Recently, there was an announcement of a totally new blockchain-based service. This service is an accommodation booking platform, launched by LockChain.co. The announcement marks the official launch of LockChain’s alpha platform available on its marketplace. The service comes integrated with over 600 listings giving both hosts and travelers the opportunities of booking and planning activities without any commissions. Besides this, the service has plans to include over 100,000 hotels before the end of February 2018. This is a welcome development as it will provide accommodation options for people all over the world.
Unlike Airbnb.com and Booking.com that charges an average of 20% for each booking within its platform, LockChain.co is coming up with a totally innovative platform that gives travelers what they truly deserve. LockChain.co is eliminating the challenges of commissions and directly linking clients to hosts via their unique blockchain-based LOC travel engine. The LOC engine utilizes smart contracts to process bookings. This will provide a trustless environment and protect both hosts and clients. Without any commission on its revenue, any rental host can register and list their property within the LockChain marketplace.
What are the features that make the Alpha version of LockChain.co distinct?
- Integrated with over 600 bookable properties
- Real-time multi-currency support through its API connectivity. The currencies include EUR, USD, GBP)
- Personal LOC/ETH wallet that links to user profile
- HTML5 Mobile Responsive design
Marketplace Storefront Features
- The host gets a notification whenever a traveler initiates a booking request. This notification comes with the details of the booking; after initial communication is concluded, the status of the booking either changes to canceled or completed depending on whether the payment is verified.
- Dynamic calculation of the LOC conversion rate in comparison to fiat currencies and other cryptocurrencies through the average LOC price from Coinmarketcap API
- Dynamic home search including price and real-time availability. It also comes with a selector for the country you desire. You can change the search to the city or a particular region.
- The LOC payment instructions are sent to the customer’s email upon the initiation of the booking request.
Additionally, the platform has a fully functional dashboard interface for both hosts and travelers to manage their trips and bookings. With over 600 properties already integrated within the platform and 18% reduction in prices when compared to Booking.com and Airbnb.com, travelers can now enjoy 0% commission. Because of the partnerships signed in December 2017, there are indications that in February 2018, LockChain will expand its inventory to 100,000 hotels. LockChain earlier in November conducted its LOC token sale, which was successful with 4,500 individual contributors gathering a total of 10,500 ETH. Currently, out of the 18.5M LOC issued, there are 9.25M in circulation with the token traded on Mercatox, Gatecoin, Etherdelta, and HitBTC exchanges.