Blockchain in Hospitality and Accommodation
摘要
Hospitality and Accommodation Sector is a million-dollar industry that significantly impacts the global GDP. It is a diverse and dynamic sector that includes hotels, lodges, resorts, serviced apartments and other lodging options. The industry is experiencing several internal and external challenges that hampers the good customer experience. This can lead to decline in business revenues, and even deteriorating a brand impression on the customers. As the digital transformation elevates, many businesses have adopted the technological based solutions for addressing the challenges. Blockchain is a special type of digital system that distributes its functions across a decentralized and distributed network. It works without a central authority controlling it and spreads the information across many computers in a network. It is secured and transparent digital system that records transactions in a way that cannot be changed or tampered with. All transactions are permanently recorded and easily verified due to decentralized network. In the hospitality and accommodation industry, it can help by ensuring security, increasing transparency, and making processes more effective to the customers. The technology further provides full transparency, enabling the stakeholders to build trust because every transaction remains accessible for hotels, travel agencies and customers. The data is secured using advance cryptographic techniques. It makes difficult for hackers to access important information and ensures the correctness of the records. The objectives of the chapter are detailed exploration of the existing challenges in the hospitality and accommodation industry along with a thorough investigation of the potential solutions with the aid of blockchain technology. Along with the numerous industrial case studies, the chapter describes the legal and regulatory challenges faced by the technology for its adoption. Further, it concludes with the future direction highlighting the potential aspects in the domain which can be transformed.