The competition agency is taking Airbnb to court, accusing the short-term rental platform of cheating Australians by showing accommodation prices they did not know were in US dollars.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has initiated proceedings in the Federal Court alleging that Australian consumers only saw housing prices with a dollar sign between January 2018 and August 2021. Only in the last stage of the booking process some consumers saw “USD” in small. source after choosing to book your reservation, says the ACCC.
ACCC sues Airbnb.Credit:Tomorrow
Over the nearly four-year period, the average AUD-USD exchange rate was about $ 0.72, meaning a $ 500 reserve in US dollars amounted to almost $ 700 in Australian currency.
Even after Airbnb received thousands of complaints about the issue, the ACCC alleges that Airbnb further misled consumers by telling them that they had chosen to view USD currency listings when they had not.
“We allege that Airbnb’s misleading conduct meant that consumers were deprived of the opportunity to make an informed decision about whether to book their holiday accommodation on the Airbnb platform and at what price,” said the president of Airbnb. the ACCC, Gina Cass-Gottlieb.
Customers not only had to pay higher prices than expected, but also currency conversion fees through their credit card provider.
Despite the volume of complaints, the rental platform made no changes until the issue was raised by competition watchdogs, Cass-Gottlieb said, adding that Airbnb had not yet cleared any customers.
“We will argue that the court should order Airbnb to compensate people who were deceived about the price of their accommodation,” Cass-Gottlieb said.
He said the ACCC’s decision to initiate proceedings against Airbnb was intended to be a signal to digital platforms that they must make accurate statements regarding purchasing decisions.