Expedia has accepted Bitcoin for almost a decade: https://www.expedia.com/Checkout/BitcoinTermsAndConditions

That's not "accepting payment with bitcoin" - it's just a link for coinbase to convert your bitcoin to USD before booking. Look at the T&Cs, it's a USD booking underneath

Accepting payment with bitcoin means using bitcoin as the currency in the PNR, just like you can use euros or yen or pounds or whatever

... Why does this matter? GP asked about whether you can use Bitcoin to receive goods and services. Nobody asked what Expedia puts in their balance sheet, you're moving the goalposts.

the fact that if you cancel they give you USD means it's not "paying with bitcoin". it's "converting bitcoin to USD then paying with USD". it's a pretty fundamental difference - Expedia aren't making any bets on the stability of BTC, as they are when they accept EUR or USD or GBP or whatever

It's not about the bets. If BTC can transparently be converted to USD or GBP then it does actually offer value to the person using BTC to buy services. I'm not sure why you're so adamant about insisting that Expedia isn't buying into "bets" or whatever. Having parts of a transaction happen off-chain doesn't constitute a repudiation of cryptocurrency. Not everyone is a Bitcoin maximalist. Demonstrating it has value for people is enough to support the GP's comment, in this case value for people that hold BTC to purchase real goods and services, the same way any other fiat currency is used. It's not like a non-US entity that takes USD as payment is endorsing US political actions, it's just trying to receive payment for goods and services.

I'm tired of these shifting goalposts in crypto conversations. They always go like this:

1. I derive value from crypto

2. There's no value in crypto! Show me a usecase!

3. <Presents usecase where crypto is used to derive value>

4. But that uses Fiat/off-chain/<something not crypto>/<vendor that doesn't know what crypto is>/<workflow that's replacable by fiat> so crypto has no value!

The claim the GP made is that an individual can derive value from crypto, not that this value is untainted by fiat, off-chain movement, or any of the other incidental claims. When you use USD or GBP to buy a good, the good itself has probably traded hands between many currencies before the final product was sold to you using the fiat you paid. Does that mean USD or GBP are "useless" because input costs for your product were paid for in RMB? No, you still derive value from fiat.

The problem isn’t that there is a fiat step, the problem is that only one side of the transaction is in crypto. Expedia aren’t “accepting crypto” - they’re sending you to someone who will swap your crypto for cash and then taking the cash. The fact that refunds are in dollars means there is no fundamental difference with just swapping the crypto yourself before booking

I just want to point out the irony in falling back to good old centralized fintech companies to actually use the supposedly decentralized currency.

Sorry, I know, off-topic.

My theory it's a payment processor that converts to %LOCAL_CURRENCY% (if necessary, with an additional conversion through USD/EUR) at the time of purchase and thus would never refund anything in croins at original rate (am open to be proven wrong).

hmmm yes in which case calling it "paying in crypto" is a massive stretch. I can also "buy a flight ticket with a used car" if there's a dealership next to the travel agency

It's no different than buying things with a credit card and having the payment processor convert your currency to the local currency etc.

I think if the payment processor does that, they will also reimburse you in your currency, not the local one

Can't you just switch currency on your bank card, avoiding conversion?

Some banks allow that, but very likely the card networks‘ conversion rates are going to be much closer to mid-market.