Monero has been my cryptocurrency of choice because of its maximum focus on our right to remain silent as privacy, freedom of expression, property rights, and so on. I've noticed that more and more merchants are including it as one of their flagship options and that makes me very happy. The transaction fees remain only 1 to 2 cents.
I've always preferred and continue to prefer Monero since about the time of it's release and am hoping this acceptance trend continues. One thing you can do to pay any crypto payment service using Monero (XMR) is to use an exchange swap service like OrangeFren.com and then initiate a swap. When they give you the payment address you just put it in place of your own wallet address. In this way I can usually pay with XMR even if it is not accepted by the merchant but other cyrpto is.
Adoption for Monero is growing, albeit at a slow and steady pace. Most of the merchants you see out there accept XMR as payment method, don't accept it directly. Rather through a third-party or payment processor. This ultimately breaks the benefits of XMR's privacy.
At least, there are a few services on-board the Monero craze. As governments become more invasive with their mandatory KYC, people will seek coins that provide true privacy and freedom. Monero is the only answer to all of our problems. Only time will tell whenever it will succeed or simply become a "failed experiment".