A startup’s partnership with a leading travel agency, and its impact on crypto adoption
Booking.com, the online travel agency has recently partnered with a cryptocurrency-friendly travel booking platform named Travala. This, according to experts, will allow users of Travala to book accommodation on the online travel agency and pay for it using their crypto assets.
Though this announcement is being seen as a piece of great news for the existing and future users of Travala, the impact that this partnership will make on actual crypto adoption is yet to be seen. According to some crypto analysts, since there is no change to the user experience on the travel booking agency, this partnership might not serve as very fruitful to promote the crypto usage to the assets that have not been converted yet.
The impact on its adoption
A post related to this strategic partnership on the Booking.com website blog reveals that users will now be able to pay for their stays using cryptocurrency at a total of around two million destinations. Where a comment from the Travala CEO, Matt Luczynski said, “The partnership between us and Booking.com will allow our users to access their (Booking.com) as well as other leading travel supplier’s accommodation listings, which, according to us is a huge step towards mass cryptocurrency adoption.”
Travala customers will now be able to utilize more than 20 different digital assets to make payments for their stays. However, with many apparent adoption stories, there is more to this partnership than it meets the eye.
Alike other high-profile examples of cryptocurrency acceptance, Travala seems to be using a payment processing service to allow payments from Bitcoin, Litecoin as well as different other currencies. As of now, booking.com has only agreed to accept payments in fiat currency via one of these payment processors. The company’s stance has not changed with regard to cryptocurrency payments. It is still uncertain as to what payment firm Travala is going to work with, however, the scope of payment options alone suggests that such a service will definitely be a part of the system.
The company has also listed a service fee levied by an unknown payment processing firm as a part of its cryptocurrency payment information pages. The role of this payment processor will make the deals on booking.com less about genuine acceptance of digital currencies and more about making an increased number of sales to individuals who wish to pay using the cutting edge payment methods.
Now, this partnership only benefits those who use digital currency. For those receiving pay cheques in Bitcoin or some other crypto asset, making payments for their bookings on booking.com using a digital currency is an advantage.
The strategic partnership detailed today doesn’t make an impact on the already existing users of booking.com. It is only inclined towards improving the experience of a much smaller number of presumably already crypto-literate users of the Travala platform.
Unlike instances of increased crypto acceptance, for instance, AT&T allowing its users to make payments using cryptocurrency via a payment processor, the overall user-experience of an already sizeable customer base is not expected to change. The Travala-Booking.com partnership, therefore, seems unlikely to act as a means of familiarizing crypto with those still skeptical about its acceptance, and eventually use.
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