Houston’s Most Famous Billionaire Embraces Bitcoin in a Big Way at Showcase Luxury Hotel Car Dealership: Buying a $3 Million Bugatti Chiron Just Got Easier — and More High Tech
BY Chris Baldwin // 09.06.18Houston's Post Oak Hotel comes with its own Rolls Royce dealership.
Tilman Fertitta is always looking for the next big thing. Often, he’ll build it himself. But when he doesn’t, the Houston billionaire still knows to respect it — and grab onto something that others still might be unsure of.
So it’s probably no surprise that on the one-year anniversary of the day he bought the Houston Rockets for a record $2.2 billion, Fertitta revealed that he’ll now be accepting bitcoin at his showcase Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Bugatti dealership in The Post Oak hotel complex. The stunning cars already break the mold, spilling into the corridor of the hotel, making for one dramatic scene.
It seems almost fitting that this becomes the first Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Bugatti dealership in America to accept bitcoin for payment.
“The rising of bitcoin sparked my interest,” Fertitta says.
Paying for a $3 million Bugatti Chiron with bitcoin certainly reduces the paperwork. And if you’re selling cars to millionaires and billionaires, it seems wise to deal with currencies they’re comfortable with. And despite a recent price drop, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are only set to become more prevalent. For Tilman to become one of the early adopters in the luxury car business fits into what he’s always been about.
This is a Fortune 500 company business tycoon who has six monitors behind his desk — some showing live feeds of his various properties (blackjack tables at his Golden Nugget casinos, the H2o Lounge at his San Luis Resort in Galveston), some displaying up-to-the-minute market information and projections. This is someone who believes in using the best high-tech tools available.
Bitcoin fits that drive. Let others worry that it’s some type of “passing fad,” let others get worked up over 88-year-old Warren Buffett rather predictably infamously deriding bitcoin as “rat poison.” Fertitta will go toward a futuristic push rather than run from it.
If someone wants to buy a multi-million dollar car with a click, they can now do it at Fertitta’s showcase dealership in his game-changing luxury hotel. It’s almost what many wealthy international travelers would expect at a tower that aspires to be one of the world’s top rated luxury hotels.
“We’ve noticed people prefer to make larger purchases with bitcoin since it is a simple way to make payments,” said Sonny Singh, chief commercial officer of BitPay. “This partnership is timely with the increasing popularity of Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Bugatti vehicles.”
When you’re buying a dream car, you want to be able to do it your way. That’s a sentiment, Tilman Fertitta understands and respects.