Blockchain Travel Service Offers Cheap Hotel Deals
LockTrip, which is a Europe-based firm, reportedly wants to bring the accommodation industry on the blockchain. The company believes that this can be done by developing “the first functional blockchain-based travel service.”
Implementing Smart Contract Travel Booking
It is worth noting that the European company already has 100,000 hotels and more than 1,500 vacation rentals across the globe. More importantly, it offers an average discount of nearly 20 percent when compared to its competitors. The firm claims that it is about to add about 300,000 hotels – including a total of 900 airlines – by the end of January 2019.
Accommodations with zero commission can be possibly booked straight into the existing LockTrip’s beta marketplace. In order for the entire booking process to be intuitive for users – especially those who are unfamiliar with the blockchain technology – the company decided to develop a service model. The latter is specifically designed to enable an instant connection between credit cards and the company’s ERC-20 LOC token.
As for travelers who are not digital currency-oriented, it is possible for them to make reservations by using a credit card in the exact same way as on any regular travel site. The exchange for crypto will be executed automatically via an API connectivity with exchanges where LOC is traded.
Interestingly, each booking is automatically locked into a smart contract until the checkout is completed. LockTrip says booking through its marketplace is way more affordable and, at the same time, secure for travelers when compared to conventional means of making reservations. The company believes that these traditional methods give customers the risk of not getting the service they paid for.
A Platform For Digital Currencies
The company does not only intend to develop the web-based travel marketplace. That is because it has already launched its own mobile app, which is available both for Android and iOS. The firm is also on its way to deliver a hybrid proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain, something it already had implemented on its own operational testnet.
The LockTrip PoS blockchain, in particular, would highlight the best of two leading cryptocurrencies, namely, Bitcoin and Ethereum. According to the startup, it aims to develop a platform that could duly support ETH apps and reach even more transactions in a short period of time.
The firm defines itself as somewhat an enthusiastic team, the type that hopes to change the economics of the retail travel industry. In the words of CEO Nikola Alexandrov:
“Users either way end up staying in the same hotel, regardless of the site through which they booked it. Paying 20 percent on top of a costly budget just for few clicks will soon be a thing of the past.”