Before booking platforms became widely available, travelers relied heavily on travel agents, brochures, and direct bookings, which limited their choices and often made the process difficult and time-consuming.
Today, Booking.com, Skyscanner, Expedia, and Kayak offer a more seamless and user-friendly experience. And now, Travala, a crypto-native booking platform, is picking up steam.
Still not familiar? In this article, we'll go over how booking platforms have changed the tourism industry and how Travala is shaking things up even more.
Reshaping global tourism
Booking platforms have reshaped the global tourism landscape in various ways, here are some examples:
Increased accessibility
Before the rise of online booking sites, planning international travel was a daunting task, often requiring the assistance of a travel agent to navigate foreign markets and unfamiliar destinations.
Booking sites such as Booking.com have broken down these barriers, making international travel far more accessible to the average traveler. By offering a broad range of accommodations and services across different countries, these platforms have also facilitated the globalization of tourism, making it easier for people to explore far-off destinations and diverse cultures.
Information democratization
One of the most profound impacts of booking sites is the democratization of information.
Booking.com and the like provide comprehensive databases of hotels, flights, car rentals, and even experiences, all at the click of a button. Travelers can now compare prices, read customer reviews, check amenities, and view photos all in one place. This wealth of information empowers travelers to make informed decisions, allowing them to find the best deals, compare options, and customize their trips based on their preferences.
Price transparency
Another major benefit of booking platforms is the price transparency they provide.
In the past, travelers had little insight into whether they were getting the best deal for their hotel, flight, or rental car. Travel agents or direct bookings often came with higher markups, and pricing could vary widely between vendors.
With booking sites, users can see a variety of price options in real-time, empowering them to make informed financial decisions and enabling them to choose the option that best fits their budget.
Flexibility and convenience
Booking sites have also increased the flexibility and convenience available to travelers.
With 24/7 access to booking services, travelers can research and reserve accommodations, flights, and activities at their convenience. This flexibility extends to last-minute bookings, cancellations, and modifications, allowing users to adapt their travel plans as needed. Many platforms also offer additional services such as travel insurance, package deals, and loyalty programs, providing users with a one-stop-shop for all their travel needs.
Social proof
One of the most impactful features of booking sites is the ability for travelers to leave reviews and ratings.
These customer reviews serve as a form of social proof, helping travelers assess whether a particular hotel or experience is worth their time and money. Also, this feature fosters transparency and accountability, as hotels, airlines, and service providers must maintain a certain level of quality to remain competitive—leading to a more customer-centric approach in the tourism industry.
Future challenges
While booking sites have undoubtedly revolutionized tourism, they’re not without challenges.
Some critics argue that the commission fees charged by these platforms can be burdensome for smaller hotels and businesses, especially in competitive markets.
Looking forward, booking platforms are likely to continue evolving, incorporating new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) to provide even more personalized and efficient experiences—while blockchain technologies could be used to enhance the security, transparency, and accessibility of travel bookings, which is where Travala comes into play.
Travala: Crypto-native travel platform
Travala aims to further revolutionize the tourism industry by enabling bookings through over 100 different cryptocurrencies—including BTC, ETH, and SOL.
Additionally, Travala provides travelers with cryptocurrency rewards in place of traditional loyalty points.
Currently, Travala offers access to over 2.2 million properties in 230 countries and booking services for more than 600 international airlines.
And recently, Travala announced its integration with Skyscanner, enabling the booking platform's 110 million monthly users to start interacting with crypto and onboarding to the onchain ecosystem.
Book your next trip with Travala and Phantom
Booking hotels, flights, and activities on Travala is just as straightforward as using platforms such as Booking.com, Skyscanner, Expedia, or Kayak.
For example, here's how to book a stay:
- Go to travala.com
- Choose a location and the dates then select “Search”
- Select a hotel and a room type
- Enter your guest information and proceed to payment methods
- Select “Crypto”
- Choose USDT (make sure to select Solana as the network) or native SOL
- Select “Complete Reservation”
- Once you do that, you'll receive a QR code and Travala's Solana wallet address. Use either of these to send the USDT/SOL payment to Travala from your Phantom wallet.
- In most cases, you have 40 minutes to complete your reservations.
If you don't have a Phantom wallet yet, continue reading to learn how to set one up.
How to set up a Phantom wallet?
If you’d like a friendly multichain wallet for crypto, DeFi, and NFTs, try Phantom. We offer browser extensions for Firefox, Chrome, Brave, and Edge, as well as apps for iOS and Android.
- First, download Phantom. Then, create a new wallet.
Once you do that, you're ready to go.
How to bridge tokens to Solana with Phantom?
To bridge assets from the EVM ecosystem to Solana, read this guide.
And if you'd generally like to bridge funds to the Solana ecosystem, try our Crosschain Swapper. With the Crosschain Swapper, you can bridge tokens across Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon right in your Phantom wallet.
Here’s how:
Disclaimer: This guide is strictly for educational purposes only and doesn’t constitute financial or legal advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.