Expedia executive: Bitcoin consumption down 40%, company still supports digital currency

Expedia, a global OTA giant, said Connie Chung, the company's senior payment product manager, that although users' Bitcoin spending has dropped by about 40%, Expedia will retain the digital currency payment method as long as consumers demand it.

Chung, who was key in Expedia’s move to accept bitcoin in the U.S. last year, told CoinDesk that the company’s decision to accept cryptocurrencies was a response to demand.

Regarding Expedia’s statements and stance on digital currencies, she added:

“We accept Bitcoin as a payment method because we are following the wishes of our customers. For us, Bitcoin is equal to other payment methods we offer.”

Consumer acceptance

Chung pointed out that other merchants that accept Bitcoin payments have been more affected by the recent drop in Bitcoin prices, with some merchants reportedly seeing a 90% drop in Bitcoin payments.

Chung believes that the sudden drop in payments is related to the continuous decline in the price of Bitcoin. When Expedia integrated Bitcoin payments in June 2014, the price of Bitcoin was around the $600 mark. Since then, Bitcoin has undergone dramatic changes, with prices falling again and again. By the beginning of this year, the price of Bitcoin was hovering around $200.

According to CoinDesk’s recent Bitcoin Report, the number of new merchants accepting Bitcoin continued to increase in the second quarter of 2015, but the growth rate was slower than in previous quarters.

CoinDesk believes that the fundamental challenge facing Bitcoin as a medium of exchange for legal goods is still the lack of consumer acceptance, and Bitcoin lacks key advantages over credit and debit cards.

According to Chung, Expedia currently only accepts bitcoin payments for hotel bookings. She said:

“We accept Bitcoin for hotel bookings only at the merchants we have on record. So for those hotels where we process payments, as a customer you can pay directly on our website when you book,” she continued.

In this case, Chung noted, it is possible for consumers to pay using Bitcoin.

Frictionless payments

In addition to mentioning the strong interest in mobile payments, Chung also placed special emphasis on frictionless payment methods.

“We’re going to move more and more towards less frictionless payment methods. People are moving towards that.”

Citing Uber's automatic checkout and PayPal's one-click service (which eliminates the need to log in every time to pay), Chung said consumers want easier ways to pay.

Chung believes that the payment industry is already moving toward frictionless payment methods, but she also said that security issues may hinder this progress. "I think in the payment field, people are worried about security vulnerabilities."

As for how Bitcoin as a technology could grow into a larger part of Expedia’s business in the future, Chung was non-specific in her response, saying:

“We are actively looking for different types of payment methods, but there is nothing special to report on the current progress.”