TECHNOLOGY management , will be counterproductive and definitely ineffective ,” Starkov cautions .
CONTRACTS “ Blockchain can power secure legal contracts between hotel chains and numerous legal parties from franchisee agreements , to preferred vendor contracts , to corporate group and managed business travel contracts ,” Starkov says . JetBlue has invested in a startup that would speed up payments for services like fuel and provisioning trucks by using blockchain , which could make the transactions happen in near real-time versus over weeks . Hotels could create their own blockchain to pay vendors , but more likely , they will contract with a firm to do it .
IDENTIFICATION A final good use of blockchain for hotels is what Starkov calls universal IDs . “ In the future , the blockchain could provide travel consumers with Universal Digital IDs that can be used for online and voice hotel reservations , loyalty program memberships , and ultimately facilitate easier and more secure online transactions ,” he says .
To that end , blockchain could improve loyalty programs by getting rid of those dizzying points structures . “ Another use for blockchain is to provide ‘ tokenization ’ of the current loyalty programs by replacing the old-fashioned points , loyalty cards and even reward punch cards with digital tokens
“ ANOTHER USE FOR BLOCKCHAIN IS TO PROVIDE ‘ TOKENIZATION ’ OF THE CURRENT LOYALTY PROGRAMS BY REPLACING THE OLD-FASHIONED POINTS , LOYALTY CARDS AND EVEN REWARD PUNCH CARDS WITH DIGITAL TOKENS MANAGED BY THE BLOCKCHAIN .”
MAX STARKOV , DIRECTOR , HEBS DIGITAL
managed by the blockchain ,” Starkov says .
In short , each hotel could have its own currency that guests could use , and the transactions would live on a blockchain .
These are promising upgrades , but the biggest hurdles for blockchain are the existing legacy systems deployed by hotels . While the industry is making some improvements when it comes to standardization of its technology platforms , there ’ s still a long way to go .
“ Throwing another new technology into this fragmented technology quagmire without fixing the overall deficiencies in hotel operations , inventory management , marketing and data
COMPLICATIONS Flo Lugli , founder and principal of the Navesink Advisory Group , a technology and hospitality consulting firm , told HOTELS in an interview that most brands are heavily franchised and their core competency is real estate asset management , not technology .
“ From an economic perspective ,” she says , “ they are receiving a very small percentage of the revenues that they then have to expend on reservations platforms and marketing and loyalty programs and so forth . And then obviously , the fragmentation of ownership and management makes it even more complicated .”
Smaller hotel brands and management companies fall into a similar trap , Lugli said , because a lot of their tech services are farmed out to other providers , ultimately creating more fragmented technology systems .
“ Even to take advantage of anything new could require significant platform changes and investment which would have to be justified within the context of capital as a percentage of total revenue and total spend ,” she said , noting that she didn ’ t anticipate any changes in how things are done in the next three years .
Starkov says hotels should do a feasibility study on blockchain and how it might help bring in more savings . But ultimately , he advises focusing on what ’ s already being adopted – like AI , IoT , voice assistants , chatbots and robotics . These nextgen technologies , will really make a difference in the next five years .
That said , he admits hotels could probably do more to sharpen their existing tech from websites to SEO , social media , direct bookings , CRM and more . “ We need to deal with the hotel tech fundamentals first ,” he says .
48 hotelsmag . com September 2018