Airbnb, Bitcoin
The answer was overall positive, with dozens of people asking the company to take this step forward and become one of the first platforms of its kind to accept the cryptocurrency.
Some Twitter users provided good arguments. For instance, Zach Solomon-Beloin said “Yes. As international as you are, it will pay off many times over for the customer experience and ease of doing business”. Adam Nash, CEO of Wealthfront, ?answered “Actually, as a marketplace, Airbnb could do something unique with Bitcoin. Let renters pay and let owners choose to receive”.
“Yes.Airbnb is an online platform that lists thousands of houses, apartments and bedrooms available for short-term rental in 34, 000 cities across the world. It is especially appropriate for people on vacations who would rather stay in a house than in a hotel.
Currently, the site is responsible for more than 10, 000 daily reservations and the world leader in this business sector, so seeing Airbnb accept Bitcoin would be a big deal.
The rental giant might have been inspired by the recent announcement made by 9flats.com. This online platform operates in the same sector as Airbnb, but in a smaller scale. The company is not only accepting Bitcoin as a payment option for the rentals, but is also giving the hosts the right to choose if they want to receive their money in fiat or cryptocurrency.
According to 9flats.com, “this is something which our hosts have asked for repeatedly and we are glad that we can do this”.