2023-12-27 18:00:10
The Australian Federal Court ordered Airbnb to pay a fine of US$15 million and the company will also have to pay more than US$15 million in compensation for making misleading statements to more than 70,000 customers.
Airbnb was sanctioned on December 20 for failing to specify that the amount of transactions was in US dollars and not Australian dollars, reported The Guardian.
The “$” designation had no precision between January 2018 and August 2021. During this period, 63,000 users made 77,000 reservations.
The court recalled that 2,088 Australian consumers had complained to Airbnb.
Before the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (CACC), the company admitted to having breached Australian consumer law.
Airbnb has already refunded the full price of accommodation to 8,000 users, amounting to A$9.4 million, but the court found that the full value of the difference between the Australian and US prices for the reservations in question was $16.8 million.
The company said a computer bug was the cause of the problem and that it has now been fixed.
CACC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said the outcome of the legal proceedings was “meaningful” for customers.
“Eligible consumers will be contacted by Airbnb within the next 45 days and asked to file a claim,” she said. They will also be able to contact Airbnb to ask questions regarding their claim if they believe they are entitled to compensation and have not been contacted.”
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