Travala Integrated Crypto Payments For 2.2 Million Hotels In Trivago

Travala, expanding hotel booking services with cryptocurrencies (photo: x @CoinwatcherNews)

JAKARTA - Web3-based travel platform Travala is expanding hotel booking services with cryptocurrencies through a new partnership with Trivago, a global accommodation search engine.

Through this collaboration, Trivago users can order more than 2.2 million properties from Travala inventory with payments using crypto assets. Supported digital currencies include Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and more than 100 other tokens.

Juan Otero, co-founder and CEO of Travala, stated that the partnership reflects a broader industry trend in considering alternative payment methods in the travel sector.

"With crypto adoption continuing to increase widely, it only takes one big player to integrate crypto payments into their travel platforms to encourage others to follow suit," Otero said.

Trivago, which is listed on Nasdaq, operates in more than 190 countries and has a list of more than five million hotels worldwide. The partnership will introduce crypto payments to more than three million unique monthly users of the platform.

In addition to being able to make payments with digital assets, users who order Travala property through Trivago will also get a prize in the form of cryptocurrencies such as BTC or Travala's Ava (AVA) loyalty token.

Travala launched a BTC and AVA backup plans on December 11, 2024, after the crypto-based travel platform recorded gross annual revenue of more than $100 million, as reported by Cointelegraph.

Otero explained that crypto-based prizes are the main difference for Travala compared to traditional ordering platforms.

"In addition, Travala has a crypto-based loyalty program that offers gifts in crypto, not traditional loyalty points," he added.

Industry experts have long encouraged the application of blockchain in real use cases to increase crypto adoption. It is estimated that onboarding the next 500 million users will require simple applications with "real utilities," such as Telegram Mini Apps, which could be a " Troya horse" for mass adoption, according to Justin Hyun, Investment Director at The Open Network Foundation.