It was 7 months ago when I first had the idea for the @steemholidays account.

I could feel a real diverse community developing on Steemit with more and more business owners creating accounts to offer their products & services in exchange for Steem & SBD, eliminating the need for using an exchange to turn your Steem/SBD into BTC before spending it on a dedicated payment website.

Now the whole process could take place on Steemit!

@steemshop

One month prior to this I started the @steemshop account with the intention of encouraging the buying and selling of products & services (physical & digital) using the Steem or SBD in our wallets.

Again, the idea was to keep the process as simple as possible.

However...

The idea was a good one but there were so many potential categories it quickly became impossible to find what you were looking for in this one account.

Consequently I created @steemshopbuy & @steemshopsell to simplify the situation but even this was not enough with the growing number of products for sale (or being searched for) popping up all over the world.

The Tagging Problem

In order to quickly find a specific item, the sales posts absolutely had to be tagged in the correct way.

Tags relating to the product or service were essential and the tag #steemshop had to be used to ensure I saw it and resteemed it into the @steemshop account. Sounds simple enough right? But unfortunately this didn't happen in the way I expected. And the 'adverts' often didn't even list the prices or show decent photos.

People needed constant assistance and reminders...

Ultimately I didn't have the time or manpower to promote the tagging system and Steemshop account regularly enough for it to take off. Many people did advertise their products there and still do today, but there have only been a few sales.

After three months of trying to find the best system we ended up with a pretty complex Phase 1 as you can see here.

But this clearly wasn't working.

BECAUSE SIMPLICITY IS ALWAYS BEST!

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Why is @steemholidays more simple? 🌅

In the case of a specific subject like holidays one would simply use the search engine in the following way to find hotels/hostels/B&Bs in their desired location.

Assuming that the hotel owners were creating their 'adverts' using the correct tagging system, it would be simple to find exactly what you were looking for.

The tagging system could be more generalised too, for example (assuming the tagging had been done correctly) one could try the following words...

Now all we need are the venues!

Just a few weeks ago I started chatting with @buttcoins who owns a hotel in Guatemala and accepts payment in Steem. He stumbled upon my dusty old account and has since then re-invigorated me to find the best way to make this work together as a team.

Please don't be put off by his username! His work is outstanding. And you can see his latest post HERE

He is not the first person I have met on Steemit with an establishment willing to accept Steem/SBD and like me, he believes this could in time grow to be a wonderful tool for us Steemit users. An incentive even for resort owners to sign up and learn about crypto.

Having a clear vision for this kind of thing is essential.

@buttcoins and myself will continue to discuss this idea till we can see clearly how it will work.

He is connected to a network of resorts as am I, and together we can potentially create a very appealing selection of venues around the world, all posted under the @steemholidays banner, easily findable using the correct tagging system.

The Steemshop Connection

The idea of selling holidays for Steem ties in nicely with the Steemshop concept and I hope holidays will now become a big part of what we see for sale there.

What's the next step?

We are looking for resort owners interested in joining Steemit to advertise and accept payment in Steem or SBD. Perhaps you might know of people who are connected to these kind of establishments? Please help us by getting this article out to them. Right now we need all the help we can get.

What do we need from the venues?

Decent photos, basic details, location & the price.

The price would still be listed in Dollars or the currency of their choice and the STEEM or SBD rate would have to be agreed upon at the moment of exchange, going directly from one Steemit account to another.

An escrow account?

The development of an escrow account could potentially help build confidence in using payment the system?

However, it didn't seem to help much with @steemshop so perhaps it will simply be up to personal preference and intuition? One can always check up on a person/account by reading their posts...

Rating System

In the end a rating system will be created, so that the resorts which are most successful at attracting Steemit customers, permitting them to pay in STEEM or SBD will gain the right to use stars in their titles. For example:

Taman Petanu Eco Neightbourhood ✮✮✮

The more stars the resort gains, the more confidence we will have to send our payment (or deposit) before the date of the booking.

Creating the adverts

This is the tricky bit. Teaching the hotel owners to set up and start using a Steemit account will take some time & a fair bit of effort. We all know this place can be a bit complicated at first.

So, it would have to be done for them to ensure continuity of style and correct use of tags.

Perhaps a small fee could be agreed for this service or even a free night at their venue?

Speed, simplicity and the sense of community

The thing that made McDonalds different from every other restaurant at that time was the speed of the transaction between buyer and seller. And to quote the recent film, they recognised the power in promoting the idea that ‘McDonalds is family’.

So... as a firmly established and quickly growing community/family of Steemit users, it seems logical to me this is the direction in which we are headed.

With the help of this initiative, the process of booking holidays using your hard earned Steem & SBD is about to get a whole lot easier!

We appreciate all suggestions at this early stage of re-development and look forward to hearing the thoughts of the community as we work now towards turning this dream into a reality.

Those of you who are interested in becoming part of the @steemholidays team please PM me in steemit.chat

Who is @samstonehill?

He was a London based filmmaker until he sold everything and set out on a barefoot journey around the world.

Currently based in Bali he travels with his partner & two children. With no bank account he has been living on STEEM & crypto for over six months.

All content created for this account is 100% original (unless otherwise stated), produced by @samstonehill who invites you to use & share freely as you wish.

@samstonehill is the creator of:

SEE MORE@steemshop account where you can buy or sell anything you like using your steemit wallet

FREE TUTORIALS, personal training & resteeming services. Website HERE
Contact me directly on steemit.chat if you want to know more about this@steemmasters which provides

@steemholidays which encourages resort owners to offer holiday packages in Steem or SBD

@steemtv which aims to provide the best in decentralised films, exclusive to Steemit & DTube

The dailyquotes tag initiative designed to encourage steemians to share their most life changing quotes with the community on a daily basis.

The Aspiring Steemit Whales & Dolphins group on Facebook which seeks to help newcomers make the transition from Facebook to Steemit, providing them with detailed notes and personal assistance with their posts... resteeming them when he can.

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Here is a list of Steemit Witness I have voted for & recommend you do the same:

Without them our beloved Steemship would not fly.

Learn what this means HERE and place your vote HERE

@teamsteem @timcliff @jesta @good-karma @someguy123 @blocktrades @pfunk @klye @krnel @blueorgy @ausbitbank @thecryptodrive @ura-soul @pharesim