NFT House Wedding Venue from Metaverse Hospitality
Beyond selling NFTs in the lobby , The Dream created its Social Club where gaining membership requires the purchase of a limited-edition NFT designed by Perry Cooper . That NFT grants members real-world perks at the hotel such as use of the house car , access to the Gunnar Peterson gym , and room discounts , along with metaverse perks . This NFT has utility in the form of hotel services , but it can also be sold again , much like other NFTs .
“ The members love the hotel as it is and now they have a cool piece of art that was created by Perry Cooper and which has trending value ,” Davis explains . “ So , if they ever decide to sell this art , they make a profit on their membership .” But NFTs should go beyond art , says Simone Puorto , chief executive officer of Travel Singularity , a technology-focused consulting company . In fact , any piece of a hotel experience can be turned into an NFT – a stay package , a piece of furniture in the room or lobby , or a group dinner at the hotel restaurant . These transactions then remain on the blockchain where it ’ s decentralized , immutable , and impossible to fake .
“ It ’ s not only about art or a JPEG ; it ’ s more about creating a smart contract every time we do something ,” Puorto says . “ NFTs are just the shiny part , you know , it ’ s what we see , and because there ’ s a lot of money involved . But it ’ s just a part and it ’ s not even the most interesting part .”
CitizenM hotels announced a virtual hotel in The Sandbox , a gaming platform in the Metaverse , that would be built through the sale of 2,000 NFTs , which would also give its owners real-world rewards like room discounts and free drinks . Owners of the NFTs would even get
IT SHOULDN ’ T BE A ONE-TIME THING ,” DAVIS SAYS . “ THAT DEFEATS THE PURPOSE OF MAINTAINING SOMETHING ON THE BLOCKCHAIN VERSUS ACTUALLY USING THE UNDERLYING TECHNOLOGY TO CREATE SOMETHING THAT ’ S UNIQUE .
– VAUGHN DAVIS
to vote on the next location for a real CitizenM hotel .
Casa de Campo , a luxury resort in the Dominican Republic , recently partnered with a new booking platform , Pinktada , to use room night tokens ( RNTs ) for stays where guests would receive NFTs after the stay is completed . These tokens act like tickets for specific rooms at hotels . They can be used by guests or swapped or even re-sold within the Pinktada platform . The tokens aren ’ t cryptocurrency per se , but they are acting like one . The NFTs given out are digital highlights and memories of the guest ’ s stay .
Jason Kycek , Casa de Campo ’ s senior vice president of sales and marketing , views Pinktada as the Web3 equivalent of the dot-com era online travel agencies , but one that can help hotels enter this complex digital space .
“ These guys are first-to-market with this new technology that ’ s going to build your platform on blockchain technology . That ’ s the rails ,” Kycek says of the Web 3 applications of Pinktada . “ And they are not only utilizing that technology , but then incorporating the NFT piece to it .”
Farr believes NFTs could also be applied to a hotel ’ s loyalty program or function as room keys , ones with valuable art attached . Still , there ’ s much to figure out with the application of NFTs and blockchain technology in the hospitality space , as the downturn in the crypto world recently pointed out . But the changes will keep happening faster than anything else that ’ s come before . “ We are still so early ,” Farr says . “ There ’ s gonna be pivots monthly , weekly , yearly .”
September 2022 hotelsmag . com 9