Travel bookings giant Expedia will start accepting bitcoin for hotel reservations, becoming the first major travel company to accept payments in cryptocurrency.
Expedia Inc., which has a current market cap totalling $9.75bn, will also consider expanding its bitcoin policy to other travel sectors in its portfolio. Besides hotels, Expedia provides a booking platform for airline and cruise tickets, as well as rental cars and leisure activities. It reported revenues of $1.2bn in the last quarter.
The company’s entry to the bitcoin economy could have a significant impact due to the size of its business. Consumers booked 146 million room nights through Expedia last year, for example. Expedia competes with firms like Priceline in the online booking space.
According to the Wall Street Journal , Expedia will adopt bitcoin acceptance in other areas depending on the market response to hotel bookings for bitcoin. The company will be processing transactions through payment processor Coinbase, but won’t hold any bitcoin it receives – rather cash out a daily settlement in US dollars.
Expedia joins other major retailers and service providers in the US who have started accepting bitcoin. This group is led by electronics retailer Overstock.com, which reported more than $1.6m in bitcoin sales for the year in May.
At the end of May, pay TV provider DISH Network became the largest company by market cap to accept bitcoin. The firm, which is valued at $27bn and has 14 million subscribers, will begin accepting the cryptocurrency in the third quarter of the year.
Expedia has been contacted for comment, but no reply has been received at press time.
Travel image via Shutterstock.
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