been affected, we are disappointed that this has occurred,” Ms. Wheeldon. “Airbnb would like to apologize to those guests.”
About 2,088 customers have complained to Airbnb’s customer support about being charged in US dollars, according to the court’s decision. Some were told by Airbnb customer support that they had chosen to see prices in US currency, even though they had not, the decision said.
Some of the customers were also charged by their banks for paying in US dollars, the decision said.
Justice Brendan McElwaine of the Federal Court of Australia said in the ruling that the lack of clarity about the money was “not the result of intentional conduct, designed to deliberately mislead.”
Airbnb’s platform should have defaulted to Australian currency for people using it in Australia, the ruling said, but there were “bugs and/or edge cases” that caused the system to inaccurately identify some users as in the United States.
The court ruling said Airbnb changed the platform in August 2021 to use the abbreviation “USD” when US dollars are the applicable currency.
