Airbnb Co-Founder Hints At Integrating Crypto Payments In 2022

Accommodations platform giant Airbnb could potentially add the option of paying with cryptocurrencies in 2022.

Airbnb co-founder and CEO, Brian Chesky, has recently highlighted the most-requested products this year, noting that crypto payments topped the list.

Are Cryptocurrency Payments Coming To Airbnb This Year?

On January 2, Chesky asked his Twitter followers to suggest what they wanted from the vacation rental behemoth in 2022. Today, the executive revealed that the majority of respondents were interested in making payments in Bitcoin and other digital currencies for houses and tourism activities on the vacation rental platform.

This request was followed by clear pricing displays, a guest loyalty program, better customer service, and updated cleaning fees. Chesky indicated that Airbnb is already “working on most” of these suggestions and “will look into others now”. 

He further added that he has received a slew of token ideas, suggesting that Airbnb’s possible crypto payment option will not be limited to one or two digital assets. The company currently accepts Visa, PayPal, Mastercard, Apple Pay, and Google Pay as methods of payment. The CEO also posited that since 2013 Airbnb had processed as much as $336 billion worth of payments. 

Airbnb And Crypto: An Obvious Match

Notably, this is not the first time the Airbnb co-founder is discussing cryptocurrencies.

Speaking during an interview with Fox Business in September 2021, Chesky said multiple clients have been requesting Airbnb to enable crypto payments for years now. At the time, he also affirmed that he was proud of Coinbase, a leading cryptocurrency exchange helmed by former Airbnb employee Brian Armstrong.

Airbnb became a publicly-traded company in December 2020. In its initial public offering (IPO) prospectus, the firm noted that it had to embrace burgeoning technologies like cryptocurrencies, the underlying blockchain technology, and tokenization in order to remain successful in the future.

In November, Chesky told The Verge that Airbnb was “definitely looking into” crypto and the metaverse. “Like the revolution in travel, there is clearly a revolution happening in crypto. Airbnb and crypto both have interesting relationships with trust,” he added.

Airbnb accepting bitcoin amid stiff competition from blockchain-based alternatives such as Travala’s vacation rental service Dtravel seems an obvious plus for both crypto and the San Francisco-based company.