Australia accuses Airbnb of misleading customers on price By Reuters

(Reuters) -Australia’s antitrust regulator has filed a lawsuit in opposition to Airbnb Inc, accusing the lodging-sharing website of deceptive users into shelling out more than advertised for their stays, widening its scrutiny of world-wide know-how platforms.

From 2018 to 2021, the San Francisco-centered world wide web big advertised and charged home rates in United States pounds without indicating the significantly greater figures in Australian pounds, the Australian Competitiveness and Consumer Fee (ACCC) stated in a court submitting that it made community on Wednesday.

Airbnb refused to refund customers who complained about staying misled, indicating they experienced chosen to see fees in U.S. dollars even though customers mentioned they experienced not, the ACCC claimed in the submitting. Airbnb also refused to refund currency conversion fees, proclaiming they ended up banks’ obligation, the regulator extra.

“When a portion of a share of visitors are thought to have been impacted … we will compensate affected attendees,” Susan Wheeldon, Airbnb’s nation manager for Australia and New Zealand mentioned in assertion to Reuters.

Airbnb declined to present further particulars about payment.

Wheeldon explained Airbnb has given that up to date its system so suitable currencies are “evidently displayed” from the 1st web site for Australian visitors.

The lawsuit places Airbnb in the corporation of many superior-profile targets of a regulator bent on reining in the power of huge engineering corporations. Last year, its steps led to Meta Platforms Inc’s Fb (NASDAQ:) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:) Inc’s Google paying out media shops written content licensing charges.

It is now conducting a critique of Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:) and other on-line shops that might propose variations to the sector.

In the Airbnb lawsuit, the ACCC explained users “have been deprived of the chance to make an informed choice about whether or not and at what price tag to guide accommodation.”

They “experienced further more harm in the kind of price variance fees and, in at the very least some cases, transaction rate charges,” the regulator stated, without having providing greenback quantities.

Airbnb stood to reward unfairly in excess of rivals due to the fact the “phony and misleadingly low charges conveyed … built the accommodation offered on the platform surface to be extra attractive,” the ACCC mentioned.

The ACCC mentioned it is in search of an unspecified fantastic and court docket orders for Airbnb to compensate impacted consumers. In a statement, it mentioned hundreds of people had complained to Airbnb about the difference in marketed selling prices and quantities billed.

The Australian greenback purchased an typical of 72 U.S. cents all through the time lined by the lawsuit, meaning a customer renting accommodation marketed at $500 would actually spend about A$700 moreover overseas exchange service fees, the regulator mentioned.