Travel is one industry where Bitcoin has had no trouble penetrating. Years ago, major booking site Expedia.com actually integrated crypto payments. Other sites have followed, but few have stuck with it, with Traval one of the few exceptions. And the company has just announced that it has expanded its service by accepting its first stablecoin, USDT.
Travala Expands into Stablecoins
Travala accepting USDT means that crypto holders can now use their digital dollars alongside Bitcoin and other cryptos at over 2,000,000 hotels around the world. Let that sink in. That means that in nearly every country, Bitcoin can be used to make arrangements.
In a blog post, Travala CEO Matt Luczynski said:
Part of our mission is to provide our users with a wide choice of the most well known and used cryptocurrencies so it made perfect sense for us to integrate USDT as a payment option on Travala.com.
The post continued:
In addition to unbeatable prices and its Best Price Guarantee, users on Travala.com can also enjoy additional discounts and tokenised loyalty rewards for every booking made on the platform via its Smart Program.
Travala says that its Smart Program is “tokenized.” This would mean that points would be transferable, and owned by the person who earned them.
Tokenized Reward Program
The program seems to be tied to AVA tokens. It is described as such:
You can lock a specific amount of AVA tokens in your Travala.com wallet to get up to 5% discount off the listed prices and up to 5% loyalty reward back in AVA for every booking you make that qualifies for the Smart program.
More details include how AVA tokens work:
Our SMART program offers up to 5% direct discount off the listed prices the together with up to 5% loyalty reward after you have completed your stay. It works on holding a tiered amount of AVA in your Travala.com wallet. You will find Smart travel offers at thousands of properties worldwide.
In addition to cryptocurrency, the site also accepts PayPal. Tether is not the first stablecoin to be offered on the site, with GUSD having been listed before. Travala chose to accept the Ether version of Tether, rather than the Tron or Bitcoin versions.
Gemini has a habit of showing up in the strangest of places before other stablecoins. Aximetria, a lesser-known remittance service, also integrated GUSD ahead of other stablecoins.
At time of writing, Travala was offering rates in Singapore for under $30 per night.
