Expedia and Coinbase partnership now allows users to book hotel stays and pay for their reservations with Bitcoins via Coinbase. It’s a first global hospitality partnership of such scale that allows users from around the world to use cryptocurrency to pay for their vacation (just think about the fees and international transactions that users can save!).
It’s exciting to see major players to use the new technology. After all, Expedia’s vision is, “to revolutionize travel through the power of technology.”
Bitcoin payments will be integrated in the payment options at checkout along with other methods of payments. According to the news outlets, Bitcoin payments will be implemented in phases: first hotel reservations and airfares to follow.
Acceptance of Bitcoin is powered up by Coinbase, where users will be redirected to Coinbase website to complete the transaction. The price of that hotel booking will last for about 10 minutes to allow users to make the purchase at the specified price with all the fees. Reservations are tricky to canceled (due to Blockchain technology rules) – you will need to follow procedures to claim the refund. Should you request a refund, it will be re-deposited to the user’s Coinbase account.