Global resort group Pavilions Hotels & Resorts will allow its customers to use crypto to book stays as of tomorrow, its managing director for Asia has told Forkast.News.
Fast facts
- Scot Toon said Pavilions had partnered with British payment service Coindirect to allow guests paying in more than 40 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, to book stays with the group across its hotel chain in Asia and Europe. It is also accepting crypto property for purchases of its properties on the Thai resort island of Phuket and in the Japanese town of Niseko.
- The Thailand-headquartered company hopes to be able to extend opportunities to use crypto for purchasing other goods and services in its resorts in the future.
- Toon said: “Cryptocurrency is something that [Pavilions] saw is going to be around forever. It’s not going away anytime soon, and people are adopting it more and more over the last couple of years. People are taking it on in the retail sector, so it made sense for us in the travel sphere to take it on.”
- Crypto’s volatility is often raised as a concern hampering its adoption, but Toon said fiat currencies were not immune to price fluctuations and were just a part of international business. Through its partnership with Coindirect, Pavillions is able to hold crypto in its accounts or switch it to into fiat .
- “It’s exciting times to be able to see more and more people adopting cryptocurrency for business,” Toon said. “You’re going to see more and more in the travel sphere adopting cryptocurrencies as a form of payment.”