Selling A Hotel for Cryptocurrency: Why You Shouldn’t

Recently, cryptocurrency has seen a meteoric rise. Major coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum have reached all-time highs. With all this excitement, people have been selling their physical assets for Bitcoin. Hype and speculation have led them to believe that their decision may pay off big in the long run. The fact is, they could very well be right. The potential of blockchain technology is enormous, so to many, it can look like a safe bet. Ideally, one day, selling a hotel with Bitcoin will become a reality. The transaction would be convenient, secure, and on a decentralized platform that is infallible. Currently, it would be a highly risky investment, as opposed to a prudent business decision. Today in the Southeast International Hotel Brokers blog, we discuss why selling a hotel for Bitcoin probably isn’t the best idea.

Volatility

At this point, the biggest downside of selling a hotel – or any asset – for Bitcoin is the high volatility. At the point of writing this article, the value of Bitcoin is sitting around $12,000. Yesterday it was over $16,000. A few days before it had broken an all-time high and passed the $20,000 barrier. By the time you read this, it could very well be sitting at a new all-time high – or it could be going through another crash. It’s not hard to see how $1000 jumps in valuation could be scary for a business transaction. At this point, the volatility just doesn’t allow for large-scale transactions like selling a hotel.

Time

As of now, one of the biggest issues that Bitcoin faces is scalability. It recently underwent a fork, which means it split into two separate coins; Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. The reason this fork happened is because the community was divided on how to scale Bitcoin. One of the reasons Bitcoin needs to scale is because the transaction times are extremely slow. The issue of scalability is a complicated one, which is why the community is so divided on how to fix it. Even after the fork, transaction times are still extremely slow. When selling a hotel, you need your money to move quickly so the deal isn’t held up. Unless you and the other party are willing to put up with this, you’re better off selling your hotel the traditional way.

A One-Sided Deal

As you can probably guess, this volatility means that one party will probably be unhappy with their side of the deal. Maybe you sell your hotel for a set amount of Bitcoin, and the value of the coin goes up 30% over the next few weeks. Obviously, you’ll be extremely happy with your sale, but the other party won’t be. Then again, maybe it drops 30% in value after the sale. Then you’ll really be regretting your transaction, and there’s no guarantee that you’ll be getting that money back soon. Predicting the price of cryptocurrency is so difficult, that selling a hotel for it just doesn’t make sense at this point in time. Cryptocurrency is better left to being a risky investment where you put in what you’re ok with losing.

Selling a Hotel with Southeast International Hotel Brokers

If you’re in the market to buy or sell a hotel, choose Southeast International Hotel Brokers. With over 50 years of experience, you can trust you’re in good hands. Contact us today for more information, or to speak with one of our hospitality brokers.