Struggling Blockchain travel startup Travala has teamed up with tourism behemoth Expedia and Travala now offer 700,000 Expedia Group hotels and accommodations on their website. Late in 2019, Travala also cut a deal with Dutch travel giant Booking.com.
Powered by EPS’ versatile API, Rapid, travellers can book trips using more than 30 forms of cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB) and AVA, Travala.com’s native cryptocurrency.
Alfonso Paredes, Senior Vice President at Expedia Group, said:
“At EPS we are passionate about innovation and recognize that booking and payment choice continues to evolve in a fast-changing world.”
“Our aim is to support Travala.com to scale their business faster than ever before. Through our expansive travel supply, partner support and cutting-edge technology, we specialize in helping partners like Travala.com build fantastic experiences for their travellers.”
Juan Otero, Travala CEO and Co-founder stated:
“With cryptocurrency adoption on the rise, we want to ensure our users have payment choice and transparent pricing for every trip booked. EPS Rapid is the best API product in the travel industry and this partnership unlocks greater accommodation choice and availability for our users, including 4- and 5-star hotels in top destinations.”
“Our latest month-on-month data shows consumer confidence and the desire for travel is returning, with an 81% increase in room nights booked and website traffic up 50% week-on-week. Working with Expedia means we can drive traveller loyalty throughout the recovery period, offering unparalleled last-minute availability and fantastic rates and offers.”
In May 2020, with backing from the industry-leading blockchain company Binance, Travala.com merged with TravelbyBit to create one of the world’s largest blockchain-based travel agencies, enabling further ease of payment for travel bookings with cryptocurrencies.
Changpeng Zhao, CEO and Founder, Binance, said:
“Travala.com has proven their ability to build a world-class travel booking platform. We’re excited to see the development of Travala.com’s relationship with Expedia Group, as they enhance the use of cryptocurrency in travel.”
In 2018, Expedia Group introduced EPS Rapid to give companies with a travel offering access to competitive accommodation rates and availability from a portfolio of over 700,000 properties with 35+ different property types in more than 35,000 destinations worldwide. The API allows companies across the globe to customize their travel offering end-to-end, from shopping to booking and payment.
Expedia® Partner Solutions (EPS) is a global B2B partnership brand within Expedia Group. EPS powers the business of leading airlines, top consumer brands, travel agencies and thousands of other partners through its versatile API, online template solutions and powerful agent tools.
Website: Expediapartnersolutions.com ©2020 Expedia, Inc. All rights reserved. Expedia is a registered trademark of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Founded in 2017, Travala.com is the leading cryptocurrency-friendly hotel and accommodation booking service with 2,000,000+ properties in 230 countries. We are a champion of cryptocurrency adoption, accepting over 30 leading cryptocurrencies in addition to traditional payment methods. The Travala.com value proposition is bolstered by AVA. As the native cryptocurrency of the platform, AVA can be used for payments, receiving loyalty rewards, discounts and bonuses, among several other use cases. For more information, visit: www.travala.com.
Binance is the global blockchain company behind the world’s largest digital asset exchange by trading volume and users, serving a greater mission to accelerate cryptocurrency adoption with 25+ products, projects and initiatives including Binance Exchange (Binance.com): Binance Futures, Spot & Margin trading, Binance Lending and Binance Staking. For more information, visit: www.binance.com
Also published on Medium.
Kastelein has an Honorary Ph.D. and is Chair Professor of Blockchain at China’s first blockchain University in Nanchang at the Jiangxi Ahead Institute software and Technology. He has over a half a decade experience judging and rewarding some 1000+ innovation projects as an EU expert for the European Commission’s SME Instrument programme as a startup assessor and as a startup judge for the UK government’s Innovate UK division. Kastelein has spoken (keynotes & panels) on Blockchain technology at over 50 events in 30+ cities.
