AirBnB is a popular website through which users can rent out their homes, or parts of it, to others. Consumers seeking nightly accommodation can search for possible places to rent in private homes and apartments through the service.
The Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman has become aware of rooms and apartments for rent marketed through the Norwegian website www.airbnb.no with a given price excluding mandatory service fees and cleaning fees.
– AirBnB’s Norwegian site conducts misleading marketing when they do not inform the consumers of the complete price. This is illegal price marketing, says Consumer Ombudsman Gry Nergård.
For the price to be considered complete, all mandatory fees must be included in the price presented to the consumer. Even if the fees are added later in the booking process, the practice is not satisfactory according to law.
– The price presented to the consumer is required to be the price you actually have pay for the service. Fees that cannot be avoided, such as cleaning and service fees, should not be added later in the booking process, says Nergård.
The Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman has asked AirBnB to make the requested changes and confirm that all taxes and fees are
included in the total price as soon as possible, and no later than 15 February 2016.
The Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman finds it important for consumers to be as safe when renting or buying a product or a service through a sharing economy platform, as they are on more traditional platforms.
Contact at the Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman:
Gry Nergård, Consumer Ombudsman (tlf: +47 99 005 080)