Luxury Swiss hotel to start accepting crypto in May

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Guests of one of the most picturesque hotels in Switzerland can soon use their cryptocurrency holdings to pay for their stays and amenities. The Dolder Grand, a five-star hotel and spa in Zurich with amazing 360-degree views of the Swiss landscape, has announced that it will begin accepting Bitcoin Core (BTC) and Ether (ETH) starting next month, becoming the latest in a rapidly-growing list of commerce facilities to embrace digital assets.

The Dolder Grand announced the new payment options in Twitter, stating, “We are very proud to have taken a step towards accepting [cryptocurrency]. The Dolder Grand is the very first luxury hotel in Switzerland where guests can pay with Bitcoin.”

Beginning May 1, the hotel’s tech partner, Inacta AG, will begin facilitating crypto payments. Inacta has a mobile payment app, Inapay, which will convert the BTC or ETH to Swiss francs or euros “as soon as the payment has been completed.” In other words, Inacta will be responsible for handling the crypto, with Dolder Grand receiving fiat. Inapay allows guests to pay for a variety of hotel services using their crypto wallets and Swiss crypto exchange Bity converts the payments into fiat for Inacta.

According to a statement by Dolder Grand Director of Finance André Meier, “Many of the improvements in our service in recent years were made possible by advances in technology. As we believe Bitcoin is here to stay, it only seems natural to offer more choices in the payment process.”

Roger Darlin, the head of blockchain advisory for Inacta, describes the app as a tool designed for “hodlers.” He says, It is aimed at customers who have built up legitimate cryptocurrency holdings and who don’t want to convert them into traditional currencies, such as Swiss francs. This also allows vendors, who may be cautious about handling cryptocurrencies directly, to accept payments from these clients.”

There has been an increase in retail adoption of crypto recently, with entities across the globe getting on board. Public transportation systems in Argentina and Japan are looking to embrace payments through digital currencies and Starbucks is going to be piloting a program using a tool provided by the Bakkt crypto exchange. Avnet, a Fortune 500 tech company, has begun accepting crypto through a partnership with BitPay and another Swiss giant, Digitec Galaxus, the country’s largest retailer, is also accepting crypto alongside fiat.