• Latest News
  • Restaurant News
  • Hotel News
  • Catering News
  • Chef News
  • Pub & Bar News
  • Supplier News

Hospitality & Catering News

hospitality and catering news

Blockchain, central to hotel customer experience and loyalty

August 1, 2019

Blockchain, central to hotel customer experience and loyalty

With tough competition in the hotel industry, and smaller franchises trying to grow among the large networks, loyalty programs are becoming even more critical to attracting and retaining customers.

However, these loyalty programs face a number of challenges:

For hotels, they are costly and inefficient to run, they do not benefit the rest of the hotel’s services, and also lack backend analytics which could be used to improve customer experience.

From a guest’s point of view, these programs are not user friendly nor are they fully transparent especially when it comes to understanding what benefits the guest can obtain and how to spend their rewards. Navigating through the apps or websites can sometimes leave guests quite frustrated.

The hotel industry is behind in adopting new technologies; however, I strongly believe that Blockchain could bring added value to all parties in the ecosystem and address many of the challenges cited above.

Blockchain could become a decentralized application platform for all-in-one hotel management services and processes not solely limited to loyalty programs. Think how Blockchain could benefit hoteliers with customer booking, channel management, billing, reviews, infrastructure management (IOT), inventory management and accounting.

The implementation of Blockchain could take the customer experience to the next level by enabling a smooth system, making the process near real-time, and providing a secure environment through encryption and preventing double spending, fraud and data confidentiality issues.

The public key recorded using the application enables all open data to be viewed without personal details disclosed. It is the private key that opens up access to confidential information and smart contracts encode the commercial rules between the parties.

This process can also be mutualized at a low cost for independent hotels giving them access to a wide range of services and benefits.

What would it mean in real life to implement Blockchain at your hotel? A guest or an OTA makes a request to book a room specifying his or her virtual wallet. A smart contract automatically verifies the hotel room availability and checks whether or not the necessary funds are actually available. If the conditions are met, the smart contract remits money from the wallet, records the transaction, updates availability information, and sends a booking confirmation to the guest which will enable his or her digital room key. Post check-out, if any damages are found or product/services used, the smart contract will withdraw funds from the guest’s deposit account. No hard-copy paperwork throughout the transaction cycle and no need for financial reconciliation.

Article by Philippe Perret, Managing Director of Hoist Group MEA

We would like to say thank you to Philippe Perret for this article, Blockchain and the opportunity it presents to hoteliers is still in its infancy but predicted by many to potentially radically change how hotel transactions are made. Fundamentally it cuts out the middleman and enables hotels to deal directly with their customers. We have searched and found a video that we think compliments this article and is very much worth watching, if as a hotelier you want to re engage with your customers, and engage with new ones.

Blockchain, central to hotel customer experience and loyalty

Customer experience and loyalty hotels

Hotel technology

Hoist Group

Catering and hospitality news, hospitality and catering news, hospitality news, catering news.

Hospitality technology procurement, hospitality catering equipment procurement, hospitality food and drink procurement.

Catering and hospitality news 2019, hospitality and catering news 2019, hospitality news 2019, catering news 2019.

hotels, restaurants, foodservice, pubs and bars, catering, chef, chef de partie, commis chef, concierge, development chef, sommelier, restaurant staff, pub and bar staff, hotel management, restaurant management, foodservice management, head chef, executive chef, hospitality media brand, hospitality portal, hospitality B2B media, the cateys, pubs and bars, the caterer, the caterer jobs, caterer and hotelkeeper, uk hospitality, hospitality industry, the caterer magazine, the caterer weekly magazine, the caterer uk hospitality, the caterer catey awards, the caterer jobs,

BIG Hospitality, Cost Sector Catering, Foodservice Journal, Hotel News.

Uk hospitality, ukhospitality, uk hotel, uk hotels, uk independent hotel, uk independent hotels, uk hotel group, uk hotel groups, uk hotel chain, uk hotel chains.

The Institute of hospitality, hospitalityuk, restaurant, restaurants, independent restaurants, restaurant groups.

Foodservice, UK Foodservice, Foodservice UK, foodservice news.

ceda, catering equipment distributors association, cesa, catering equipment suppliers association.

Low or no alcohol market, Low and no alcohol market sales,

Sustainability, Procurement, Supply Chain, Hospitality Procurement, Restaurant Procurement, Hotel Procurement, Catering Procurement, Foodservice Procurement, Pub Procurement, Bar Procurement.

Hospitality Buyer, Restaurant Buyer, Hotel Buyer, Catering Buyer, Foodservice Buyer, Pub Buyer, Bar Buyer.

Catering and hospitality news, hospitality and catering news, hospitality news, catering news.

The Institute of Hospitality, hospitalityuk, restaurant, restaurants, independent restaurants, restaurant groups, UKHospitality, Master Innholders.

Foodservice, UK Foodservice, Foodservice UK, foodservice news, UK foodservice news.

London Hospitality, London Restaurants, London Hotels, London Catering, London Pubs, London Bars, London Food and Drink, London Hospitality, London Hospitality and catering.

Cuisine, fine dining, casual dining, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Email Newsletter

Subscribe to our email newsletter and keep a close eye on the UK hospitality and catering business

Institute of Hospitality Golf Day 2023

Search h&C NEWS

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Join our email newsletter community here

Join our email newsletter community here

Supplier News

His Majesty King Charles III grants Meiko UK Royal Warrant

His Majesty King Charles III grants Meiko UK Royal Warrant

OTAs, a friend in need

Country Range Announced as Springboard FutureChef Headline Sponsor

Talent Hive support IoH Youth Council

TWO Services joins Thomas Franks in supporting the Urban Farmer Project in the City of London

Country Range Declares War on Waste as Recipe Guide Launches

Meiko UK supports new Windsor arts venue & plant-based café

Tap to Tip! New tipping app helps staff earn more tips and get paid faster, helping employers mitigate National Insurance

Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club announces first formal preferred supplier list

HancNews

HancNews

News Categories

  • Latest News
  • Restaurant News
  • Hotel News
  • Catering News
  • Chef News
  • Pub & Bar News
  • Supplier News
Home | Privacy | Sitemap

Copyright © · Hospitality & Catering News