Major online travel agency Expedia made a splash in the crypto-currency community recently when they announced they would be accepting bitcoin, and so far things are seemingly going well.
That’s according to a company executive, who recently spoke to CoinDesk. The company’s own Michael Gulmann, who services as Vice President of Global Product at the company, had the following to say:
We did some estimates based on the size of Overstock and the size of Expedia, and came up with our own estimates of what we could expect, and we’re meeting and exceeding those.
Gulmann declined to specify just how much they’ve brought in worth of the digital currency, but the fact that it’s going well could be fantastic news.
At the present time, Expedia only accepts bitcoin for hotel bookings. It is, if you will, a trial of sorts, but Gulmann seemingly does not see it that way. Rather, he views the limitation as a good starting point for further expansion.
It has been said previously that depending on the outcome of this ‘trial’, Expedia could work to allow digital currency users to buy more than hotel rooms, such as flights and car rentals.
Said Gulmann:
Certainly, there are people who want to book airline tickets with Expedia, but it made sense from a technology standpoint, from a business standpoint and from a customer demand standpoint to jump out with hotels first.
Expedia joins an increasing list of companies that have started to accept the digital currency in recognition of its inherent benefits, of which include bounceback-prevention and near-instant settlements.
It will truly be interesting to see how Expedia toys with bitcoin moving forward, and as they do, we’ll keep our eye on it and inform you of developments.