Australia's consumer watchdog has commenced proceedings
against Airbnb for false or misleading representations about their
services. The ACCC argues that Airbnb had made it unclear that the
dollar sign ($) they were displaying on their website was in
American dollars ('USD') instead of Australian dollars
('AUD'). This has reportedly affected thousands of
Australian Consumers between January 2018 to August 2021.
Harm to Consumers
Customers who booked their accommodation either through the
Airbnb website or app were charged more than they were expecting.
Due to the Australian Dollar averaging a price of 0.72 USD, a
customer who thought that they were paying $500 AUD was instead
paying approximately $700 USD for their accommodation (price
difference cost). Additionally, some consumers also had to pay
additional transaction charges to their banks which would not have
been levied if the representation was in AUD (Transaction Fee
Costs). In cases where consumers were
