Those interested in jumping into the Bitcoin game but might have been apprehensive about buying the virtual currency or mining it can now make inroads just by booking hotel stays. Travel rewards site PointsHound is now offering members the option of earning Bitcoins in lieu of frequent flyer miles or other traditional rewards.
The site, which partners with more than 150,000 hotels around the globe, now allows users to select Bitcoin as a reward method for their next hotel stay. The payout is variable and will depend on a number of factors including where a user stays. For example, a three-night stay in New York City will net more Bitcoins than say, a similar stay in Pittsburgh.
Other factors include the market value of Bitcoin and whether or not the hotel you choose offers the maximum commission to PointsHound. What’s more, the site uses an in-house algorithm to calculate how much Bitcoin is offered by each hotel. Fortunately, all of this information is shown when you perform a query.
A quick check of hotels on the Las Vegas strip for a three-night stay shows Bitcoin rewards ranging from 0.0356 (about $30 at current trading values) at Circus Circus Hotel to 0.1392 (roughly $117) for those staying at the Wynn Las Vegas.
Pete Van Dorn, co-founder of PointsHound, points out that rewards are typically sent to a user’s Bitcoin wallet with a few days of checkout from the hotel but can take up to two weeks at most.
