Expedia no longer accepts bitcoins [Correction: Bitcoin still an option]

[Elwar]

Went to pay for a hotel with Expedia and there was no Bitcoin option. I e-mailed the site and got this response:

Dear Expedia Customer,

Thank you for contacting us about booking your hotel reservation using a payment of Bitcoin.

We regret to inform you that Expedia no longer offer Bitcoin on payment option for hotel reservation.

If this does not answer your question or solve your problem, feel free to reply to this message or call us at 1-800-EXPEDIA (1-800-397-3342) or 1-404-728-8787 (for callers outside the U.S. and Canada) and reference case ID: X-XXXXXX.

Thank you for choosing Expedia.


Chris
Expedia Customer Service Team

For those of us that actually spend our bitcoins this is a big blow.

Edit: Looks like it's still an option at most hotels. Not sure why the customer service person (Chris) was so ill informed.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Eh.  I'm sorry you're disappointed about this, but very few people spend their coins anyway,  and this doesn't surprise me.   What's the advantage btc has over cash for expedia?  There probably isn't any advantage so they ditched the option.

[X badapple X]

Maybe you should buy one of those debit cards you can preload with bitcoins? Or could just show up at the hotel and explain about bitcoins, concierge will give you the best suite right away, probably with 3% discount because no credit card fee

[Blacula X]

Expedia is the parasite middleman Bitscoin was created to eliminate. And did. But only for bitcoiners, ordinary people still use it.

[Elwar]

Eh.  I'm sorry you're disappointed about this, but very few people spend their coins anyway,  and this doesn't surprise me.   What's the advantage btc has over cash for expedia?  There probably isn't any advantage so they ditched the option.

Why have Bitcoin at all if nobody will spend it?

The advantage for Expedia is that they have a booked reservation that is already paid for at the time of booking. No need to wait to see if the person shows up for their reservation or wait for the credit card to go through at the end of the hotel stay.

The advantage for me is that I don't have to convert my bitcoins to dollars to pay for my hotel stay.

At least cheapair.com has hotels and I can use vrbo.com.

[franky1]

Eh.  I'm sorry you're disappointed about this, but very few people spend their coins anyway,  and this doesn't surprise me.   What's the advantage btc has over cash for expedia?  There probably isn't any advantage so they ditched the option.

Why have Bitcoin at all if nobody will spend it?

The advantage for Expedia is that they have a booked reservation that is already paid for at the time of booking. No need to wait to see if the person shows up for their reservation or wait for the credit card to go through at the end of the hotel stay.

The advantage for me is that I don't have to convert my bitcoins to dollars to pay for my hotel stay.

At least cheapair.com has hotels and I can use vrbo.com.

just wondering..
even when using bitcoin,
 when u get to hotel do you still need to hand over credit card for incidentals (mini-bar/damage/loss)

[Blacula X]

At least cheapair.com has hotels and I can use vrbo.com.

I think we should send a strongly-worded letter of protest to Expedia, and sleep on park benches and flophouses as a sign of protest until they start taking BTC again. They just have to understand that fiat ponzi is unsustainable, it's like they don't even know they can save 3% by using bitcoins.

[Elwar]

Eh.  I'm sorry you're disappointed about this, but very few people spend their coins anyway,  and this doesn't surprise me.   What's the advantage btc has over cash for expedia?  There probably isn't any advantage so they ditched the option.

Why have Bitcoin at all if nobody will spend it?

The advantage for Expedia is that they have a booked reservation that is already paid for at the time of booking. No need to wait to see if the person shows up for their reservation or wait for the credit card to go through at the end of the hotel stay.

The advantage for me is that I don't have to convert my bitcoins to dollars to pay for my hotel stay.

At least cheapair.com has hotels and I can use vrbo.com.

just wondering..
even when using bitcoin,
 when u get to hotel do you still need to hand over credit card for incidentals (mini-bar/damage/loss)

Sometimes they ask for one. I have a bitcoin debit card that wouldn't work if they ever tried to charge anything since there are no bitcoins on it. They usually take that then I pay for cash on anything charged to the room.

And since Expedia no longer accepts Bitcoin I'll mention that one time I reserved a room with that prepaid debit card, got to the hotel and they said it was already paid for. No charge ever went on my debit card. Enjoy.

