91探花

The world is a constantly progressing organism in so many ways; there鈥檚 no finer example in today鈥檚 society than the incredible rate at which the world of technology is evolving. Twenty-five years ago, the Internet was barely a twinkle in its creator鈥檚 eye. Yet, now, it鈥檚 hard to imagine taking care of the most basic tasks without reaching for our phones, heading online or relying on some kind of digital solution.

Why are we bound to such progress? Once the answer would have been,听鈥榖ecause we can鈥�, but if we鈥檙e being honest, that鈥檚 no longer an acceptable explanation. A better answer would be聽鈥榖ecause we can do better.鈥�

And we can certainly do better.

What kind of better? Better for the planet. Better for our quality of life. Better for the consumer. Better for business. Better for control and ownership for individuals, organisations, and everyone in between.

How is that 鈥榖别迟迟别谤鈥� going to look as it evolves? Well, as far as the majority predictions suggest, it鈥檚 going to be the rise of Web 3.0, its incorporation of blockchain technology, and a move to faster, easier, cheaper transfers of money, data, contracts, and assets.
 

What鈥檚 so wrong with hospitality right now?

 
As with almost all business and personal transactions, the hospitality industry runs on a platform-based society. As a result, somebody else owns virtually everything you do and have online. That鈥檚 the current system we call Web 2.0.

For example, you don鈥檛 really control your ads, payments, reviews, and bookings鈥攐r even your customer relationships鈥攖hey鈥檙e all managed by a third party, taking their cut wherever they can or flogging you with the ads that pay such huge dividends.

Airbnb,听Booking.com, or聽痴谤产辞听allow you to advertise your rentals on their sites, taking their cut at every opportunity. The reviews on their sites鈥攐r聽TripAdvisor,听Yelp, 补苍诲听贵辞耻谤蝉辩耻补谤别鈥�could disappear overnight if they decide you鈥檝e broken their rules. Imagine the years of dedication and operation that have gone into building a healthy, prosperous online reputation, only to have it disappear with zero control over the outcome; businesses have broken from less.

And when it comes to payment and profit, how much are you paying in fees? To the banks? To PayPal? To the rental platforms?

Then there鈥檚 your communication. Your email sits on someone else鈥檚 servers; your website and all of its data are on someone else鈥檚 hosting.

Out of all of your digital properties and transactions, how much do you actually own and control? Sadly, it鈥檚 hardly any of it. Today鈥檚 society might be sick of hearing about聽鈥榙补迟补鈥�, but it鈥檚 a vital part of the process for those in business.

Wouldn鈥檛 it be better if you could control it all, safeguarding your business practice, streamlining your operations, and reducing the costs of every transaction? Well, that dream is on its way.
 

Say hello to Web 3.0

 
Just not quite yet. The predictions suggest鈥攁nd strongly鈥攖hat our online world will change鈥攔adically. With blockchain technology, financial transactions and data sharing will be safer, easier and controlled by the user, not the handful of Internet giants that currently control the markets. Web 3.0, hopefully, will put the power back in the hands of the people.

How? Well, as an incredibly crude overview of some very complex technologies, as everything becomes more connected, faster, smarter, and safer, users will be able to communicate with each other directly, instead of over the platforms we鈥檙e obligated to right now.

Whatever they might be at that point, our devices will be able to find what they need easier and faster, communicating not only with us but with the items we use each day.

Artificial intelligence is developing to a point where it will soon understand the meaning of what we say, understanding language instead of just blindly looking for combinations of words and phrases.

The IoT (Internet of Things)鈥攚here every device is packed with sensors鈥攚ill seamlessly transmit information to this massive centralised information hub, providing users with what they need before conducting a search or asking their digital assistants to dive in on their behalf.

Put that together with the latest quantum chips, lightning fast G5 transfers, and a more connected Internet; it鈥檚 not a pipedream鈥攊t鈥檚 on its way. It all sounds very futuristic, but it鈥檚 happening; it鈥檚 just going to take a little more time until it becomes part of our next聽鈥榥ew normal.鈥�
 

Web 3.0 and hospitality

 
What does that mean for operators in hospitality? Well, the first big change is being able to reach out directly to your guests. Your relationships will be one-to-one instead of through those mediatory platforms.

We鈥檝e spoken about the movement blockchain will provide in iRenting as we currently know it in previous articles, yet it鈥檚 still hard to envisage how this聽鈥榥别飞鈥�聽Internet will open previously unconsidered gateways into how we interact and carry out transactions.

