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

[The Sceptical Chymist]

The fact that you find it easier to spend fiat implies that you. Have fiat that could be used to buy bitcoins. Fiat that is built to lose value. So you are basically saying that you would rather hold a currency that loses value so that you can spend it instead of holding a currency that gains in value because you don't want to spend it.

My average purchase price for bitcoins over the course of 2015 was $250. I was able to convert 100% of my paycheck to bitcoins because I have actually found a way to use bitcoins for about 80% of my spending. The rest I sell for the local currency.

I don't hold cash, I invest it.  You got lucky if your buy price was 250.  Bitcoin could easily crash.

Yes, inflation eats away at purchasing power which is all the more reason to spend it.  So I do.  Why should I buy bitcoin just to spend it?  
Edit: Blacula X said it for me, thank you.  OP, why would I want my paycheck to be in bitcoin?  You are aware of how volatile it can be, right?  That could be disastrous.

[fenican]

Bottom line is Bitcoin will never be a replacement for small retail transactions. If it suddenly took off in popularity and hit MasterCard/Visa type volume, blocks would fill up and transactions would take 3 years to confirm if ever. YES this could theoretically be fixed with changes to the client, but there is ZERO chance that will occur since it takes 19 months for developers/miners to adopt even the simplest changes.

So what is BTC good for? It's a good alternative to gold and silver for capital preservation. For micro transactions, just convert a bit each month to fiat and use the rich existing network of micro transaction systems all of which are way superior to the current BTC implementation for that purpose.

[hoosier_13]

Use Cheapair.com - they are all about bitcoin

[tommorisonwebdesign]

When you're dealing with a company like Expedia, you can expect customer service in regard to Bitcoin to go down. Bitcoin has been banned in some states of the US (like New York) abd the powers at be want it to stay that way. Central bankers obviously persuaded Expedia to cease accepting Bitcoin.

[smaxz]

Use Cheapair.com - they are all about bitcoin

ditto this, tried expedia earlier in the year and they only offered purchase with bitcoin when hotel packages were included with airfare anyways.

cheapair.com found me a better rate and no hassle bitcoin payment at checkout.

don't forget to buy back some coins if you spend..

[alomar]

yeah, too bad.  but customer service was a nightmare.

[Snorek]

I wonder if keeping bitcoin payments as one of the possible payment options is so problematic, and expensive to maintenance?
I was under the impression that bitcoin payments can be introduced/organized and maintained at lower cost than credit card payments usually are.

[X badapple X]

So what is BTC good for? It's a good alternative to gold and silver for capital preservation. For micro transactions, just convert a bit each month to fiat and use the rich existing network of micro transaction systems all of which are way superior to the current BTC implementation for that purpose.

The only problem with Bitcoin being a gold substitute is ...wait, did I say only? I meant I'll start a list:
1. Gold has a history of being used as a store of value. Longer than the recorded history of mankind. Bitcoin ain't got that.
2. We already got gold. Value ain't created as easily as new "stores of value." For Bitcoin to acquire value, something gots to *lose* value.
3. Gold has a nice quality: It stays fresh. you put it somwhere, and in a thousand years, it's as good as it ever was -- low maintenance; easy to store.
    Bitcoin network burns a trainload of coal a minute to secure Bitcoin, regardless of whether you transact on it or not.
    So roughly like trying to use Ice cream as a store of value -- your fridge stops running, your wealth is gone.
    Would you use ice cream to store your wealth?

[Chris!]

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.

I'm going to have to agree to this. Although I encourage others to spend Bitcoins on my wares I don't generally spend very many, just collect.

It's sad that they would just stop without warning though. Did you ever get a reason from them? That email seemed really vague. "Sorry, we don't accept bitcoin anymore... If you don't like this answer please call 1-800-who-care(s)."

[nioc]

When you're dealing with a company like Expedia, you can expect customer service in regard to Bitcoin to go down. Bitcoin has been banned in some states of the US (like New York) abd the powers at be want it to stay that way. Central bankers obviously persuaded Expedia to cease accepting Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is not banned in New York.  Why you lie?

As to the rest of your post.........Wait is it April Fools?

[Junko]

That's too bad. They were one of the earlier companies to accept bitcoin. Oh well, if they didn't have demand for it, I guess that's what happens. Hopefully Steam will have some decent demand in time and be more successful with it.

[Blacula X]

I wonder if keeping bitcoin payments as one of the possible payment options is so problematic, and expensive to maintenance?
I was under the impression that bitcoin payments can be introduced/organized and maintained at lower cost than credit card payments usually are.

It's like this. Imagine you're Expedia and 99.9% of your customers use CC. The other .1%? Most of them would use CC if presented with no other options.

You decide to go after that fraction of that .1% anyway, and let BitPay handle the mechanics  ...which, ofc, they can't.
Because people don't ask BitPay for refunds, they call Expedia. And bitcoiners are savvy financiers, they want what's coming to them, and by gosh they'll get it. They tie up Expedia phones, first getting angry at the staff because selfsame staff don't know WTF bitcoin is, and then go on to rage about unsustainable ponzi that is the legacy finance and the Rothschild lizard family.

