Booking.com has begun a partnership with Maps.me to offer cashback on accommodation bookings, directly into the digital wallet of the popular offline mapping platform.
Announced directly by Maps.me, the new partnership will offer users the chance to earn up to 10% cashback. All this is done by booking travel directly on the Maps.me app in which the leading digital travel platform Booking.com is already integrated.
Specifically, Maps.me describes that initially, users who own 30 MAPS Rewards will receive 3% cashback on their Booking.com bookings. Thereafter, as MAPS Rewards holdings increase to 100 or 300, cashback rates of up to 7% and then up to 10% can be unlocked.
Commenting on this, Mark van der Linden, Senior Director of Partnerships at Booking.com, said:
“Partnering with Maps.me on their new cashback rewards program is a natural fit for us at Booking.com. As travel begins to open up and people start looking to explore the world again, seamlessly connecting them with the amazing range of incredible places to stay on our platform as they literally look to navigate their way through new destinations is a great opportunity. Whether they’re looking for a funky city apartment, a secluded vacation home in the countryside or a resort on the beach, we’ve got the stay that’s right for them”.
The application for Android, iOS and Blackberry, Maps.me, which offers the map service without the need to use the internet, on the other hand continues to offer more and more new services to its 60 million users.
This new feature called MAPS Rewards will be launched initially in selected markets in Europe and expanded in the future. In addition to the current partnership with Booking.com, Maps.me would like to offer other discounts, rewards or cashback in other areas and develop new partnerships.
Booking.com in partnership with Maps.me and the DeFi world
By partnering with Maps.me, the famous Booking.com portal seems to be entering, in a very indirect way, the world of crypto and Decentralized Finance (DeFi).
Viktor Mangazeev, co-founder of Maps.me commented:
“Our partnership with Booking.com is part of the next phase of our plans to ultimately embed a host of financial and other services that can be delivered when and how our customers need them. We are leveraging technology to connect consumers to real world DeFi applications that can enhance their financial lives. This is the first step in developing a core architecture for the masses”.
Then again, the MAPS ERC-20 token has already been part of the crypto world since the beginning of this 2021 and with a total market capitalization of $22 million.
That is why this new connection with the Booking.com portal could be a new door to the crypto market.
This is not entirely new considering that there are other web portals that directly accept crypto for travel bookings. One example is Travala, which recorded a 270% growth in revenue last autumn.
