Vancouver-based Sandman Hotel Group has announced that they have become one of the latest companies in the hospitality industry to turn to digital currency as a means of getting paid.
Guests will be able to make reservations at 44 hotel properties scattered across Canada using nothing but bitcoin thanks to a partnership with San Francisco-based Coinbase, who’s processing transactions on their behalf.
“Vancouver hosted the TED talk summit earlier this year. This event brought a diverse and tech savvy group of travelers and presenters to the city. Our hotels had a number of enquiries regarding payment through alternative payments including bitcoin. As a customer focused company with an eye on technology, we decided to incorporate this emerging technology as a payment option,” said Salim Kassam, Vice President of Marketing for Sandman.
Despite adding bitcoin support as a means of convenience for customers, Kassam says that the hotel will be instantly converting the digital currency back to fiat.
“There is a great deal of concern regarding the fluctuation in values of bitcoin. This can be seen to a certain extent in any traditional currency. Bitcoin has seen larger fluctuations; however, we mitigate this by taking an instantaneous exchange value and converting them to Canadian dollars.”
Even though it’s all getting converted though, Sandman says bitcoin just might be here to stay.
“We feel that bitcoin and cryptocurrencies may be here to stay. We can tell you without question that more and more of our customers are seeking to pay with this currency, and our job as hoteliers is to be accommodating to the changing needs and requests of our guests.”
Upon making a reservation, the user will be offered the option to pay with bitcoin. An invoice will then be send electronically for the customer to pay off. Once paid, the reservation is confirmed.
Prospective guests looking for more information can head over to SandmanHotels.com.