This material was created in partnership with Bitcoin Bazis
Everyone in the Bitcoin industry and all of the enthusiasts wowed cheerfully for the Bitcoin acceptance of expedia.com. The travel bookings giant made a significant step forward and issued a statement that they will accept Bitcoin earlier in 2014.
We tried it out, the question was simple: does that really work from Eastern Europe? The answer: nothing happens. Nothing at all. You can pay with your credit card or PayPal, you can use other conventional payment systems but you cannot pay with Bitcoin.
Bitcoin payment option appears and soon disappears
The story begins really well. Everybody knew what expedia.com said about Bitcoin acceptance earlier in 2014. To refresh our memory, here were their words:
"Bitcoin is a great example of how Expedia is investing early in an array of payment options to give our customers and partners more choice in the ways they interact with us,” expedia.com told Coindesk. “Customers simply indicate Bitcoin as their method of payment and then follow a few steps to safely and securely complete each transaction.”
The statements were once appropriate, you can only use Bitcoins to book hotels. Maybe, you could, but now you can’t.
Statements and reality don’t match
After a year the good mood of the travel bookings giant had a bit shutter. In 2015, 40 percent of the Bitcoin payment orders flew away with the Bitcoin price decline.
Though statements were made, as this:
"We accept Bitcoin as a way of just allowing customers to pay with whatever method they want to pay. For us, Bitcoin is on an even playing field with the other payment types we offer."
In 2015, they added:
"We accept Bitcoin on hotels only where we are a merchant of record. So for some of the hotels that we sell we are the merchant, meaning that you, as a customer are the one paying on our site directly when you are trying to book."
So, we tried booking, but no Bitcoin paying possibility.
Though there is a long Terms and Condition list on Expedia’s website, you can’t pay with Bitcoin. Or maybe it is just not possible to do so from Hungary.
Keeping a low profile?
So, now in 2017, you cannot find any possibilities to pay with your Bitcoins. We tried to reach Expedia’s press office.
We asked a few simple questions: Is there an opportunity to pay with Bitcoin on your website? Is it public how many Bitcoin users could use - or maybe used the website and the expedia.com? Will there be an opportunity to pay with cryptocurrencies, if yes, when? Nobody answers anything.
Cointelegraph tried to reach other travel and hospitality service giants, like booking.com, or Airbnb, surprisingly no answer came. After Bitcoin steadily reached and passed the red $1000 barrier, it seems no travel services can be bought with Bitcoin from the major service providers.
By Tamas Csizmadia