Digital Travel Firm Webjet Has Launched Its Booking Verification Blockchain

Digital travel agent Webjet has launched its long-in-development blockchain-based platform in a bid to remove disparities in hotel booking data.

Working in conjunction with Microsoft through the firm's Azure blockchain-as-a-service sandbox since 2016, Webjet said Thursday the new Rezchain application will address hotel reservation snafus and overcharges by looking for data mismatches in real-time between customers, hotels and booking agents, and sending alerts if any are found.

Such errors are found in at least 5 percent of bookings, according to the firm. Once identified, they trigger "a time consuming and painful reconciliation process, resulting in heavy resourcing requirements and financial exposure."

Founded in 1998, ASX 200-listed Webjet hosts an online travel agent business throughout Southeast Asia, Australia and North America. The firm also operates business-to-business accommodation platform WebBeds.

Combining a “virtual handshake" and email "early warning system,” Webjet says Rezchain leverages the distributed nature of blockchain technology, storing information on a shared ledger to give each party involved with online bookings up-to-the-moment information. According to its website, Rezchain is built on a private version of ethereum.

John Guscic, managing director at Webjet, said in a statement:

“With multiple IT systems speaking different languages, mistakes are probable, and the default position is often to write off debts when the situation is not clear. For years, the industry considered it a cost of doing business. It doesn’t have to be that way any longer.”

Hotel image via Shutterstock