Blockchain technology offers many advantages to many industries. Hospitality industry is just one of them. It operated on a decentralized network and it makes it efficient to handle all transactions and payments. There is a high level of transparency in this network and it enhances the trust in the sector. It’s good for handling data and information. As such, it’s really good for the hospitality industry as it can boost this sector.
Here is how blockchain can be used in the hospitality industry:
# Guest tracking
This is a great feature that can allow hotels to track the location of their guests and prepare for their arrival properly. They can receive alerts when to leave for the airport to wait for their guests, when their guests check into a flight and so on. This can improve customer experience and reduce the waiting time for check ins at the hotel.
# Food tracking
Restaurants are one part of the industry that can benefit from blockchain as well, especially in the sense of monitoring and tracking food. They can track the food from the farm to the supply chain and until it reaches the restaurant. This means that they can manage the food in their restaurant more efficiently. A blockchain network can be created to include all of the producers, transporters, providers as well as restaurant owners. It can track how the food moves and get all of the information on the quantity, grades of food, quality, types and so on. The transactions and payments can be updated as well.
# Airline loyalty programs
Loyalty points are always attractive for people who fly. But it also might go to waste if forgotten. Blockchain network can be used to manage all of these loyalty programs and the network can be created and devised in a way that offers loyalty tokens through this network. The customers can freely buy tokens through the network. The demand for tokens will increase and the competitiveness for the best offer will as well.
If two different companies have loyalty token of different cost, then this would mean that the quality of service offered is different as well. The companies with higher value tokens would probably offer higher value of services than the airline offering lower cost of tokens.
# Identification
Identity theft is one of the biggest threats of the online life today, so keeping the identity of your customers safe is one of the most important things to do. Blockchain tech can be used for these purposes and it can counter this very serious concern. Often, customers have to present some sort of proof of their identity when entering flights or rooms. But they are very vulnerable because this form of confirmation of identity is weak. The person checking their identity and people nearby can all steal their documents or mistakenly think they are someone else. All of the information is in those documents, so the theft is pretty easy. The blockchain technology can help these companies keep the identity of their customers safe and it can be encrypted so that no one can steal it.
# Smart contracts
Smart contracts are really interesting and they represent codes that are self-executed based on an agreement of two parties. The terms of agreements between hotels, tour operators and customers - and other players on this market - can all be fed to the blockchain technology and it can automatically record what happened and all of the transactions as well. This will increase the level of coordination between companies and players on the market. This will also boost sales and the smart contract functionality can also extend to guests. They can also check in digitally, cancel and refund on their own. This same technology can be used to operate on the franchisor and franchisee contracts and make collaboration easier.
Ashley Halsey is a cryptocurrency writer at Lucky Assignments and Gum Essays who has been involved in many projects throughout the country. Mother of two children, she enjoys traveling, reading and attending business training courses.
