It was with renewed buoyancy that the Bitcoin stalwart announced that the Holiday Inn hotel chain would be starting a Bitcoin trial in one of its locations – and that he would be in charge of it.
Speaking at the newly inaugurated Bitcoin Fair in New York, Shrem later told NEWSBTC.com that the Park Slope Holiday Inn Express location on Union Street in Brooklyn would begin taking payments on a trial basis, with expansion based on initial success. Shrem explained:
“If it goes smoothly, we plan on rolling it out across more locations and other hotels in their group. The hotel plans on keeping some a percentage of Bitcoin sales in Bitcoin and convert to USD just to cover their expenses.”
Moving on up
The news represents something of a reincarnation for Shrem, whose past dealings with Silk Road earned him a considerable amount of negative publicity. Now under the guise of compere for a well-known brand, both he and Bitcoin look set to benefit from Holiday Inn’s public support.
The hotel chain is following suit in light of Expedia’s announcement of a similar Bitcoin trial for its hotel reservation service last week, a move which gained almost unanimous approval across the community. Initial responses to Holiday Inn decision seem no different.
“Go Charlie!” was the sentiment on Reddit which garnered the most popularity in light of Shrem’s announcement.
As for the hotel itself, Shrem cited its reasoning behind the pilot scheme being tied to foreign credit card fees.
“The hotel caters to European tourists and one of the things they are excited about is the fee savings and mitigating chargeback risk,” he told NEWSBTC. “Accepting a European credit card comes with almost double the fees as US credit cards and much more chargeback risk.”
Perhaps an unlikely venue for such news, the Bitcoin Fair was billed as a boutique gathering, taking place within the established Hester Street Fair, but its status has now been somewhat cemented as a ‘serious’ cog in the Bitcoin machine.
The event was set up this month and is set to run each weekend, with Hester Street Fair further announcing recently its partnership with BitPay to offer payment options for some of its goods.