[slaveforanunnak1]

sad.. i was the one who actually broke that new here early.. and got shatted on..

[Wapinter]

Eh.  I'm sorry you're disappointed about this, but very few people spend their coins anyway,  and this doesn't surprise me.   What's the advantage btc has over cash for expedia?  There probably isn't any advantage so they ditched the option.

Yes that true.You cant stay anonymous on expedia afterall so why would you want to pay with bitcoins unless you are one of the few ones who have thousands of coins and do not want to convert their coins first

[Elwar]

sad.. i was the one who actually broke that new here early.. and got shatted on..

Maybe if you said Expedia no longer accepts blockchain it would have gone better.

Or word it in a way that brings up block size or Satoshi.

[Elwar]

Eh.  I'm sorry you're disappointed about this, but very few people spend their coins anyway,  and this doesn't surprise me.   What's the advantage btc has over cash for expedia?  There probably isn't any advantage so they ditched the option.

Yes that true.You cant stay anonymous on expedia afterall so why would you want to pay with bitcoins unless you are one of the few ones who have thousands of coins and do not want to convert their coins first

Some of us like to use a currency that isn't losing value on purpose.

I started getting paid 100% in bitcoins starting last January. The value of my currency is higher now than it was then. The same cannot be said for the dollar.

[Lionidas]

So will this make the bitcoin price go lower as the steam news made it go higher on them accepting as payment news 

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Eh.  I'm sorry you're disappointed about this, but very few people spend their coins anyway,  and this doesn't surprise me.   What's the advantage btc has over cash for expedia?  There probably isn't any advantage so they ditched the option.

Why have Bitcoin at all if nobody will spend it?

The advantage for Expedia is that they have a booked reservation that is already paid for at the time of booking. No need to wait to see if the person shows up for their reservation or wait for the credit card to go through at the end of the hotel stay.

The advantage for me is that I don't have to convert my bitcoins to dollars to pay for my hotel stay.

At least cheapair.com has hotels and I can use vrbo.com.

Well why have gold and silver when neither one is used for currency anymore?   It's the same basic principle.

Most people have fiat and would have to buy bitcoin in order to spend it, which is silly.  That's why bitcoin isn't getting used as a currency.  And I have yet to hear a good reason why I should spend my bitcoin.  Fiat is so much easier to use.

[ebliever]

FWIW, I just paid with bitcoin within the past week to reserve a hotel room using Expedia. So this is news to me!?!

[Blacula X]

I started getting paid 100% in bitcoins starting last January. The value of my currency is higher now than it was then. The same cannot be said for the dollar.

Can reserve/pay for a hotel room with $. With BTC? Save even more money by sleeping behind a dumpster

[alyssa85]

The writing has been on the wall about this for a while. Here is an article from 2015:

http://www.coindesk.com/expedia-exec-purchases-with-bitcoin-are-down-40/

Despite a decline of approximately 40% in bitcoin purchases, Connie Chung, senior payments product manager at Expedia, says the option to pay with the digital currency will remain as long as there is a demand for it.

In interview with CoinDesk, Chung, who helped launch bitcoin payments for Expedia's US website last year, says the decision to accept payments in the cryptocurrency was also a response to demand, and that this is perhaps the most important factor in its selection of payment methods.

It was not, she added, about Expedia making a statement or taking a stance on digital currencies.

Chung noted other merchants had been more affected by what she called a recent decline in bitcoin payments –  with some reporting a decrease of up to 90% at various industry events.

Looks like they gave it another year, demand continued to plummet and they axed it. I don't think bitcoin will ever be a currency - people tend to hoard their coins. Companies like Expedia should have offered an alt like doge, which people are happy to spend, but instead of substituting an appropriate alt, they just scrapped the crypto option altogether.

[Blacula X]

... And I have yet to hear a good reason why I should spend my bitcoin.  Fiat is so much easier to use.

You do understand that Bitcoin's worth is predicated on its usefulness as money, correct?

[UngratefulTony]

A travel company marketing to neckbeards who never leave the basement... what could go wrong?

[X badapple X]

Looks like they gave it another year, demand continued to plummet and they axed it.

Yeah, must've felt great after all that time... delayed gratification!