{"id":10011,"date":"2016-04-06T09:05:29","date_gmt":"2016-04-06T08:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/?p=10011"},"modified":"2016-04-07T09:02:13","modified_gmt":"2016-04-07T08:02:13","slug":"airbnb-blockchain-and-the-tourism-reputation-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/04\/airbnb-blockchain-and-the-tourism-reputation-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Airbnb, Blockchain, and the tourism reputation economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Airbnb1-600x400\"Three recent stories about Airbnb\u2019s future growth hold considerable interest for anyone concerned about the impact of such technology upon tourism and how the industry might develop along more responsible lines.<\/p>\n

Last week the home sharing platform announced that it is going to enable the neighbours of its rental properties to contribute reviews<\/a>. Starting in Japan, but undoubtedly soon to expand elsewhere this means that the reputation profile that is built up of accommodation providers and the travellers who stay in their properties will not only be generated by one another, but by the wider community as well. For those working for a more responsible tourism that makes greater effort to factor in its impact on destinations, this is a notable development.<\/p>\n

Airbnb is also reported to be working on expanding the range of services it offers out beyond accommodation<\/a>. Known within the company as \u2018Magical Trips\u2019, it will soon offer services and experiences to its guests such as \u201cmeals prepared by personal chefs, restaurant reservations, art gallery tours, and bicycle rentals.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s not much information yet on how this might develop, but as Airbnb doesn\u2019t own any properties, I assume it isn\u2019t looking to own any experiences either. However, taken with the first story about neighbours reviewing how I behave as a tourist, and how this will have an impact upon my chance of future bookings, I would expect that such reputation measurement functionality will appear here too.<\/p>\n

If you run a bike tour, you\u2019ll be able to see what sort of reviews your potential client has received elsewhere on their holidays. And you\u2019ll be able contribute your own reviews back into the Airbnb database too. Increasingly your profile as a \u2018responsible tourist\u2019 will be made up of a patchwork of how respectful you were to the neighbours, whether you were decent to local waiters and other staff, how sensitively you responded to a local tour. Your response to that thought probably depends on how dystopian your views of technology and surveillance are.<\/p>\n

Where might it all lead? In a further interview earlier this month, Airbnb\u2019s co-founder and CTO Nathan Blecharczyk was asked about his company\u2019s interest in Blockchain. Best known for its use in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, Blockchain is an encoded public ledger that maintains a continuously-growing list of data records that each refer to previous items on this list. Many see it as a holy grail for the development of online trust. Blecharczyk replied: \u201cWe\u2019re looking for all different kinds of signals to tell us whether someone is reputable<\/a>, and I could certainly see some of these more novel types of signals being plugged into our engine.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just the likes of Airbnb that are exploring Blockchain\u2019s potential. Last year the Greek Island of Agistri began an experiment with a blockchain enabled cryptocurrency called Drachmae<\/a> that would enable tourists and travel businesses to circumvent the collapse of Greece\u2019s traditional economy and continue to transact with confidence while on the island.\u00a0The story suggests a way for regional destinations to insulate themselves against any economic shocks that might befall the countries of which they are part.<\/p>\n

Responsible tourism has generally had an uneasy relationship with technological development, which is often seen as disempowering and detaching us from the world around. However if \u2013 and it is still a big early days if \u2013 the likes of blockchain and the growing \u2018reputation economy\u2019 deliver on the promises they are making \u2013 it may one day become its new best friend.<\/p>\n

Read the original article: Airbnb, Blockchain, and the tourism reputation economy | Travel Industry Blog, Reports, Press Releases | WTM London<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Responsible tourism has generally had an uneasy relationship with technological development, which is often seen as disempowering and detaching us from the world around. However if \u2013 and it is still a big early days if \u2013 the likes of blockchain and the growing \u2018reputation economy\u2019 deliver on the promises they are making \u2013 it may one day become its new best friend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10013,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,266,675,287,535,676,262],"tags":[839,838],"yoast_head":"\nAirbnb, Blockchain, and the tourism reputation economy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If the likes of blockchain and the \u2018reputation economy\u2019 deliver on their promises, technology may one day become responsible tourism's new best friend.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2016\/04\/airbnb-blockchain-and-the-tourism-reputation-economy\/\" 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