This Is the First International Hotel Group Taking Reservations With Cryptocurrency

By T+L SEA Staff

Jul 9, 2021

HOSPITALITY IS ALL ABOUT DISCRETION, RIGHT?

But our credit card swipes chart our paths across the world—unless you pay cash, which isn’t always an option for advance bookings. Now, The Pavilions Hotels & Resorts, with properties across Asia and Europe, has just become the first global hospitality group to accept cryptocurrency from any country for reservations.

The boutique hotel group, headquartered in Thailand, has luxury resorts and residences there as well as in Indonesia, Nepal and Mongolia, in Asia, and Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, in Europe. The Pavilions plans to expand next year into the Philippines, Japan and Portugal.

In the market for a vacation home? You can also now use cryptocurrencies to purchase a Pavilions Residence; there are two clusters of them, within the group’s Phuket and Niseko resorts.

“The end-to-end payment service is safe, flexible and easy for guests,” said Jesse Hemson-Struthers, CEO and co-founder of Coindirect, the crypto-payment gateway The Pavilions has partnered with to enable guests to spend Bitcoin, Ethereum and 40 other virtual currencies. (See here for the full list of cryptocurrencies The Pavilions accepts.)

The move to cryptocurrency is in line with The Pavilions focus on meeting customers where they are, according to the group’s founder and owner, Gordon Oldham: “Personalized experiences are at the core of our DNA.” They’ve recently launched a travel service called Curated Journeys in which local experts create multi-day bespoke itineraries based on guest interest — including even working from hotel. Basically, that means they cram as much unique-to-your-location fun into the times of day you’re not on your laptop.

Here’s a list of The Pavilions Hotels & Resorts (and Residences) around the world, all jumping on the blockchain train:

All photos courtesy of The Pavilions Hotels & Resorts