Managed using blockchain, the community platforms we鈥檙e accountable to will be replaced with the ability to keep, control, and share our own data as we see fit.

Although it might take time to embed itself in our daily routine, it鈥檚 time to prepare for what鈥檚 coming. Education and action will be the difference between those who thrive and those who stumble into the next generation with their fingers crossed that they made the leap in time.
 

Blockchain and hospitality

 
NFTs have allowed everything in the digital domain to have value. NFT is a new addition to the Internet and solely off the back of blockchain.

Non-fungible tokens聽have changed the world of artists, musicians, collectors, and more, and now they鈥檙e setting new ways of operation for businesses. Applying individual identification codes to cryptographic assets involves a unique and separate identity鈥攁nd value鈥攖o any digital item.

Unlike cryptocurrency that maintains a specific value, each NFT has its own independent value. As a result, they can be applied to digital assets and real-world items such as property, identities, and rights.

鈥淪o what?鈥澛�I hear you say,听鈥渋t all sounds very complicated, but how does that help?鈥�

Well, by聽鈥榯辞办别苍颈蝉颈苍驳鈥�聽assets, they鈥檙e easier to buy, sell, and trade while reducing the possibility of fraud and theft. It puts the seller in direct contact with the buyer: the artist with the collector, the manufacturer with the user鈥攖he renter with their guest, and every service, application, contract, signature, and payment.
 

Disintermediated networks 鈥� cutting out the middleman

 
Which brings us to our next point鈥攄isintermediation.

Disintermediation is defined as聽鈥榯he reduction of the use of intermediaries between producers and consumers.鈥�

Blockchain is about to catapult聽disintermediation, introducing new ways of providing聽trade,听辞飞苍别谤蝉丑颈辫听补苍诲听迟谤耻蝉迟听between users. It also means a massive reduction in fees collected by the middlemen who carry out these transactions on our behalf.

Sounds promising, right? I鈥檓 pretty sure everyone鈥檚 ears pricked up with the suggestion of reduced or removed fees. With such a secure system, with items and assets determined as mathematical database entries, trust is ensured instead of assumed, making those transfers not only more economical but completely safe and stress-free.
 

Cryptocurrency and hospitality

 
You can鈥檛 talk about blockchain without talking about cryptocurrency.

At the moment, crypto has one foot in business and one out. More and more organisations include them as a payment method, yet, for the time being, at least, they bring a few relatable issues to the fore.

The first, cryptocurrency is volatile. Many buyers are acquiring them as investments, so their value is constantly changing. If you鈥檙e going to accept crypto payments, you need to convert them on receipt to ensure there鈥檚 no loss in value. If you hold your payments as crypto and manage to make a little extra on the conversion when you apply it, then that鈥檚 treated as an asset and profit liable for taxation.

But that hasn鈥檛 stopped the momentum. We鈥檙e moving towards a crypto revolution. Even PayPal lets you pay with a range of bitcoins and cryptocurrencies.

Implementing cryptocurrency payment systems into your website鈥檚 payment gateway is simple, with plugins available for most popular eCommerce platforms. The takeaway of these so far is a mere 1% transaction fee. Much less than your banks charge for credit or debit payments.

As crypto payment systems become more commonplace, and as our education grows and fear of the unknown dissipates, it will become easier and cheaper to pay with Bitcoin, Etherium or any other chosen cryptocurrency.

Crypto is set to become a standard throughout all areas of the FinTech revolution; it鈥檚 really a case of when and how rather than if.

As such direct and safe payments cut out the middleman, reducing transaction fees, and making them far quicker and more secure, it鈥檚 an incredibly attractive development for merchants, especially for those moving large sums, and far safer for consumers.
 

UpperKey, iRenting, blockchain and cryptocurrency

 
As ever,听UpperKey鈥攁 company at the forefront of the iRenting FinTech disruption鈥攊s moving forward with every new technology it can. For example, we鈥檙e currently developing systems that include cryptocurrency payments, hopefully accepting the most frequently used and popular currencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash and more.

However, it鈥檚 not only payment gateways we鈥檙e excited about; we鈥檙e constantly working on how we can incorporate everything blockchain can bring. Following the rise of Web 3.0 and looking into new ways of implementing these tools of the future, we want to make our clients and guests experience faster, more efficient, simpler, and safer.

We鈥檝e been pushing the industry through technology since we started, and we鈥檙e not going to stop now.