Before checking in at any hotel, the person has to show his ID, passport, and various other documents to prove his authenticity thus leading to an increased check-in time. Through Blockchain technology all the documents can be recorded on the blockchain and when a person checks in at the hotel the verification can be done using biometrics either by face scanning or by thumbprint to ensure that he’s the same person for which booking has been done.
This would eliminate the need to carry proof documents and will thus also eliminate the chance of losing these precious documents. A smart contract can be generated between the hotel and the customer.
Once the customer books a room of a hotel that meets his needs, smart contracts will get executed and money will be deducted from the customer’s digital account and a digital key of the room will be provided to the customer.
The customer on arrival at the hotel can then access his room through this digital key available on his phone. In such a scenario, minimal confirmations from the main desk will be required, thus in turn, reducing the waiting time. The next application of Blockchain in the hotel industry can be better redemption of loyalty points.
When you complete your stay at a hotel, in many cases the hotel provides you with loyalty points as a reward.
But in the majority of the instances, these loyalty points go unutilized due to their limited applications.
In today’s scenario, the loyalty points can only be used with that particular chain of hotels that own that loyalty program.
Integrating these hotel loyalty points with a different chain of hotels or some other business is very challenging.
Through Blockchain technology, the loyalty points or tokens will be stored on the blockchain. This shared ledger technology will allow you to freely redeem, sell or exchange the loyalty token with others.
It will also empower you with the provision to use your hotel tokens across other industries.
You can use your hotel loyalty tokens in buying your meal, booking an air ticket or buying a coffee, etc.
Another challenge that a customer faces while booking hotels is fake or moderated online reviews that can sometimes even be misleading.
On these online review platforms, anyone can write a hotel review without having the requirement to confirm that he or she even stayed there. Therefore it becomes difficult for consumers to know about the authenticity and accuracy of these online reviews.
Blockchain technology can address this issue by verifying the people giving reviews. Through the integration of Blockchain in the hotel industry, it can easily be verified if the people reviewing that hotel actually stayed in that particular hotel, thus, bringing transparency and reliability in online hotel reviews.
Waiting at hotels for check-in after a long journey can be frustrating. Wait time can be due to many reasons.
For example, the room you booked is still not checked out and cleaning has to be done Or it could be because of the time spent in the verification of the documents. But with blockchain, this wait time can be minimized.
Imagine a scenario where hotels are able to track their guests and know the exact time of their arrival at the hotel. Availability of this real-time information will decrease the wait time during check-in and in turn, will increase guest satisfaction. Tracking guests’ movements might be considered an invasion of privacy but blockchain provides a solution for this. With Blockchain, you can determine and authorize the hotels, a certain degree of required information without compromising your privacy.
In the current scenario, if guests arrive at a hotel and find that the room they have booked is not what was advertised they have little means of grievance redressal, especially if they have prepaid for their reservation. Similarly, the ability of hotels to recoup losses for the damages caused by unruly guests is limited. Through blockchain technology, smart contracts can be issued where all rules and conditions are pre-determined. In case of any dispute, the contracts will get executed and relevant compensation will be initiated to the sufferer.
In 2017, around 55 million customers became victims of false hotel bookings through fraud websites resulting in a total fraud of 6 billion USD. But with Blockchain technology. such incidents can be curbed easily. Blockchain can be leveraged to help customers validate if the booking is done with an authentic hotel.
Now let’s discuss the applications of Blockchain in the restaurant industry.
Cases of food fraud are on rising seas. Imagine the level of satisfaction that you will get if you know the origin of the raw materials that the restaurant uses to prepare your food.
The food you consume in restaurants is a part of the food supply chain. Raw materials like vegetables, fruits, etc are produced by the farmers, passed through wholesalers and distributors, and are then received by restaurants where they are used to cook those delicious dishes for you. Through Blockchain technology, you will be able to track the origin of the food and the route it has taken.
The technology will even ensure better quality control and food safety in restaurants. Some restaurants differentiate them from the rest because of their specialized ingredients.
Example gluten-free food etc.
Currently, there is no way for them to prove their genuineness and at the same time, there is no way for a consumer to verify their claims. The restaurants can add proofs and sources of their ingredients on the blockchain which will establish more trust in the customers about them. Similarly as discussed earlier in this lecture blockchain technology will help you in tracking and verifying if the online reviews about the restaurant are real and authentic.