Online travel portal Travala.com has rolled out a blockchain-powered payment gateway that allows travelers to book their accommodation in up to 82,000 destinations using their preferred cryptocurrency.

Launched in July 2018, Travala.com’s vision is to provide a travel platform powered by blockchain. It claims listings of over half a million properties worldwide in 210 countries that add up to more than 82,000 travel destinations including Paris, Rome, Bali, Hanoi, Singapore, Amsterdam, London, Lisbon, New York, Los Angeles, Montreal, and Toronto.

Travala.com sees itself as the crypto equivalent to Expedia. It currently supports 10 different cryptocurrencies: its native token AVA based on the NEO network, BCH, ETH, XRP, LTC, TUSD, TRX, NAN, XRB, and BNB. Last year, Expedia dropped Bitcoin payments without explanation.

January bookings on this travel portal have shot up 265% compared to December last year. The same month was also a busy time for the portal as it launched fiat payments on its site, allowing users to pay with PayPal and four major credit cards in addition to crypto. To extend the portal’s presence in China, Travala.com also established a partnership with Didi Travel.

For 2019, Travala.com has an ambitious lineup of improvements in its pipeline. The online travel agency looks to expand its property list size to 1.5 million by the end of the year, adding a referral program, and partnerships with 15 wholesale suppliers.

Travala.com positions itself as the next generation travel agency “combining the best of this generation’s online travel agency (OTA) functionality with the incredible benefits of next gen’s decentralized technologies and tokenized incentives”. Holding partnership with preeminent wholesale travel solution partners and a incentivization economy based on cryptocurrency, the booking firm claims to offer an average of at least 15% lower than competing mainstream OTAs.