He is the first guest who paid with Bitcoins in our hostel, and he stayed for a month!
It is funny how the universe conspires around you. We have received a lot of support from this community and all kind of crypto-enthusiasts since our first post went viral. We even got messages from other Steemians in Brazil cheering our pioneering project, but we weren't really expecting to have guests paying with Bitcoins right away, at least not just yet.
About two weeks after we told everyone that we accept crypto-currencies at The Magic Monkey Hostel, the destiny knocked our door: a German traveler who had just arrived to the island, lost his wallet and needed a place to stay, talking about not having physical money but something called... Ethereum. Bingo!
I remember hearing some laughs and noises of excitement coming from the front door, when our receptionist came running through the corridor shouting - "Someone wants to pay with Bitcoin!" - I have to admit, I thought he was joking at first, I never thought it was possible to actually get clients from this niche in such a short time.
Marsell is a young software developer from Germany, travelling around the world while building his own company on the internet. He told us how he had lost his credit cards recently and had not much cash left with him, nor way to take it out from the ATM. He went to every hostel around trying to make a deal to get accepted until he would receive the new card from his bank, but as you can imagine, that is not an easy request for a business manager to accept. Luckily for him, when he got to our place and explained the situation, at the verge of being rejected, he mentioned he had "other type of money" he could offer and that's how Bitcoin saved the day.
Bitcoin: The Future Is Now
Neither him nor me could really believe what was happening. On an island in the south of Brazil, in the worst situation you can be while on a trip, on the other side of the world, a hostel that knows what Ethereum/Bitcoin is! And works with it! We are the living proof of what "smart economy" can be in our generation.
Without paying much attention to the formalities of the check-in, I started the interrogation:
"How do you know Bitcoin?" - I was shouting as I was walking in the reception - "Coder? Miner?"
"Since when?"
"Which other crypto-currencies?"
"Do you know Steemit?"
I was astonished to realized that I was getting Bitcoins in exchange of our job, in a hostel, in a small village, in a south american country. This young dude I was looking at, was our first crypto-client!
Marsellus is a big crypto enthusiastic, and as soon I told him I write in Steemit he found himself at home. Not only we saved his life, because he had no way to get Brazilian reals anytime soon, but he actually brought us a great business deal too, he ended up staying for a whole month at the hostel!
Now I can say this business is real, Bitcoin is everywhere, and can be used by everyone! We can say that there is no limit of how the Blockchain technology is changing all kind of businesses. In the end, the money we got that day, made more profit due to the increase on the value of Bitcoin!
Once again, thank you Marsell, we hope to see you again at the Magic Monkey Hostel!
Steemians, we wait for you in Brazil!
Cheers!
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@albertogm This is so awesome, congrats! I was talking to my buddy about starting a business and accepting payment in crypto.
One of the strategies that came is up that you should charge enough to be able to sell x% to cover cost, x% to put into crypto savings so that you can offer to pay in crypto in goods and services, and the rest of the amount going to your personal wallets to be used as you see fit.
Thank you @chefcryptoshark Actually for us is working much easier. For our finances is actually cheaper to accept BTCs for example, because we always ended up exchaging the profits to other fiats like USD or EUR and its free of taxation . So far our crypto clientele is too small to worry about drops in the price, because always in the long run BTC is going up. If it was a big percentage and we will have to use it for the daily costs Im sure we will have to implement this variables you mention, but always trying to make it a fair and attractive price for cryptos too ;-)
Thanks for reading, I'd appreciate if you help us to spread the word. Cheers!
" Magic Monkey Hostel " The world will know you. Congratulation for being crypto hostel . Also i like your saying " Bitcoin is everywhere, and can be used by everyone! " This is the Trust and believe mate. love to see your upcoming and interesting article. Lets get in touch , upvoted and followed you mate
So grateful for your comments @inzeen. Thank you for reading and following.
you are welcome my friend , love to see your next post
Still that's really odd if you take your life few moments back to like 2000, no smartphones, old games like duke nukem 3D and now.... mindblow
When I was a kid this technology seamed almost impossible in our lifetime. Thank you for reading.
buen post, espero tu apoyo en mi blog
Gracias @Joserc.vzla, abrazos
Great story! I'd be staying there too if it weren't out my way. Keep up the good job keeping crypto in mind and business.
Thanks @virtualgrowth !
Great stuff! <3 REsteemed, upvoted and follwed! Hope to visit the hostel one day! :D
You are more than welcome! And you can pay entirely with STEEMs!
I traveled for 14 years straight, and really could have used a crypto currency back then. If BTC or Steem had been around, I don't think I would have ever left the life of the road. In fact, my wife and I have talked about going back to it, at least for short term run like a year... maybe someday we will drop by!
Hey maybe you two could start here in Brazil! ;-) Cheers! Thank you for reading @wolfeblog
such an excellent post! I'm really excited about this new payment method! I wish you all the best vibes in the world :)
Thank you @ladaural Have a good day!
This is awesome. I'm thinking towards building a school that's accepts Steem as payment.
!!!!! You wont believe that my new project is about education too! I think the blockchain technology can do huge impact in this matter. Thank you for reading @ogoowinner Cheers!
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STOPi join you i proud of mine
That's awsome dude
Hi mate, don't mean to pee on your parade, but many hostels have been accepting crypto for a "long" time. https://99bitcoins.com/11-hotels-and-hostels-that-accept-bitcoin/
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I believe Pacific Tradewinds from SF was the pioneer. and from my research I think we were the first hostel in Colombia to accept BTC around 2014 and Ethereum last year
So far we've had over 20 BTC payments and just 2 ethereum! All money goes to an exchange to diversify our crypto holding.
Thanks for the info. We are the first in accept STEEMs though. Cheers!