The next era of blockchain development is rolling out, with features like smart contracts and faster transactions making crypto much more than just a means of exchange. These simple features are making a lot of new business models possible. Smart contracts make many classes of transactions almost completely automated, removing any need for central servers and processing. This, in turn, removes the problems associated with centralization like central points of failure.
So automation and ledger technology make things more convenient and less risky. In almost every industry new tokens are being developed to bring these benefits to customers. In the hotel and accommodation space, Concierge is hoping to bring easy and secure transactions to the experience of booking and staying in hotels.
Same old centralization
Despite the progress of platforms like Airbnb that have opened up the range of offerings and even booking.com allowing easier comparison, booking hotels remain quite inefficient. It still involves a central actor moderating and running the marketplace transactions. Assuming the central system are even reliable (while still being prone to hacks), needing to run transactions through a central business process will always result in a delay. Credit cards and bank transfers take time.
Add to this the need for central oversight to remove and investigate fraud and you end up with a situation where the whole customer experience is slower, more expensive, and less secure than using a smart contract.
Ledgerising the hotel industry
The Concierge platform is almost simple in its functioning. It has a decentralized on chain marketplace which allows users to easily add their available rooms, and when a user enters the agreement with the service provider this is all backed up by smart contract and underpinned by the CGE token.
Automated transactions like these using a cryptographically backed currency presents a different league of speed and ease of use compared to centralized options like PayPal or credit cards.
Reviews, feedback, and disputes are all easier and more transparently handled because of the traceability of blockchain technology. This, in turn, makes for a more transparent and healthy marketplace.
These benefits will also extend to the other services offered on the platform: guided tours and similar activities. Reliable feedback is key to a good marketplace for these kinds of services (just consider the proliferation of fake reviews on sites like TripAdvisor), so it seems that this aspect of Concierge’s design could go a long way to improving the industry.
Platform design
In order to realize the efficiencies that blockchain can bring to the hospitality industry, the speed of transactions needs to be as rapid as possible. For this reason, the Concierge team have opted to use the NEO protocol to build their platform, which aims to have fewer issues in sending and confirming transactions.
The CGE token is based on this protocol and is on sale in the ICO from the end of March.
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