Expedia Removes Bitcoin Payment Option from Its Payment Portal

By Kapil Gauhar

Abruptly and without much explanation, the well know travel giant has stopped accepting Bitcoin as one of its payment method. Told on June 27, bookings for flights or hotels on Expedia.com will not be made through Bitcoin anymore.

The company had been accepting Bitcoin payment for the past four years. They had been accepting Bitcoin as payment from June 2014.

An Expedia spokesperson confirmed that the travel site  “no longer accepts digital currency Bitcoin” from June 10, 2018 apologizing for “any inconvenience” it may cause. The service did not make any comments regarding the cancellation on any social media platform or their own website.   

Expedia has teamed up with Coinbase and this issue has come up due to Coinbase’s decision to suspend custodial solutions for merchants which could lead to making Bitcoin payments more difficult. Expedia’s competitor CheapAir still continues to accept Bitcoin payments for their services. CheapAir travel service has been accepting Bitcoin payments for flight and hotel bookings since 2013.

An uproar was seen on Reddit when community members scorned the decision. They went ahead suggesting alternatives to Expedia like CheapAir which was accepting Bitcoin payments. Customers stated how they were using Expedia.com to book flights and hotels by Bitcoin payment, are no longer being able to do so and will now discontinue opting for services by Expedia.

Reddit user bowiestar stated that since a majority of IT employees were paid their salaries in crypto, Expedia would lose some of its customers due non-acceptance of Bitcoin. As stated earlier this year that despite the inconsistency in the crypto markets industry people are not reluctant to take their pay in crypto, some even preferring to take their complete salary in Bitcoin.