Until not long ago, cryptocurrencies sounded like volatile securities to invest in for speculation. But there is more, and this is here to stay. Bitcoin, the most famous cryptocurrency, is already in the top 3 currencies behind the dollar and the euro.
For a long time, many have seen it as a much more useful use than going to traditional banks. Cryptocurrencies came with their strategy of reduce transaction costs, provide information in real time and encourage the consumer. But have they succeeded?
Bitcoins accepted in a cafe in Delft, the Netherlands.
THEY ARRIVED TO STAY
The rise of cryptocurrencies is a phenomenon that has caught us all by surprise. Year 2018 marked a before and after in the hotel and travel sector due to the incursion of these digital currencies that, on the other hand, caused the birth of a new type of consumption and consumer. Many hotel chains begin to work with this type of digital money and since last year some travel agencies like Expedia or Destinia accept this type of value as payment for their vacation packages.
Cryptocurrencies, so that everyone understands the concept, are digital currencies that dispense with the services of an intermediary (the bank of all life) and that use a encrypted or encrypted system to guarantee the confidentiality of the data and the transactions carried out with them.
As a general rule, it is used the technology blockchain, which is a decentralized database that guarantees the security and anonymity of the transactions carried out on the network. Thus, put the current financial system in check posing a question full of edges in our society: Will traditional banks be necessary in the medium or long term? The controversy is served.
In addition, cryptocurrencies are responsible for the appearance of a new consumer who is now also an investor. A cooperative spiral has been generated that at first glance may smell like a bubble to us, but that has ensured that during the pandemic money continues to move. and although everyone talks about bitcoin, which is the best known worldwide, there are dozens of cryptocurrencies in circulation at the moment and their price is truly dizzying.
The traveler profile is one of the focuses of these large digital currency companies. Airlines such as Norwegian Airlines They have been accepting payment with Bitcoin for three years, as well as hotel chains or reservation centers such as Booking that have already normalized the use of cryptocurrencies for the users of these payment systems. On the other hand, and although The United States leads the number of hotels that allow payment with cryptocurrencies, in Europe this trend is gaining more and more momentum.
And although the entertainment world is still lazy, some theaters like the Gran Teatro Príncipe Pío in Madrid or the House of Real Madrid have been opened to tourism through the payment of Cryptocurrencies. The M use the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg or the Great Lakes Science Center in Ohio also jumped on the bandwagon of digital currencies. Something is happening.
FoodCoin, the cryptocurrency reaches the hospitality industry.
WITH GASTRONOMY WE HAVE COME TO
The hospitality sector has been the hardest hit during the pandemic, a time interval that drove the rise of cryptocurrencies and its development during confinement has been more than evident. But this changed in the summer of last year when it was held in the Madrid (and gastronomic) Ponzano street in Madrid a pilot with a cryptocurrency that had been created specifically for this sector. The “foodcoin” arrived.
At the moment there are no more coins in the sector and their system seems to be well thought out. It began in various establishments in Ponzano, having great acceptance. This is how he tells us Ricardo Marín, CEO and founder of foodcoin : “The germ of Foodcoin comes when a group of ambassadors from ThePowerMBA decided to roll up our sleeves on the first Sunday of confinement to create a solidarity platform and help the hospitality industry during confinement. We set up “Adopt a bar” in order to provide them with liquidity during the confinement period. It was a success, it went viral and we help many families”.
That same year, after hundreds of meetings with hoteliers, they came up with the concept of Foodcoin, the first cryptocurrency developed by and for hoteliers through a loyalty system. With this system, the establishment establishes a series of discounts for time slots to optimize its capacity. “The user pays with our Foodcoin card and automatically some coins are generated to be spent the next time you come back. And all directly through the dataphone, at no cost to the hotelier, without the need to install software, hardware or anything” explains Marín.
Foodcoin wants to position itself as the hospitality cryptocurrency, and its goal is to help not only to retain customers but also to encourage consumption in bars and establishments of the system. Ricardo jokes about the current situation: “We believe that it is time to put aside the old cartons in which the next one was free for the tenth drink, change it for a new automated and intuitive system that will help the hotelier to build loyalty and the customer to save a penny”.
DOES THE RESTAURANT TICKET HAVE THE DAYS COUNTED?
And not only the ticket, but the restaurant card, the vouchers and other forms of payment that for hoteliers are an extra expense they could have. Ricardo emphasizes that large companies that pay in tickets from different platforms must be made to see their employees as payment in kind, that commissions paid by hoteliers by these means of payment are exorbitant, between 5% and 10%. A round business, but not for them.
Obviously Foodcoin is not free, but they claim to charge commissions much less than paper or delivery payment platforms. The benefits that Foodcoin can earn Ricardo tells us that will oscillate about 1% or 2%, ten times less than on the rest of the platforms. “In addition, we are thinking that when we launch it for trading, if it goes up in value you cannot sell it, you can only use it within the bars and restaurants of the system, so you close a circle in which the hospitality sector is the great beneficiary. ” adds Richard.
Apparently next april They will present an app for the development of this cryptocurrency. If everything is like that, it still seems that the future of hospitality could have a large digital component. But of course, the future remains to be seen.