How to book a hotel with crypto, step by step

What does on request mean?

It means our team books each room for you after you check out. The search finds prices live for your dates, but a price found is not yet a booking. We book the room with the hotel and confirm the final total before you are charged.

After checkout, a booking on request goes like this:

1. The exact total shown is held on your balance. Nothing is charged yet.
2. We book the room with the hotel in the lead guest's name, and confirm the final total, taxes included.
3. If the confirmed total is higher than the amount held, you see it and choose. You accept the new total, or the full amount is released.
4. When the hotel confirmation number is issued, your balance is charged and the booking is made.
5. If we cannot confirm in time, the full amount is released to your balance.

The cancellation rules and any local tax paid at the hotel are confirmed with your booking. Until then, treat the rate as non-refundable. We quote no time for the confirmation, because we have not measured one.

Why hold the amount instead of charging it at checkout?

Because a booking is only real when the hotel confirms it. We book on request, so the room and the final total are confirmed with the hotel after checkout. Holding the amount means you never pay for a room that was not booked. If we cannot confirm the booking in time, the amount goes back to your available balance at once. There is nothing to claim.

While the amount is held, it is set aside for that booking and cannot pay another one. Your booking page shows each step as it happens, from the hold to the confirmation.

What happens if the confirmed total is higher?

You choose, and nothing extra is charged until you do. When we book the room, the hotel confirms the final total. If it is higher than the amount held, you see the new total. You then accept it, or have the full amount released.

We never take a higher amount without your agreement, and we never change the hotel or the room without asking you. Details of what you get back are on the refunds page.

What do we ask for, and what do we never ask for?

To top up, nothing personal: the first top-up creates your account number, with no email needed. To book, we ask the lead guest's name and an email address. The hotel registers the stay in that name. The email address is used for the voucher, changes and cancellation, and never published or sold. Travel data is deleted 30 days after the end of the stay. The booking history, without any identity document, is kept for 2 years.

We never ask for a passport scan, an ID upload or a selfie. We never ask for your account number, a passport scan or a selfie by email or chat. If someone asks in our name, it is not us. We accept no card, so we never ask for card details either. What we keep, and for how long, is in the privacy policy.

What happens at the hotel?

The hotel checks your ID at check-in, as local law requires. Japan is one example. Since April 1, 2005, foreign guests with no address in Japan must give their nationality and passport number. They must also show their passport for a copy.

You pay StaySats in crypto; we pay the hotel in local currency. So you do not pay the room at the desk, only a local tax collected on site, if any, and your extras. Paying ahead with StaySats does not remove the hotel's incidental deposit at check-in. Many hotels still ask for a card or a cash deposit for extras. Rules by country: hotel ID rules. Deposits by chain: check-in without a credit card.

Is a StaySats booking a package?

No. StaySats sells hotel bookings only. We sell no flights, no car hire and no tours, so each booking is a single travel service, not a package. EU package travel protection does not apply.

We act as your booking agent: your stay is governed by the hotel's policies and the rate rules confirmed with your booking. The full rules are in the terms.