Cheapair.com Bitcoin Sales Soar 74% Over the Last 6 Months

Online travel website Cheapair.com announced on Thursday that its bitcoin sales have jumped 74 percent year-on-year over the last six months.

Also read: The Many Ways You Can Book Your Travels Using Bitcoin

74% More Sales Paid with Bitcoin

Headquartered in Calabasas, CA, Cheapair.com offers affordable airline tickets by scouring the web for the lowest prices using its proprietary algorithm. The travel website also offers hotel and car rental deals. Since its inception in 1989, the site reported having sold approximately 3 million airline tickets.

According to Cheapair.com CEO Jeff Klee, customers have been buying airfare using bitcoin at a record rate for the company. He attributed the rise in sales to the rise in bitcoin’s price and the speculation in the market that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may approve the first Bitcoin ETF.

“The volatility of the currency has affected sales in the past in both directions, as sales have dipped when bitcoin prices dropped, and spiked as prices increased”, he noted. Klee further revealed that:

We’ve seen a 74% year over year increase in bitcoin sales over the last 6 months.

The Journey to $15 Million in Bitcoin Payments

Cheapair.com started accepting bitcoin payments for air tickets in November 2013, when bitcoin’s price was around the $200-300 range. By February 2014, it began accepting the digital currency for hotel reservations. “Thanks to Coinbase’s convenient and simple to use two-click payment process, accepting bitcoin has connected Cheapair.com with thousands of new travelers who live and breathe the digital currency”, the company announced at the time.

Since then, the company claims to have processed more than $15 million in bitcoin payments for flights and hotels.

“Accepting bitcoin has been great for us,” Klee said and noted in the announcement that:

Many Bitcoin customers purchase higher end products than the typical customer, including business and first class air fares.

Meanwhile, rival online travel site Expedia uses Coinbase to only accept bitcoin payments for hotel bookings, while startup BTCTrip which calls itself “the travel agency for the cryptocurrency community” accepts bitcoin for flights and hotels through Bitpay.

Why do you think bitcoiners are using Cheapair.com more nowadays? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Coinbase and Cheapair.com

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