The popularity of cryptocurrencies has grown rapidly in recent years, breaking into practically all sectors, which has come to transform and decentralize the way of exchanging values.

The tourism industry is no exception and a large number of companies participating in the sector are adopting blockchain technology and accepting crypto currencies as a payment alternative, especially the most highly valued: bitcoin. This has made the process of booking and buying a plane ticket online through web pages, which can now accept payment with cryptocurrencies. In this context, here are some of the sites that offer this option.

CHEAPAIR

CheapAir is a travel and tourism company based in California, United States, founded in 1989. It accepts payments with bitcoins since November 2013 and is promoted as one of the first travel agencies to make transactions with cryptocurrencies.

Users can book their flights from anywhere in the world to any destination, using the main airlines. In parallel, it provides hotel accommodation and car rental during the trip, all paid for with bitcoin. However, in April it began to have certain problems with its platform due to Coinbase's recent decision to modify its payment service and suspend its custody functions.

Jeff Klee, founder and CEO of Cheapair, who presents himself as a lover of cryptocurrencies, through his corporate blog addressed users explaining the difficulties that this situation generates and asking them if they were willing to use wallets with the BIP70 protocol, in order to use the BitPay platform. Also, they propose to accept other currencies such as Bitcoin Cash, Dash, and Litecoin.

Everything seems to indicate that this will be the alternative to choose, since the publication says that they are already testing with these cryptocurrencies. The idea is to continue offering the possibility of payment with cryptographic currencies, since, in the opinion of Klee, it is an easy, comfortable and safe way to book flights.

DESTINY

Destinia is an online travel agency that has adopted the new payment technology since 2014. Of Spanish origin, it was created in 2001 and rapidly expanded internationally. It was founded by Ian Webber and Amuda Goueli, current CEO.

It accepts payments with bitcoins as long as the services or products are purchased directly through its website, which excludes cruises, car rentals and some hotels that only accept payment at reception, or flights where the airline only accepts payment by credit card. credit.

It is characterized by indicating the rates of flights and itineraries in thousandths of bitcoin or milli-bitcoin (mBTC), considering it easier for users and more convenient when displaying prices, as indicated on their website, where They also offer a guide explaining what bitcoin is and how to reserve and pay from the website with the cryptocurrency. The exchange rate is set through BitPay's Bitcoin Best Bid (BBB).

EXPEDIA

This is one of the most important and popular travel agencies in the world, which since 1996 is part of the Expedia Group, Inc. corporation. In 2014 the company affiliated with Coinbase to facilitate the purchase of bitcoin for reservation and also for the purchase of plane tickets and booking of accommodation sites in travel.

In announcing that the company was accepting bitcoin, Michael Gulmann, Vice President of Expedia Global Product, said that at the time the company was uniquely positioned as one of the leading online travel agencies embracing the latest payment technologies and helping to solve travel planning and booking for clients and partners.

Expedia users simply choose a flight, hotel or car rental service using the company's platform and proceed to pay with bitcoin.

However, there are particular terms for bitcoin purchases that are listed on a specific page on the terms of use, where it is explained how Coinbase facilitates payments and customers are asked to complete the transaction in a maximum of 10 minutes, given that the exchange rate may vary in that time due to the volatility of the cryptocurrency.

It is also noted that transactions in virtual currency are irreversible and the refund policies and commissions that the Bitcoin platform charges for miners are exposed.

TRAVELFORCOINS

Travelforcoins is a website created in 2013 in California, United States, with the idea of ​​expanding the usability of bitcoins in the tourism market.

Its creators, who are passionate about the use and future of digital currency, are Aaron Soleimani and Riley Alexander. The latter is also noted as the founder of ForCoins LLC, a company that includes the sites PizzaForCoins.com, TravelForCoins.com and GiftsForCoins.com, using bitcoins as transaction currency. This group was joined by HotelsForCoins.com, as announced on its website.

In its presentation, Travelforcoins points out that the concept is simple: book a flight or hotel room and pay in bitcoins, the only cryptocurrency they accept for the purchase of airline tickets and hotel rooms. Transactions take place on Expedia's online platform.

ABITSKY

ABitSky is another website for flight, hotel and car rental reservations, owned by UAB Interneto Partneris, based in Lithuania. It started its activities in 2002, operating only in its country, although it grew until it became international.

It is present in several countries through different Internet domains, such as Fly.ge in Georgia, Hotflug.de in Germany, Flysiesta.es in Spain, and Flysiesta.it in Italy, among others.

Accept the payment with bitcoins and in its specific portal the rates of the flights in BTC. The procedure is carried out through BitPay or Coinbase, according to what is mentioned on the website.

BTCTRIP

BTCtrip is a company based in New York, founded in 2013 by Yamil Alis and Martin Fernández, which allows users to pay with bitcoin, and since 2014 with dogecoin and litecoin. It offers the flight reservation service and hotel accommodation, covering many destinations around the world.

According to comments on forums and social networks, the site has become very popular with bitcoin users and its page incorporates testimonials from satisfied customers, including different CEOs of digital companies, executives and bitcoin investors.