The Expedia Group Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) official website has removed its bitcoin (BTC-USD) payment option. A company representative confirmed that the company would not be accepting Bitcoin for hotel bookings and flight charges. The representatives addressed the policy change and confirmed that the company is evaluating alternative payment options. The company apologized for any inconveniences caused since no prior communication had been made to the effect.
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The Expedia payment process through Bitcoin has been ongoing for four years now. The payment was initiated by Coinbase whereby the website option would redirect clients to the Coinbase Exchange website. Expedia however did not cite any reason for the move but community followers believe it is as a result of the high fees.
Why Expedia Cancelled Bitcoin
The Bitcoin payment option for Expedia has been faced with frequent problems. Customers are also dissatisfied with timed out payments that had to expire, the hectic process for refunds and the fact that some of them had to resort to the credit card option even after making their payment in Bitcoin. Bitcoin’s market cap was far lower when Expedia accepted the cryptocurrency as one of its payment options.
Some of the company’s customers point out that Expedia might have suspended Bitcoin following Coinbase’s decision to stop custodial solutions for merchants. CheapAir also switched from Coinbase after the custodial solutions policy change. CheapAir also mentioned that it was necessary to work with a reliable payment processing partner to initiate efficient Cryptocurrency payments. CheapAir will be processing payments in Bitcoin cash (BCH-USD), Bitcoin, Dash (DASH-USD), and Litecoin (LTC-USD). Bitcash Exchange will initiate the payments.
Coinbase Commerce Platform
Expedia’s decision comes after the Coinbase decided to upgrade their payment processing platform to Coinbase Commerce. The platform will allow merchants to accept any of four cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Bitcoin cash, Ethereum or Litecoin. Coinbase believes that merchants will continue to consider their services, with the hope that the ongoing cryptocurrency volatility will not scare them away. Expedia community members resorted to Reddit to forum on some options that Expedia could use as an alternative. Some of the community members, who are IT experts, explained how their salaries are paid in Bitcoin and it was easy for them to pay for Expedia flights with the Bitcoin option.
