Recently, Airbnb China affiliate company Airbnb (Beijing) Co., Ltd. did not accurately indicate the meaning of the underlined price when it used the form of underlined price to carry out promotions, and could not prove that the compared price indicated was true and grounded, and did not The “Airbnb” APP homepage continued to publicize business-related license information in a prominent position, and was given a warning by the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation and an administrative penalty of 400,000 yuan.
The official website of the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System announced this administrative penalty decision on January 30, 2022.
The decision shows that the parties have the following illegal facts:
1. From January 1, 2019 to August 31, 2021, the "Airbnb" APP operated by the parties has not continuously publicized the "People's Republic of China Value-added Telecommunications Business License" or the above information in a prominent position on the homepage. Link ID.
2. The publicity of licenses and licenses of operators on the platform is operated by the parties, but the parties only set up the function of publicizing the information of the operator's "Business License" on the platform, and have not set up the function of publicizing the information of the "Special Industry License".
From January 1, 2019 to August 31, 2021, all hotels (operators on the platform) that cooperate and operate with the parties have not continuously publicized the "Special Industry License" or the link logo of the above information in a prominent position on the homepage. Problems, but still operating normally, the parties did not take necessary measures.
3. Since November 2018, the parties have carried out promotional activities on the "Airbnb" APP operated by them in the form of line prices.
The parties carry out promotions and promotions on the "Airbnb" APP, and provide different promotions for operators on the platform to choose.
The operator on the platform chooses the type or discount rate to participate in the promotion, and fills in the price per night in the underline price promotion template (software) provided by the party.
According to the promotional information filled in by the operator on the platform, the parties will automatically display the price in the form of a line price in the "Airbnb" APP.
Among them, on August 31, 2021, the page of Yongshengxuan Hotel displays "￥377￥428 (line price)/night", and the page of Siheju Hotel displays "￥300￥428 (line price)/night". Operators on other platforms also use the same model to carry out price promotions.
The parties provide and use the "underlined price description" document at the bottom of the details page of the relevant product introductions of the operators on the platform participating in the promotion. The discount amount calculated on the basis of the line price, the specific transaction price changes according to the goods or services participating in activities or whether you use gift vouchers, etc., and ultimately the price on the order settlement page. The market price of the service, the suggested selling price of the service provider, the retail price or the selling price of the product or service that has been displayed before, etc., are not the original price; due to the real-time update of product or service information, market price fluctuations may be displayed when you book. If the price is inconsistent, the price is for your reference only. (If there is a discount ratio) Discount ratio description: The discount calculated after comparing the underlined price with the unlined price is for reference only.”
After verification, the underlined prices in the promotional activities are entered by the operators on the platform based on the prices recommended by the "Airbnb" APP or obtained through other channels.
The “Airbnb” APP operated by the parties carried out price promotions based on the underlined price, did not accurately mark or indicate the meaning of the underlined price, and could not prove that the marked compared price was true and grounded.
Types of violations: Paragraph 2 of Article 76, Paragraph 1 of Article 15 of the Electronic Commerce Law and item (4) of Paragraph 1 of Article 14 of the Price Law.
Among them, the provisions of Article 14, paragraph 1 (4) of the "Price Law" are: use false or misleading price means to lure consumers or other business operators into trading with them;
To sum up, the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation ordered the parties to correct their illegal behavior, and issued a warning and an administrative penalty of a fine of 400,000 yuan.
According to public information, Airbnb, a travel home rental community, is an American company, and Airbnb China is its company in China.