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What opportunities arise from the NFT hype for the hotel and tourism sector? It allows previously intangible goods to be assigned a value and become tradable. The new “FutureHotel Innovation Network” study of Fraunhofer IAO explains the technology, how and where it is already used, and presents relevant fields of application.
Companies such as Nike, Adidas and Visa, as well as Budweiser and Samsung, currently invest a lot of money in so-called NFTs (non-fungible tokens). Appearing at first glance to be nothing more than a digital image, NFTs are non-interchangeable asset stores and thus hold the possibility of adding value to previously intangible goods and integrating them into the value creation ecosystem. This provides limitless opportunities for the hotel and hospitality industry to develop new scalable business models and value creation systems. In its study entitled “FutureHotel — Token Economy. Use Potential of Non-Fungible Tokens for Hotel Business”, the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO explains NFT technologies, how to evaluate NFTs and the risks and challenges involved, and presents relevant application cases for the hotel industry that can be implemented today and in the future. The study covers everything from starting out with NFT hotel bookings and opening the first NFT hotel to launching the first resort that offers investment options via NFTs. Using application cases and practical examples of how to implement the technology in hotel strategies, the study provides concrete conclusions and recommendations for action. The research findings result from the seventh phase of the “FutureHotel Innovation Network” project spearheaded by Fraunhofer IAO.
Global market capitalization promises large NFT potential for the hotel industry
“Non-fungible tokens” are non-interchangeable asset stores, which are unique and cannot be replaced by another object, unlike exchangeable asset stores like currencies. This allows previously intangible goods such as digital assets, rights of use for certain groups of people, access for certain people or a certain period of time, as well as certain services to be made tradable in a certain form by clearly assigning the rights to a person, an institution or a company. Prof. Dr. Vanessa Borkmann, who helped establish and manages the FutureHotel Innovation Network project at Fraunhofer IAO, says: “In 2020, the market capitalization of global transactions involving an NFT was 338 million dollars. Even though the games and collectibles categories have the highest transaction rates, we can safely say that the hotel industry is a market segment with great NFT potential.”
The study underpins this statement with various examples of existing hotels who have successfully integrated specific methods to use and exploit NFT potentials.
One example is Marriott Bonvoy, the Marriott International travel program, which worked with three up-and-coming digital artists to create three NFTs. This makes Marriott Bonvoy one of the first hotel brands in the world to launch its own NFT collection on the market.
Strategic fields of application for hotels: from reward programs to the metaverse
NFTs are a relatively young phenomenon, and most stakeholders in the hotel and tourism industry have not yet recognized the opportunities they offer to develop specific solutions for their value creation. The study introduces four distinctive strategic application areas for hotels:
Reward programs: NFTs can be used to reward guests opting for a particularly exclusive and expensive hotel service. Depending on the hotel, this could be a president suite, a luxury bungalow or even a villa.
Metaverse and digital twin: A digital twin in a metaverse could allow potential guests to gain a realistic impression of the hotel facilities in a three-dimensional virtual environment prior to their visit and thus improve the online marketing segment.
Raising capital: Hotels could also make efficient use of NFTs to raise capital for easy and secure creation of programs for wealthy individuals.
Integration of creator communities: For example, different digital artists could design one of the hotel rooms and freely contribute their own creative ideas to the hotel.
Contact Press and Public Relations:
Carolin Schwarze
Presse und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Fraunhofer IAO
Nobelstr. 12
70569 Stuttgart
+49 711 970-5241
presse@iao.fraunhofer.de
Dr. Constanze Heydkamp
Smart Urban Environments
Fraunhofer IAO
Nobelstraße 12
70569 Stuttgart
Phone +49 711 970-2342
Email: constanze.heydkamp@iao.fraunhofer.de
https://www.bookshop.fraunhofer.de/buch/futurehotel-token-economy./255866
https://www.iao.fraunhofer.de/en/press-and-media/latest-news/potential-of-non-fu...
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