A hotel in Verona, Italy, has decided to sell travel vouchers in Bitcoin.
This is the 4-star hotel Montemezzi in Vigasio, in the province of the famous city of the Arena and Romeo and Juliet, which has a double purpose: to boost tourism after the coronavirus pandemic and allow bitcoiners to buy travel vouchers that can be used to visit the city and its province.
In addition, to promote the initiative, those who buy travel vouchers in bitcoin are given a 50% bonus, because by making a payment of 99 € in bitcoin you actually get a voucher worth 150€.
These are the first travel vouchers issued by an Italian hotel that can be purchased entirely and only by paying in BTC and which allow the purchase of a voucher with which to pay for services provided by the hotel, such as overnight stay, breakfast, dinner, aperitifs, garage or tickets to Gardaland (an amusement park), valid for 12 months and without having to set a specific date for the trip at the time of purchase.
In this way, vouchers can also be given as gifts to relatives or friends, who will then decide for themselves how and when to use them.
The Sales & Marketing CEO of Montemezzi, Maurizio Mischi, bitcoiner since 2015, said:
“We launched this initiative because we are aware that bitcoin has represented an important store of value for many Italian citizens in recent years. Those who have seen a monetary increase in their investment could use part of it to help Italian tourism to recover by buying vouchers like these. This way the hotel cashes in a currency that, if appreciated over time, can also constitute an interesting store of value for the company’s assets.
We are aware that the offer is addressed to a very specific community and for this reason, we expect a selected membership. However, we think that many bitcoiners are looking for the opportunity to spend without having to convert into fiat currency. This is meant to be a solid opportunity and based on the feedback we will receive, we will look for collaborations with other businesses in Verona to expand future offers”.
Indeed, at the moment the offer is limited to only one type of voucher, but Mischi promises that other similar initiatives are coming in the future.
As difficult as it may be for a company to accept bitcoin instead of fiat currency, the often small volumes of revenue in cryptocurrency mean that companies can now use them fundamentally to test how best to manage such new assets.
If on the one hand there are tools that allow cashing fiat currency directly, thanks to the automatic and immediate conversion of cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, there is also the possibility to choose to accept cryptocurrencies in order to hold them long-term in the hope that they will increase in value.
