Airbnb has been criticized for allegedly misleading its users into believing that local accommodation prices were in Australian dollars, while in US dollars.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Affairs Commission (ACCC) claims that Airbnb deceived thousands of Australians when they only showed a dollar sign for a three-year period between January 2018 and August 2021.
The consumer control body said Airbnb did not make it clear that prices were in US dollars.
ACCC chief Gina Cass-Gottleib said consumers were deprived of the opportunity to make an informed decision about their Airbnb costs. (Brook Mitchell)
“While at least Airbnb referred to the price as’ USD ‘in small print on the last page of the booking process, this only happened after the platform had already shown numerous dollar amounts (‘ $ ‘) on the previous pages, with no close reference to the US dollars and after the consumer has clicked to “book” their accommodation, “the ACCC said in a statement.
ACCC President Gina Cass-Gottlieb said consumers were “deprived” of the opportunity to make an informed decision about their accommodation booking.
“In addition to paying higher-than-expected prices, some consumers who were charged in U.S. dollars also found themselves more out of pocket thanks to the currency conversion fees charged by the US provider. your credit card, “he said.
Airbnb is being criticized by the Australian consumer control body for misleading thousands of Australian users over a three-year period. (9 News)
The ACCC alleges that “thousands of people complained to the hosting provider, only to be blamed for selecting the USD currency themselves, when they often had not.
“Airbnb did not compensate many consumers who complained about this behavior, so we will argue that the court should order Airbnb to indemnify people who were deceived about the price of their accommodation,” said Cass- Gottlieb.
“Although thousands of consumers complained to Airbnb about the way prices were displayed, Airbnb did not change its booking platform until the ACCC raised the issue.”
The ACCC is enforcing digital platforms such as Airbnb to “ensure the accuracy of all statements that may affect consumer purchasing decisions.”