You have probably heard it a hundred times by now: we accept bitcoins…
This “we accept bitcoins” phrase is perhaps the latest marketing craze that has engulfed many e-commerce sites and traditional brick & mortar stores. Although many businesses accept your alternative currency, not many of them go further than that.
Well, BTCTrip doesn’t just accept bitcoins, they accept bitcoiners. That’s what sets this travel site apart from the rest. Accepting bitcoiners means catering to the wants of bitcoin users by paying employees in bitcoin, offering more than discounts, and promoting the space.
Martin Fernandez, the co-founder of BTCTrip, was described by Vitalik Buterin as “the archetypal Bitcoin user.” It is no wonder why: Fernandez has been in the tech community for years and even sends e-mails to Satoshi.
Changing the Industry
Bitcoin is noted as a disruptive innovation in the finance world, but Bitcoin businesses are disrupting their respective industries – just like BTCTrip is disrupting the travel business, since most flights and hotels are booked through only a few brokerage sites.
The industry is taking notice: CheapAir and Expedia now accept bitcoin and Fernandez has been asked to talk about how bitcoin is changing the industry at PhoCusWright’s Travel Innovation Summit in November in Los Angeles. Not only that, but Martin will speak about Bitcoin as a disruptive payment at a Card & Payments Latin American conference in Miami in August.
Local Exchanges
In a perfect world some would like to see bitcoin being used everywhere, having the ability to go to different countries and never having to exchange currencies. That vision may take some years, but in the meantime, BTCTrip is turning some of its 150,000 hotel partners into local bitcoin exchanges.
The local hotel exchanges would allow you to travel to a country, exchange your bitcoin for the local currency in a safe location, and when you leave, exchange your leftover local currency back to bitcoin. You will no longer have to see the currency exchange desk at the airport and get charged ridiculous fees.
Get the Guarantee
Being able to spend your bits is the goal, but so is getting that bitcoin discount. Luckily, you won’t have to search every travel site and google promo codes because BTCTrip has you covered:
“We want you to rest assure that every time you make a purchase on BTCTrip you find the best available prices. That is why we now guarantee that BTCTrip will offer the best prices on flights and hotels. If you find a better deal we will beat it and process a credit in your favor. We will also offer a discount on your next hotel reservation.” – BTCTrip Best Price Guarantee
The Community
Bitcoiners are part of a community, a community that embraces inclusion both financially and socially. Starting in a couple of weeks, you will be able to pay for your hotels and flights with dogecoin and litecoin because in essence their users are a part of the bitcoin community too.
Being a bitcoiner doesn’t mean you are limited to a certain set of ideals, Martin told me. “Bitcoiners are libertarians, capitalists, anarchists, entrepreneurs, technology evangelists, cryptographers, developers and so many more factions.”
Bitcoin technology may have had some setbacks this year, but the community still held strong and together with people like Martin disrupting the world, Bitcoin can only go one place: TO THE MOON.
