In Q4 2021, cryptocurrencies were on the rise, while Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta announcement led to all companies discussing how they would monetize the metaverse. A year later, this web3 landscape now seems much more fallow. The question for hoteliers: are they reacting by abandoning their interest in blockchain and metaverse technologies?

Per the title, we advise hotels to take a smarter approach to all new technology. Shiny new technology always gets undue hype, then there’s a fix, and finally there’s utilization. Right now, we are in the correction phase with some of its detractors in the public sphere spitting on the grave of Meta share prices while pointing to some crypto Ponzi schemes as evidence of the entire space as fiction. But there is light at the end of the tunnel, with real-world use cases favoring early adopters.

In the big, big, grand scheme of things, all new human inventions in our civilization tend to follow one basic rule: innovations that increase comfort will eventually become king. We’ve seen this with cars versus horses, with credit cards versus cash, and computers versus paper records.

During a phase of positive hype, skepticism is a virtue. Similarly, during our current crypto winter and metaverse, news of their demise is more exaggerated. Still, there’s a profound lesson from this ebb and flow of tech hype that you can apply to any trend affecting the hospitality industry.

That is, ask yourself and your team these three questions:

1. How is this more convenient for the guest?
2. Why can’t we do this using existing systems (no blockchain, no metaverse)?
3. Will this save money for the organization or hotel brand?

Perhaps the third question is the most important right now because costs are everything. Not just the costs on an income statement, but also those in terms of your team’s time, which is certainly in limited supply. Just researching whether or not to put a hotel in the metaverse or set up a non-fungible token (NFT) loyalty program can be too costly if your IT team is already overloaded.

Often when we advise hotel clients during a consulting assignment to assess their tech stacks, we opt for a “you better know” ethos. Executives or managers may have their complaints about a certain platform or lack of features, but switching to different systems can be even more painful to the point that it is ultimately not worth it. It’s probably better to deep-train the team with existing systems so they can use their full set of features more effectively than to start over.

Finally, to answer the first question, this is where web3 and the metaverse will eventually win out. Once these tools are built in such a way that non-tech-savvy stakeholders (hotel managers, hotel associates, and hotel guests) can use them without issue, then there will be mass adoption.

Just consider some of the use cases that are currently available and will soon be available:

• Cryptocurrency payments to local currency, all with a touch or biometrically controlled approval
• Cryptocurrency-based loyalty programs with smart contracts that automatically govern royalty fees to the hotel during any peer-to-peer transfer of points
• Tokenization of each room night so that a secondary market for inventory can be created, allowing hotels to sell low demand blocks along with better intelligence for peak rate discovery during peak periods
• Allowing prospective guests to tour a property (such as test drive a car) to increase booking confidence or assist with post-booking attribute-based upselling for specific rooms
• Using a virtual reality or augmented reality setup for staff training
• Review and live update a property’s renovation using a 3D-rendered dollhouse view that can also map guest and staff movements to identify potential bottlenecks.
• Show event planners a digital twin of a hotel so they can review the exact logistics of an event, with the potential to sell to a larger number of group attendees

Ultimately, what we’re asking you is to look beyond the buzzwords and consider what will drive mass adoption based on convenience and current value. Gen Z wants NFT-based loyalty, so planning for that will help endear the next generation of travelers. And while Decentraland may, by some estimates, have fewer than a thousand daily active users, how many kids these days log into Roblox servers to play games and collaborate on creating virtual worlds? (Hint: It’s in the millions.)

Thinking in broader terms, blockchain will eventually ‘change everything’ and is something you should explore and then address in a visionary roadmap. But all implementations need to be framed not in terms of the current fad, but in terms of hospitality fundamentals: improving the on-site experience and overall value for customers above all else.

Larry Mogelonsky
Hotel Mogel Consulting Limited

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