A new blockchain-based travel billing and settlement
platform is in the works.
Travel Ledger is intended to automate purchasing of
non-airline travel services, replacing current billing, reconciliation and
settlement processes with a faster, easier system.
The project is an initiative of Dolphin Dynamics founder Roberto
Da Re. He is now working full-time on Travel Ledger, in partnership with London-based
Intuitive and Australia’s Tourism Technology.
Da Re says they are talking to other “travel technology
companies and a major OTA” to join the project before handing it
over to the Travel Ledger Alliance, a not-for-profit organization that will
govern the platform in the future.
Travel Ledger will allow all billing records between buyers
and sellers to be stored on a blockchain.
This type of shared, decentralized system will allow travel
agents, tour operators, accommodation wholesalers, hotel companies, car rental
suppliers, cruise companies and others to access inventory and track transactions in near real-time and to settle payments without the need for a third-party fund manager.
Smart contracts will manage the flow of information between
existing reservation and back office systems.
"The billing and settlement area in travel has been
crying out for proper automation for years,” Da Re says.
“We have such a good example with IATA's BSP, now blockchain
and smart contract technology presents a unique opportunity to create such a
platform for non-air transactions in a cost-efficient way whilst putting the
community itself in control.”
"From an automation perspective, payment processing and
reconciliation is quite outdated in our industry. This platform will bring long
overdue efficiencies to all parties and will create the backbone to make
further use of blockchain technology into the future,” says Tourism Technology
managing director Graeme Hunter.
The Travel Ledger Alliance will include a board of advisors, operational
team, a development team, and a business development team to promote the system
to companies around the world.
Those who purchase the Travel Ledger token, as well as companies
that provide power to the network (the masternodes), will have voting rights regarding
future decisions about the platform.