Blockchain is an advanced technology that has begun to revolutionize the traveling sector. Its impacts are already evident in many industries and are predicted to spread across others. Services that use blockchain are fixing the pain points in the travel and tourism sector. Here are five companies that are refining the travel industry through blockchain.
1. Winding Tree
Established travel agencies such as Expedia and Priceline take up a chunk of airfare bookings. Their role as middlemen allows them to harass travelers and airlines by imposing hefty fees. Winding Tree, a startup company, aims to challenge these firms’ dominance as middlemen.
Winding Tree is a private firm founded in 2017 and is located in Switzerland. It encompasses several aspects of the travel sector, such as hotels and airfare. The company aims at removing the intermediaries in the travel market using blockchain. It uses LIF tokens to connect travelers with service providers such as hotels, airlines, and tour guides. Therefore, blockchain reduces travel fees and costs of service.
2. Webjet
Errors in hotel bookings cause travelers to have stress and anxiety and ruin the experience. Webjet has developed a new blockchain model to solve these booking mistakes. Webjet, established in 1998, is a huge online travel agency located in Australia. It takes pride as the best online travel agency in Australia and New Zeeland.
Webjet started using blockchain in 2019. The company stores its data in the immutable ledger, preventing wrong or lost hotel bookings. It detects possible data problems and alerts the clients and service providers. In addition, travelers enjoy fair booking prices and transparency.
3. Sandblock
Most travelers have enrolled in loyalty reward programs and claim they would switch to a better deal with a suitable price. These loyalty programs make frustrate the efforts of the participants to redeem their loyalty points. Sandblock is a startup company founded in 2017 and is located in France. It uses blockchain to revolutionize the loyalty scene by encouraging service providers to develop loyalty tokens that travelers redeem for specific products. These tokens can also serve as currency and be traded for fiat money. On the other hand, the service providers enjoy data transparency and generally satisfy clients.
4. Accenture
Airports are congested and have long queues that can be irritating to travelers. Accenture aims to solve these problems and thus created the Known Traveler Digital Identity System. It collaborated with the World Economic Forum in this project to change the travel industry across the globe. This system collects and stores the personal data of regular international travelers, and customs agents quickly access this data for faster clearance. As a result, lines shorten, airports reduce congestion, and security improve.
5. TravelChain
TravelChain aims to change the narrative that precious data is exclusive to intermediary companies such as Expedia. This Russian firm strives to remove intermediaries from the supply chain. Travelers are encouraged to protect their data from these intermediaries and exchange the information with service providers with tokens. Service providers receive more insightful information about travelers and use them for effective marketing. Traveling agencies can also use this information for customized tour packages.
Conclusion
The traveling experience should be memorable. Blockchain has services that make the travel experience unique and fix the pain points in the travel industry. Travelers can have a better relationship with service providers thanks to the several companies that challenge their dominance.
