Decode Travel Hackathon
May 22, 2024
From challenge to working prototype in just 48 hours.
From challenge to working prototype in just 48 hours.
Decode Travel hackathon organized by Chain4Travel in April 2024 became the opening for a series of events to be held around the globe. The event was well-aligned with the mission of the Camino Network Foundation, which is to encourage a collaborative environment that helps traditional travel businesses smoothly join the web3 travel ecosystem.
The main tangible objective for travel-related businesses to participate in Decode Travel:
The event was hosted in the spacious headquarters of the w3.fund — the venture fund empowering builders to create and enable everyone to participate in web3 by supporting the ecosystem's growth with community, content, and investments.
The four-day event was designed to create a comfortable space for innovation at the intersection of blockchain technology and travel. Starting on April 23 with an initial kick-off, the hackathon included a series of challenge presentations and team-building activities, followed by a relaxing pizza night sponsored by CaminoScan.
All the challenges presented at Decode Travel were crafted to address real business bottlenecks faced by participating companies directly. Hence, the hackathon was highly productive and resulted in the development of applicable solutions relevant to the needs of the companies and the industry.
Polygon ID provides an innovative set of tools for identity management in the travel industry through the concept of Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI). Using the SDK, developers can securely create, issue, and authenticate verifiable credentials using blockchain technology and zero-knowledge proofs. Now, travelers can prove personal attributes needed for various travel-related processes without compromising their privacy.
At the hackathon, Polygon ID introduced three challenges that showcased the potential of these technologies as the foundational layer in travel.
Travelers often need to share personal data to receive customized services. Polygon ID enables travelers to manage and share their preferences selectively, without compromising privacy. With this technology travel service providers as hotels or airlines can create and scale personalized offers without accessing personal information broadly. The challenge includes implementing a KYC process, allowing hotels to verify identity and booking ownership without full data exposure, and deploying local verification systems for higher data security.
Travelers often miss out on preferential rates because service providers can't verify their eligibility without personal data. Polygon ID allows suppliers to verify a traveler's eligibility for special rates and offers based on nationality or residency through secure, verifiable credentials. This system supports privacy-preserving verification at any point, from booking to check-in. Thus, travelers can access special rates without unnecessary personal data disclosure.
The multiple identity checks during travel are often inefficient and repetitive. Polygon ID offers an approach where travelers can verify their identity and booking details with a single click at each checkpoint, securely proving identity and details. It is fast and satisfying for a traveler.
Alpitour World Group, a well-known innovator in the world of travel, has recently launched UTravel — a new brand aimed at Gen-Z travelers. Founded with a vision to reimagine the journey, the new brand provides access to a diverse range of activities and services through its app, tapping into local Destination Management Companies (DMCs) and community-based partners, many of whom lack digital presence. For travelers, UTravel offers unique and genuine experiences that positively impact local economies.
The challenge addressed the significant difficulties associated with digital payments in regions where banking services are unavailable and local currencies are unstable. The proposed solution should be blockchain-based to facilitate seamless and secure cryptocurrency transactions directly between travelers and local guides via the UTravel app with the help of smart contracts. The latter ensures payments are made only when travelers complete the tour, proven with GPS verification.
HolidayCheck is a digital enterprise that offers solutions for planning and booking holidays, comparing hotel offers, reading reviews, and renting cars, fulfilling every aspect of travelers' needs. With a team of approximately 300 employees, the company runs extensive hotel rating and travel booking portals and the tour operator brand HolidayCheck Reisen. It also manages the car rental portals MietwagenCheck and Driveboo. They enable hassle-free travel experiences.
HolidayCheck focused on solving the issue of travel review integrity. They identified the review system involved three main actors: the hotel, the user, and the review platform. The existing systems are easy to manipulate either independently or collaboratively. This leads to fake reviews that can deceive consumers and unfairly benefit brands.
Leveraging Camino Network and Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP), teams need to build a verifiable system for travel reviews confirming that a reviewer has genuinely stayed at the hotel.
Universal Mallorca Travel’s brand Universal Beach Hotels is the company managing a group of 17 hotels. As a family-owned Swiss company, they place a strong emphasis on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), actively participating in sustainability projects like the Plastic Free Traveller Movement and the Cleanwave Foundation's Medgardens project for seagrass restoration. They are keen to extend environmental practices with the help of digital technologies, engaging more travelers in the process of restoration of ecosystems in and around Mallorca.
The challenge was created to address the difficulty in engaging guests in marine conservation efforts, which are crucial for preserving the Mediterranean's sea ecosystem. The solution developed needs to motivate guests to participate in personal sponsorship and sustainability efforts. Guests would be informed at various touchpoints, such as reception, restaurants, and through digital media, about the opportunity to contribute directly to local ecosystems with enough flexibility in the amounts and areas they wish to help restore.
Camino Network Foundation is a non-profit organization behind Camino Network, the layer 1 blockchain designed for the travel industry, based in Zug, Switzerland. It facilitates the development and growth of the web3 travel ecosystem through educational, bug bounty and grant programs, community events, and media outreach.
This challenge aims to reshape travel product distribution via wallet-2-wallet communication between network participants, exploring the potential of Camino Messenger to improve the existing travel data management and distribution systems. Traditional systems are known for fragmented communication, which results in inefficiencies and high costs due to multiple APIs, manual processes, and a lack of standards. Camino Messenger simplifies interactions through a unified travel standards, designed to reduce complexity and costs for travel companies.
The panel of judges was formed from recognized leaders in their respective fields within the travel and technology sectors.
The team of mentors played a crucial role in the event. They supported the teams on every stage, from brainstorming and planning to developing and deploying. For travel tech developers, mentors offered detailed insights into blockchain tools and architecture, helping them integrate web3 technologies within travel applications.
Blockchain developers received guidance to better understand the travel tech backends making the solutions practical for real-world travel scenarios. Additionally, to ensure the solutions were engaging and user-friendly, UX/UI were on hand, helping polish the presentations for the pitch day.
It was great to see how every project made such a big step forward code-wise. This time, teams all brought different tech stacks, which was nice to see through various interesting approaches and technologies used. I've learned a lot from hackers just by looking through their projects. Guys supporting the hackers did a great job; most teams, in the end, had working projects that integrated a wide range of technologies. Even though I couldn't be present there, from my perspective, the organization levelled up as well. Looking forward to events in the future and hope I can be present at the next ones.
Daniel, Bytepitch
Over the course of the event, more than 50 participants from over 10 different countries came together to learn, build and bond, pushing the boundaries of travel technologies.
An impressive group of sponsors supported the hackathon. They provided technology and expertise as well as financial resources:
On behalf of the Camino Network Foundation, we would like to thank the Chain4Travel team for initiating and organizing the Decode Travel hackathon. This effort brought a new wave of talented individuals into the web3 travel ecosystem of Camino Network and accelerated blockchain technology adoption across the travel industry.
This event was a perfect kick-off. The feedback provided by participants, sponsors, judges, and organizers, Camino Network Foundation strongly supports the initiative and invites all the travel companies willing to solve existing business challenges with contemporary and robust digital technologies in a short period of time, conduct research, educate teams on emerging technologies or present innovative solutions, to contact the Chain4Travel team.
Decode Travel hackathon is your next step into the world of efficient travel technologies in the era of connected consumer behavior.
Camino is the travel industry blockchain. Fueled by the Camino token, it is offering a versatile network to expand current business models and to create new touristic products to delight travelers and business partners.