Luxury hospitality pioneer Soneva is now accepting Bitcoin and Ethereum cryptocurrencies across each of its resorts in the Maldives and Thailand. Continually welcoming innovation to allow guests to personalise their bespoke experience before, during and after their stay, Soneva now offers its guests the flexibility to choose the best payment option to suit their needs.
The payment channel is designed to make the transaction process easier and offer the utmost peace of mind so that guests can now confidently make secure international payments at Soneva Fushi, Soneva Jani and Soneva in Aqua in the Maldives, and Soneva Kiri in Thailand. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum can also be used for Soneva Villa Ownership, the first and only scheme that offers real estate to foreign buyers in the Maldives, with all appropriate controls and compliance in place.
Soneva has partnered with cryptocurrency payments solutions provider TripleA and payment platform provider Pomelo Pay to expand its payment options and remove barriers to luxury travel. As a licensed cryptocurrency payments solutions provider, TripleA enables Soneva’s guests to make crypto payments without any risk of price volatility, offering instant confirmation, locked-in exchange rates, real-time conversions and no chargebacks. Used in conjunction with Pomelo Pay, a single frictionless payment platform, it facilitates cryptocurrency payments using secure QR code and payment link technology.
Bookings can be made directly with Soneva’s reservations department and payment links can be arranged securely, from anywhere in the world. While any payments made using Bitcoin or Ethereum are 100 per cent non-refundable, credits can apply in line with Soneva’s flexible Payment and Cancellation Policy, which was introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to help guests book their stay with confidence.
“At Soneva, we have always endeavoured to be a pioneer in the hospitality industry, hence accepting cryptocurrencies as a payment method is another example of enabling our international guests to easily make payments from anywhere in the world,” says Bruce Bromley, Chief Financial Officer, and Deputy CEO of Soneva.
“TripleA is thrilled to partner with Pomelo Pay to allow businesses like Soneva to accept cryptocurrency payments,” says Eric Barbier, CEO of TripleA. “With our partnership, businesses get to tap into the spending power of more than 300 million crypto owners globally, without bearing any price volatility risk.”
“We are excited to embark on this journey with TripleA and enable Soneva to accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment from travellers across the globe,” says Vincent Choi, CEO of Pomelo Pay. “Importantly, TripleA is a reliable, trusted, approved, regulated crypto payments solutions provider entrusted by users and merchants, so it is the perfect working partnership for all of us. As more businesses look to innovate how they make and take payments, this is the perfect opportunity to move with the times – not only give consumers the choice to pay the way they want to but to facilitate seamless technology in the way businesses accept payments too.”
Cryptocurrency payments are becoming increasingly popular among travellers across the world, with the global crypto market projected to reach USD 4.94 billion by 2030. Tagged as the ‘currency of the future’, cryptocurrencies also have the potential to help decarbonize unreliable power grids and be a driver for countries to meet their climate goals faster. As the industry makes progress towards greater sustainability, it is also becoming an essential part of developing a carbon-neutral energy grid.
Soneva is a pioneer for responsible tourism, combining a conscientious, proactive approach to sustainability with exquisite luxury and intuitive personalised service. Carbon neutral since 2012, Soneva launched its Total Impact Assessment in 2016, a first for the hospitality industry, measuring its social and environmental impacts. A mandatory 2% environmental levy is added to every Soneva stay, with proceeds going towards the not-for-profit Soneva Foundation to offset both direct and indirect carbon emissions from resort activities and guest flights. The Foundation funds a range of global projects that have a positive environmental, social and economic impact.