Sounding Off: A major - and overdue - power shift is coming to travel

Heather Dahl, Indicio

“What SSI does is it introduces trust, it introduces verified source data and it brings the dignity back to the holder to allow what they want to disclose given the context of that relationship.” 

Quote from Heather Dahl, Indicio CEO, during a panel discussion at The Phocuswright Conference published on PhocusWire this week, about the application of emerging self-sovereign digital identity solutions in the travel industry.

Each Friday, PhocusWire dissects and debates an industry trend or new development covered by PhocusWire that week.

The “dignity” that Indicio CEO Heather Dahl speaks of stems from that fact that identity solutions built on self-sovereign, decentralized technology put the control in the hands of the individual – in this case, the traveler. 

Using a verifiable credential stored in a digital wallet, the traveler has complete and sole control over when his or her personal data is shared, what parts of it are shared, for what purpose and for how long.

Examples of the types of data that would be stored in a digital wallet include personal identity information such as passports and driver licenses, health data, payment accounts, login credentials, preferences related to things such as airline seats and hotel rooms, loyalty program details, travel history and more. 

When this comes to fruition – and not if, but when – it will be a transformative change, shifting power from travel suppliers to travelers themselves and giving travelers more choice, better personalization, lower friction and more security. 

And isn’t it time?

As e-commerce systems have developed over the last few decades, consumers have become more accustomed to handing over their personal data – it’s the de facto “pay to play” to have an efficient shopping experience. 

Personal data is collected and stored in databases controlled by third-parties. Unfortunately, all too often it is not adequately controlled, leaving data vulnerable to hackers. And from the perspective of user experience, having to remember login names and passwords for every individual digital account can be a nuisance. 

And yet, most of us still, albeit at times reluctantly, type in our address, our passport number, our birth date, our credit card number. 

Rather ironically, while willingness to participate in the world of digital commerce brings the benefit of more choice – in the case of travel, that can mean more options of where to stay, how to get there or how to pay – the one choice travelers still don’t have is, again, about their very personal data. 

But we are confident that is changing. There is ongoing, collaborative work taking place among technology providers, travel brands and governments to make verifiable credentials a reality. There will no doubt be bumps along the path to full and scalable implementation, but the effort is moving in the right direction, and there is no turning back now. 

Smart travel brands already know this, and they are seizing the opportunity to gain a competitive advantage by educating themselves on the topic, exploring what it will mean for the way their systems operate and embracing the opportunity to build a better – more dignified - relationship with customers.