Airbnb has been ordered by the Federal Court to pay a hefty $15 million in penalties for misleading Australian consumers about the currency of prices on its platform.

The Ireland-based company will also offer up to $15 million in compensation to eligible consumers, potentially making this a $30 million blow for the global accommodation giant.

Between January 2018 and August 2021, Airbnb admitted to making false or misleading representations to Australian users. The company stated prices for Australian accommodation were in Australian dollars, when they were, in fact, in US dollars. This discrepancy led to over 2000 complaints from Australian consumers during the relevant period.

"Consumers were misled about the price of accommodation, reasonably assuming the price referred to Australian dollars given they were on Airbnb's Australian website, searching for accommodation in Australia and seeing a dollar sign," ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb stated. "By paying in US dollars, these consumers were charged more than they expected to pay, and were deprived of a chance to make an informed decision about whether to make the booking because of this misleading conduct regarding the price.

"We took this case to send a strong signal to large digital platforms like Airbnb that they must comply with the Australian Consumer Law and not mislead consumers."

In response to the complaints, Airbnb amended its platform from 31 August 2021, clearly denoting prices in US dollars with the abbreviation 'USD'. However, the damage had already been done, and the company now faces a significant financial penalty.

In addition to the $15 million fine, Airbnb has been ordered to pay part of the ACCC's costs and establish and maintain an Australian Consumer Law compliance program. The company will offer compensation to about 63,000 affected consumers who had over 70,000 bookings billed in US dollars. The total value of the compensation scheme could be as much as $15 million, with the average compensation payment expected to be about $230 per consumer.

Affected consumers will be contacted by Airbnb and by Deloitte Australia, which is administering the compensation claims program on behalf of Airbnb. Consumers will receive an initial communication from Airbnb via email and text message, inviting them to log-on to their Airbnb account, where further information will be available about how they can lodge a claim. Airbnb will contact affected consumers with information about the consumer redress scheme by 5 February 2024.

It's important to note Airbnb Ireland UC, incorporated in Ireland as an unlimited company, operates the Airbnb website and apps for users in Australia. Airbnb Australia, primarily a marketing entity responsible for promoting Airbnb in Australia, is not a party to the ACCC's proceeding.