TL;DR: Was a guy with a food truck on reddit who tried accepting BTC & stopped. He said that the people paying with BTC chewed his ear off about bitcoin, ignoring the growing line of hungry dull normals paying with boring normal money.  
He stopped taking BTC.

[MingLee]

I wonder if keeping bitcoin payments as one of the possible payment options is so problematic, and expensive to maintenance?
I was under the impression that bitcoin payments can be introduced/organized and maintained at lower cost than credit card payments usually are.

It's like this. Imagine you're Expedia and 99.9% of your customers use CC. The other .1%? Most of them would use CC if presented with no other options.

You decide to go after that fraction of that .1% anyway, and let BitPay handle the mechanics  ...which, ofc, they can't.
Because people don't ask BitPay for refunds, they call Expedia. And bitcoiners are savvy financiers, they want what's coming to them, and by gosh they'll get it. They tie up Expedia phones, first getting angry at the staff because selfsame staff don't know WTF bitcoin is, and then go on to rage about unsustainable ponzi that is legacy finance and the Rothschild lizard family.

TL;DR: Was a guy with a food truck on reddit who tried accepting BTC & stopped. He said that the people paying with BTC chewed his ear off about bitcoin, ignoring the growing line of hungry dull normals paying with boring normal money.  
He stopped taking BTC.

Well, it doesn't necessarily surprise me that there are some elitists or people within the community that would do stuff like this and start ruining Bitcoin's image for the people they talk to.

Were they just rambling on about Bitcoin and offering nothing constructive? How long would they sit there? If it was anything longer than the time it takes to make the transaction, they must have some sort of condition. There should be no normal person who would do something like that.

[Blacula X]

Were they just rambling on about Bitcoin and offering nothing constructive? How long would they sit there? If it was anything longer than the time it takes to make the transaction, they must have some sort of condition. There should be no normal person who would do something like that.

Here's the food truck guy:

Hi there, A while back I asked this community about doing 0 confirmation sales at a food truck. Just updating because I said I would, and to share my experience. Original link below.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/48avex/q_if_you_had_a_food_truck_would_you_do_zero/

After two weekends, I did a small handful of sales and had zero issues. I average about 250 transactions a day, and did 6 total BTC sales.

BUT, I have to stop doing it. The problem in a nutshell: turns out I don't have time to talk about Bitcoin. Far to much time spent either: 1. Explaining what it was 2. Listening to why it was a dumb idea, or 3. Listening to how cool of an idea it was.

If I was in a different business, I'd do it again. But I need to move people through and lost time is literally lost revenue. Turns out I would rather sell food than be a Bitcoin Junior Ambassador.

That's it, thanks for your free advice on the matter. If the cost/benefit was a little more even I'd do it again, but not this year.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/4eccqr/update_i_tried_accepting_bitcoin_at_my_small_food/

But this is just the one that sprang to mind, i guess it wasn't just bitcoiners but anti-bitcoiners too. But end result is the same: accepting BTC is much more of hassle than people expect it to be.

[Wendigo]

Well the issue is not with Expedia dropping Bitcoin payments but with the Bitcoin community not willing to spend their precious Bitcoins on vacation packages lol. People tend to hoard their coins for long-term investment and use fiat to pay for hotels and air tickets. I don't think Bitcoin will gain a lot of traction as a currency though. It will always be an investment vehicle for speculators. Let me ask you guys this question. If you have $1000 in fiat and $1000 in Bitcoin which one are you going to use to book your hotel and why?

[Rubberduckie]

I flat out just dont spend my bitcoin right now so the fact that
expedia would give up on it without a proper chance is silly.

goes to show they shouldnt of been involved to begin with if they
didnt understand that halving and other issues could be coming into
play on whether people are spending right now.

[SFR10]

The reason for this, could be the fact that they had few users choosing BTCitcoin payments options over the others and have seen similar cases in the past that bitcoin used to be accepted and then ditched in the future, due to less demand. IMO this move is bad for them and us since it bad for us because simply we love using it and it has it's advantages of itself while compared to other options for this kind of industry but also for them, due to the fact, it won't take too much for this to continue receiving payments in BTCitcoin (at all), and yet they ditched a whole market that would surely grow in the future.

[Rizky Aditya]

Barely anyone that has invested in Bitcoin has spent, or is planning to spend, their Bitcoin. Especially on a site like expedia, just use your credit card. Don't you have one?

[target]

I didn't know expedia accepts bitcoin back then. but yeah they probably figured only few people spend their bitcoin on hotel booking.
I myself would rather turn my btc into fiat for the purpose of booking to hotels.

[alani123]

You might as well get one of the many readily available bitcoin debit cards, BitPay brought out a new one recently.