Getting into the Bitcoin game has never been easier. On top of mining or purchasing Bitcoin, we can have our employers pay us directly in Bitcoin thanks to BitPay’s new Bitcoin Payroll API. And now, hotel booking service PointsHound is adding yet another option to the mix: Getting paid in Bitcoin for booking hotel stays through its website.
That’s right, instead of opting for frequent flyer miles or other standard rewards, PointsHound users can choose to receive Bitcoin as their incentive of choice. When using the site, simply enter in where and when you want to stay, and select Bitcoin from the drop-down menu. Simple.
PointsHound currently partners with more than 150,000 hotels around the world, including major chains like Hilton and Marriott. But not all hotels are created equal. A hotel stay in New York City will earn you more than one in, say, Pittsburgh. In fact, you can earn as much as 0.26 BTC for a 3-night stay in NYC, according to PointsHound. To receive the biggest Bitcoin payout however, there are a few more things you’ll need to know.
First, PointsHound uses an in-house algorithm, “which calculates how much Bitcoin (and other rewards currency) is offered for each hotel,” Pete Van Dorn, co-founder of PointsHound, tells Digital Trends. You also need to become a frequent PointsHound user to get the largest rewards, as the site assigns “levels” to each user. For example, “Level 3 members earn at a higher rate than Level 1 members,” Van Dorn says. And finally, Van Dorn adds, you’ll want to book at hotels that have the most lucrative partnership deal with PointsHound.
“To maximize reward earnings on PointsHound bookings, travelers should look for hotels marked with the ‘Big Earnings’ icon,” says Van Dorn. “These hotels offer much higher commissions to PointsHound, allowing us to pass through more rewards currency to PointsHound users.”
Of course, the specific amounts of Bitcoin PointsHound users receive depends on the market value of the virtual currency, and Van Dorn says his company updates its rewards algorithm “daily” to ensure proper payout. It can take “up to two weeks” to receive the Bitcoin rewards in your wallet, says Van Dorn, “but in practice, most Bitcoin rewards post within days of checkout from the hotel.”
[Image via Carlos Amarillo/Shutterstock]
