1703780719
By Gregory Plesse
Published on December 26th, 2023 at 6:16 p.m., Updated on December 26th, 2023 at 6:16 p.m
Airbnb was fined AU$15 million and had to pay compensation to harmed customers. Mohamad Faizal – stock.adobe.com
ANALYSIS – Australians were misled by the online platform’s display of prices in US dollars.
At Airbnb, one dollar can hide another… The accommodation platform, summoned to the Federal Court by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), has just been fined 15 million Australian dollars (9.28 million euros) in restitution from thousands of overpaid customers.
Airbnb admitted that between January 2018 and August 2021, it misled its customers by displaying the dollar sign on the prices of goods available in Australia, without specifying whether they were in Australian dollars (AUD) or US dollars -Dollar (USD) traded.
Thousands of them saw nothing but fire and even went so far as to consult their bank statements. There is a very clear difference between the two currencies: one Australian dollar was worth around USD 0.72 during this period.
63,000 injured customers
“By paying in U.S. dollars, these consumers paid more than they expected and deprived them of the opportunity to make an informed decision in this regard…
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