by - Have you heard of Travala.com?
- Are you looking for ways to spend bitcoin?
If not, you are missing out on one of the best cryptocurrency-friendly travel bookings. There are a lot of perks of using Travala such as cashback, cheapest price, and a lot more. And this is not all, Travala offers AVA token which is the native cryptocurrency of the Travala.com platform, offering a staking feature and a SMART program that you will learn about in this detailed review of Travala.
The first time I bumped into Travala was almost one and a half years back, but back then it was not as dynamic as it is not, and it is a good replacement for your existing travel bookings websites like Booking.com, Expedia.com, MakeMyTrip.com, and others. Now the price offered by Travala is at par with other similar non-crypto payment sites, and for crypto netizens, it could be a go-to place for booking travels with cryptocurrency.
What is Travala.com?
Travala is an easy-to-use booking platform combining decentralized technologies & tokenized incentive structures. The Travala.com platform currently offers 2,200,000+ properties covering 90,124 destinations in 230 countries and territories and with prices up to 40% cheaper than mainstream travel booking platforms.
Travala was founded in 2017, and in March 2020 they strategically merged with Travelbybit, which was backed by Binance. At the time of writing, Juan Otero is the CEO of Travala. The company has offices in Australia, Vietnam, and UK.
Now, before we cover about AVA token of Travala, let’s have a look at some features of Travala.
Travala Features:
Easy to use Website:
If you have ever used an online portal for booking hotels, accommodations, or flights, you will have the same or better experience using Travala. The website is fast and offers a great user-experience.
Travala Mobile app:
Travala offers a fully-fledged mobile app that lets you make bookings from the comfort of your mobile phone. However the mobile app only supports the booking of hotels, and flight bookings are not yet available.
Visit Travala website || Download Android App || Download iOS App
Book accommodations & flights with Crypto:
If I have to highlight the single most important feature of Travala, that would be booking of travels using Cryptocurrencies. At the time of writing this Travala review, they support a wide range of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, AVA, Ethereum, ADA, BNB, XRP, LTC, and many more. Even if you make a payment via cryptocurrencies, you can get a refund for your cancellations.
Travala (backed by Binance) is also one of the major websites that integrate with Binance pay. Think of Binance pay as PayPal for cryptocurrencies. Watch the below video to learn more about Binance Pay:
Travala cancellation & refund:
I’m pretty sure you are aware that cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible, but with Travala you can get a refund for your cancelled bookings, even if the payment is done in cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin.
According to their website, this is the cancellation refund time:
- Credit Card / Debit Card payment: Funds may take up to 30 days to appear in your bank account, depending on your bank billing cycle.
- Crypto payment: The Funds will be sent within 7 days since the cancellation made. The refund will be made in BUSD and will be sent to your wallet in your Travala.com account.
- Crypto.com Pay: Funds will be sent within 10 days since the cancellation made. You will receive a refund in the cryptocurrency that used to make the payment and the refund amount may differ due to the market’s current price of the cryptocurrency.
- Travel Credit payment: The refund in travel credits will be sent to Travel Credits Wallet in your Travala.com account.
Loyalty program (Smart member)
Travala offers one of the best loyalty programs in the travel industry, which is available for the AVA token holders. This program is called the Smart program. You can get up to 10% savings on travel bookings and 12% APY bonus rewards.
Smart program offers up to 5% discount off the listed prices together with up to 5% loyalty reward after you have completed your stay. It works on holding a tiered amount of AVA in your wallet. When activated, it applies to hotel and accommodation bookings that have the Smart Icon available. You will also earn bonus rewards of 12% APY just for activating the membership.
There are 5 different levels of Smart program at the time of writing, and every higher tier offers an added advantage.
Travel Credits:
You can buy Travel credits under “My Profile” which can be later used for making payments for your travel. On the booking page, you will find the option to pay with Travel Credits. If the credit is sufficient, just hit the button “Pay with travel credits”. If not, you can pay partially by travel credits and pay the rest with other payment methods including Credit Card, Cryptocurrencies, and wallets. Travel credits are valid for a lifetime and once activated have no expiry date.
Travel gift cards:
You can also buy and gift Travala gift cards to your friends, family, and colleagues. They can further use these gift cards to make bookings via Travala.
There are many more features of Travala.com that make it the best cryptocurrency-friendly travel booking website. However, I let you explore all the other features of your own.
For now, let’s explore the AVA token which is the native cryptocurrency of the Travala platform.
AVA token – Features and where to buy:
AVA is the native cryptocurrency of Travala platform, and its purpose is to incentivise user to use Travala platform, and enhance user engagement.
- Total supply: 61,125,269
- Circulating Supply: 50,998,000
- BEP2 asset on the Binance Chain and BEP20 asset on Binance Smart Chain
Travala.com’s AVA Repurchasing Plan will take place every quarter until 21,571,086 AVA are permanently destroyed. This represents 35% of the total supply (the starting supply is 61,571,086 AVA), reducing the overall total supply to 40,000,000 AVA. The amount of AVA to be repurchased each quarter is determined by Travala.com’s booking activity.
AVA can be used for payments, receiving and redeeming loyalty rewards, refunds, and as a store of value, among several other use cases
There are many practical usages of AVA, which incentives the HODLer’s and also for users who are using Travala.com for travel bookings.
- Pay for your trip using AVA. Pay the full amount of your accommodation bookings with the AVA token and you will get an extra 3% discount on the total price.
- Even if you make a payment using a credit card or in any other currency, you will get back 2% of your booking amount in AVA token.
- Get a bonus reward of 12% of your locked AVA amount per year paid directly to your wallets just for being a member. This program is similar to staking your token.
Travelads and review rewards are coming soon, which will add a more practical use case to AVA token.
Where to buy AVA token from:
AVA token is currently trading on multiple popular exchanges, and some notable once are:
- Binance: AVA/USDT, AVA/BTC, AVA/BNB, AVA/BUSD Pairs
- MXC Exchange: AVA/USDT, AVA/ETH
- Wazirx: AVA/USDT
- Binance DEX
- Changenow: For instant swapping, you can use Changenow platform.
Where to Store AVA token:
AVA is BEP-2 Token and can be stored in any wallet that supports the Binance chain.
Here are some popular ways of storing AVA tokens.
- Travala.com: The best way to store AVA is by staking on Travala platform. This way, you will be earning an extra staking reward. If not, you can always use Travala.com wallet to store your AVA token.
- Trust Wallet
- Ledger Hardware Wallet
- SafePal wallet
Useful resources of Travala:
- Official Website: Travala.com
- Twitter: @travalacom
- Blog: Travala Blog
- Reddit: @Travala
- Whitepaper: Travala Whitepaper
Conclusion: Should you be using Travala platform?
Well, Travala seems like a brilliant solution for booking your Travel (Flights, hotels, and more) using Cryptocurrency. However, it is not only limited to cryptocurrency, and also accepts payment via Credit card/debit card which makes it an interesting proposal for a lot of users.
The user base is slowly growing, and Travala is partnering with many platforms including Expedia, Viator, and many others. Overall, for any cryptocurrency users who plan to live on Cryptocurrency or looking for more ways to spend their cryptocurrencies, Travala seems like a great option.
Now, it is your turn to let me know:
- Have you used Travala to make travel bookings via cryptocurrencies?
- How was your experience of using Travala?
- Do you know similar sites as Travala?
- What’s your overall review of Travala.com?
Let me know your answers in the comment section below.
