Latest news about Bitcoin and all cryptocurrencies. Your daily crypto news habit.
Members of the cryptocurrency community can now book rooms in over 550,000 properties worldwide by utilizing the accommodation and hotel booking service Travala.com. The company’s crypto payment gateway accepts a myriad of cryptocurrencies so individuals and organizations can travel to 82,000 destinations and pay with their favorite digital asset.
Also read: An In-Depth Look at Ethereum’s Maker and Dai Stablecoin
Book 550,000 Property Listings With a Myriad of Digital Assets
Crypto enthusiasts have been discussing a hotel booking service called Travala.com recently which provides accommodation in a wide variety of countries and cities. Travala accepts 10 different cryptocurrencies including its native token AVA, BCH, ETH, XRP, LTC, TUSD, TRX, NAN, XRB, and BNB. The startup’s native token AVA is a protocol based on the NEO network. At the time of publication, the startup offers bookings to 567,928 properties in 210 countries which add up to roughly 82,311 travel destinations. This includes places like Paris, Rome, Bali, Hanoi, Singapore, Amsterdam, London, Lisbon, New York, Los Angeles, Montreal, and Toronto.
Travala launched in July of 2018 with the goal of providing a blockchain-powered travel system. Travala heralds itself as the crypto economy’s equivalent to Expedia because of the abundance of prominent listings the service provides. Unfortunately for crypto enthusiasts, Expedia silently dropped bitcoin core (BTC) payments last year for unknown reasons. This year, Travala started seeing increased traction. For instance, January bookings increased from last December’s numbers by 265 percent.
The startup also partnered with a leading travel firm from China, Didi Travel, in order to bolster the firm’s presence in one of the largest countries on earth. The most popular destinations in January included places like the U.S., Italy, Thailand, Spain, Singapore, Sweden, and the Philippines.
You can now book 550,000+ hotels worldwide with #BitcoinCash $BCH using the https://t.co/CL8FxAXFXS built in crypto payment gateway. Travel to 82,000+ destinations with your favourite #crypto #BCH #blockchain #travel@Bitcoin @rogerkver @BTCTN @BitcoinCashFans @BitcoinCashA pic.twitter.com/OYQekqC7Zk
— Travala.com (@travalacom) February 26, 2019
Travala Hopes to Have 1.5 Million Properties Listed in 2019
On Jan. 31 the company introduced fiat payments to the Travala platform which allows people to pay for bookings with Paypal, and four major credit cards. During the update, the startup said that booking descriptions were improved with a “clear breakdown of room type, meal type, price-per-night, booking price, and the total.” Travala also has a roadmap for 2019 improvements and aims to add things like discounts and loyalty rewards to the system. Additionally, Travala will be adding a referral program, integration with Gimmonix, partner with 15 wholesale suppliers, and hopes to cover 1.5 million properties by the year’s end.
Travala will be joining a few other companies that offer hotel bookings, accommodations, and flights as well. Cheapair accepts BCH, LTC, DASH, and BTC for hotels, flights, and car rentals. Bitcoin.travel is a travel agency that accepts BTC and queries a list of flights and hotels through its partners. The New York-based travel agency founded in 2013 provides customers with flight and hotel reservations using BTC as well. Users interested in flights and cruise bookings can utilize Webjet Exclusives and Cryptocribs aims to decentralize Airbnb by allowing booking payments with BCH, ETH, and BTC.
Travala wants to be known throughout the cryptocurrency ecosystem as a next-generation travel agency. “A one-stop travel booking platform combining the best of this generation’s online travel agency (OTA) functionality with the incredible benefits of next gen’s decentralized technologies and tokenized incentives,” explains the company’s website. Moreover, Travala claims that the company offers a competitive minimum average of 15% lower than current mainstream OTAs. This is due to the partnership with leading wholesale travel solution partners and a cryptocurrency-based incentivization economy.
What do you think about Travala.com’s services? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the mentioned companies, creators, associates, or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com and the author are not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.
Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, and Travala.com.
Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of Bitcoin Insider. Every investment and trading move involves risk - this is especially true for cryptocurrencies given their volatility. We strongly advise our readers to conduct their own research when making a decision.