TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Mar 16, 2015) - GuestLogix Inc. (GXI.TO), the leading global provider of ancillary-focused merchandising, payment and business intelligence technology to airlines and the passenger travel industry, today announced that it has started implementing Crypto-currency wallet components on its Transaction Processing Engine® to enable the acceptance of Bitcoin and similar virtual currencies on its widely used Retail Platform. The Company's PCI-certified Transaction Processing Engine (TPE) currently supports ancillary revenue programs of more than 80 travel operators and handles payments across 114 countries.
By adding a virtual currency wallet to the TPE, acceptance of Bitcoin will become readily available on GuestLogix' custom handheld POS terminals and mobile POS platform for Android OS, iOS and MS Windows Mobile. This will allow airlines, as well as other operators and brands within the travel segment, to be able to accept payments in virtual currencies in a secure and reliable manner at all access points such as mobile applications, at kiosks, on handheld POS devices as well as in-flight entertainment systems onboard aircraft.
"As ancillary products and services continue to be a vital business component at virtually every touch point where travel operators connect with their passengers, and with an ever growing population of travellers carrying smartphones and holding virtual currencies, there is a need to ensure those travellers can use Bitcoin currency consistently as a form of payment within each access point," said Brett Proud, President & CEO of GuestLogix. "We are proud that the core components of GuestLogix' payment solutions will soon be Bitcoin-enabled for all travel operators and ancillary providers to integrate with."
Using its TPE, GuestLogix will allow passengers to pay for products and services using Bitcoin currency. In an offline environment, such as onboard an aircraft with no internet connectivity, passengers can continue to use their own Bitcoin wallets available on their mobile smartphones to transact with the GuestLogix POS terminals. GuestLogix will be accepting the payment and remitting the funds to its customers at a later time when connectivity is available.
Travel operators can also opt to price products and services in Bitcoins by utilizing the special pricing and promotions module on GXI's Retail Platform. Travel operators may choose to maintain Bitcoin addresses to receive the payments directly. Alternatively, Bitcoin funds accepted from the passenger will be converted using the daily exchange rate of the Bitcoin relative to the travel operator's base currency and the converted funds will be remitted to their bank account.