Travala, Part 1: The Online Travel Agency Disruptor
Disclaimer: The author owns, holds, and supports Travala and their token, AVA and this article serves to be an opinion piece and shall not be interpreted in any form or way as financial and/or investment advise.
Introduction
This is Part 1 of a 3-Part Series on Travala and its cryptocurrency token, AVA.
Part 1 will be a shallow dive into the vision and mission of the company and the current market scene.
Part 2 will be a deep dive into the token (AVA).
And last but not least, Part 3 will delve into the Travala.com platform and how it stacks up against the big boys (ie. Booking.com, Agoda, Trivago, Expedia, etc)
The Travel Industry
Forbes reports that the Travel and Tourism sector contributed a whopping USD$8.8 trillion to the World’s combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — a 6% increase from 2017, with no signs of slowing down.
When we think of vacations, we automatically resort of searching the web for offers, price comparisons, hotels, ideal destinations, etc. And with that, comes Online Travel Agencies (OTA), with big market players like Booking, Agoda, Trivago, Expedia, to name a few. Suffice to say, the OTA market isn’t short of options, so why would Travala come into a space that, in essence, already has consumers covered?
Choice — a mere illusion
When people go to these OTA website and compare prices, the top two are usually Agoda and Booking.com — but did you know that these two platforms are both owned by Booking Holdings? And did you know that Trivago and Expedia are both owned by Expedia Group? You may be thinking “But they constantly provide competitive prices to the same destinations. I must be getting the best deal.” Unfortunately, you’re literally buying the same product from the same company, with the illusion that you’re provided with the “best deal”. This is the very essence of market monopolization.
Problem Statement
Aside from the above, what are the other problems the industry currently faces?
Travala is here to not only address the problems and provide a solution, but also to ensure a more transparent, secure, and efficient way of connecting travelers and service providers, without a meddling middle-man.
Travala’s Proposed Solutions
Travala aims to use Blockchain Technology and Cryptographic Advancements to provide a totally transparent marketplace to ensure that consumers are paying what they should, and that service providers are being paid appropriately — everything on the blockchain, immutable and secure.
Furthermore, any and/or all reviews of a service provider will be matched via cryptography to ensure that review pages are not filled with “fake” or manufactured reviews — not something unknown to review platforms like TripAdvisor.
What Travala aims to bring to the table for consumers are as follows:
- A globally-competitive range of travel services; Accommodation (Hotels, Resorts, Hostels), Flights, Things to do (Tours, Activities, Experiences), Restaurants, Transfers, Car Rentals, Vacation Rentals and Cruises
- Always available at a minimum average of 15% lower than current mainstream OTAs; enabled through agile integration of the leading wholesale travel solution partners
- With both leading cryptocurrencies and traditional (FIAT) currencies as payment options — Pay with Visa, Amex, Mastercard, or a choice of Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash, XRP, and of course Travala’s own native token, AVA — and more!
- Boosted with discounts and special offers direct from brands and suppliers
- Validated through blockchain-verified reviews for 100% feedback authenticity
- Underpinned by a token-powered incentivization economy which gives real rewards for valuable acts such as user referrals and key-opinion-leader content — real time tokenized incentives!
- Innovative UX design and user mechanics for a best-in-class user experience
The Market
Travala aims to achieve 3–4% of the OTA Market share by 2030, which would equate to about USD$11.6 billion net value of services rendered.
For reference, based on Statista, OTA Hotel is dominated by Booking.com with $248.2m in 2016 with Expedia taking the crown for Package Holidays at $50.3m. But don’t forget that Booking Holdings owns Booking.com, Agoda, AND Priceline.com and Expedia Group owns Expedia.com, Hotels.com, AND homeaway.com.
If it isn’t apparent yet, the OTA industry and market is heavily dominated and monopolized by Booking Holdings and Expedia Group. To emphasize this further, check out the graph below, on Travel Apps used:
The number 2–7 travel booking apps in the US are owned by only two companies. This translates to a consumer base control of 60% by merely two companies.
This isn’t a stab at Booking.com or Expedia or any other major OTA. But rather, this is to highlight that consumers are not provided with a transparent and fair option in their travel needs. Travala, as a company and as a team, emphasizes on the importance of Transparency. Let the consumer have real, legitimate, sense of choice and not one that is only on paper.
Summary and Conclusion
Travala acknowledges that OTAs work, and the problem lies not with the platform, but with the major players, and is striving to bring back power not only to the consumers, but also to the service providers.
With Blockchain technology, Travala can bring together service providers and consumers to create a more ideal travel experience, be it on the plane, or in the hotel —so that service providers may protect and enhance their reputation, and consumers are guaranteed satisfaction.
In Part 2 — we will take a deep dive into the use-case of the Travala token, AVA, and explore its pros and cons.
Travala — Enjoy Traveling Again
Sources:
Travala’s Business Plan (Whitepaper) — https://www.travala.com/business_plan.pdf
📝 Read this story later in Journal.
👩💻 Wake up every Sunday morning to the week’s most noteworthy stories in Tech waiting in your inbox. Read the Noteworthy in Tech newsletter.
