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🏨 Decentralizing Hotel Management

The Problem: Hotel Discovery & Broker Domination​

The hotel industry is a striking example of how centralization locks value.

Today, nearly all hotel reservations happen through brokering platforms like Booking.com, Expedia, Agoda, or Airbnb. These intermediaries have achieved near-monopoly power, capturing a huge share of hotel revenues and indirectly raising room costs for users.

Paradoxically, while users believe they’re saving money, they actually pay more, since hotels must increase their prices to cover broker fees.

👉 If a hotel isn’t listed on broker platforms, it effectively doesn’t exist in the market.

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Hotel Management Systems Today​

To manage their properties, hotels often rely on Hotel Management Systems (HMS), which may be proprietary (SaaS) or open source (self-hosted/cloud-hosted).

Open source HMS platforms are appealing because they:

  • Allow hotels to host software anywhere, avoiding vendor lock-in.
  • Ensure hotels own their data.
  • Provide key open-source modules such as:
    • Property Management System (PMS)
    • Booking Engine
    • Hotel Website Builder
    • Hotel Mobile App skeleton

Current Business Models of Open Source HMS​

Most open-source HMS providers monetize via:

  • Selling software add-ons (e.g., channel managers to sync with booking.com or Expedia).
  • Offering custom development services.
  • Providing hosting solutions.

These systems work well for hotel management, but visibility is still dictated by brokers. Even when hotels run their own websites/apps, most new customers still arrive via brokers.

Enter Verana: Making Hotels Instantly Discoverable​

Verana changes the game by removing dependency on centralized brokers.

How Open Source HMS Providers Can Use Verana​

Open Source HMS Providers can redefine their business models by adding the Verifiable Trust layer to their software. They just need to:

  1. Create a Hotel Ecosystem in Verana
  • Establish rules via an Ecosystem Governance Framework (EGF).
  • Create their Trust Registry and define a Hotel Credential Schema in Verana.
  1. Add Verifiable Trust to Open Source HMS Software
  • Integrate Verana’s Verifiable Trust stack into booking engines, PMS, and mobile apps.
  1. Launch a Verifiable User Agent
  • Build a global mobile app or website (the “HMS Provider App”) that serves as a browser for verifiable hotels.
  • This app functions as a broker competitor, but without extracting rents.

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What Hotels Gain​

Hotels using such an HMS automatically become:

  • Searchable in the HMS Provider’s global app.
  • Bookable directly, bypassing brokers.
  • Empowered to interact with guests through verifiable credentials (e.g., for check-in, digital room access).

What Guests Gain​

  • A trustworthy, verifiable search experience.
  • The ability to book directly with hotels via the HMS Provider app.
  • Privacy-preserving interactions where their identity and preferences are verified but never exploited.

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Why This Matters​

  • For Hotels: regain independence, stop paying excessive broker fees, own your data.
  • For Users: enjoy lower prices, verified reviews, and more trust in bookings.
  • For HMS Providers: compete with global brokers by offering open, decentralized visibility.
  • For the Internet: Verana delivers a public-good trust layer, shifting value back to participants instead of intermediaries.

Conclusion​

The hotel industry doesn’t need to be trapped by centralized brokers. By using Verana’s decentralized trust infrastructure, Hotel Management Systems can:

  • Make hotels instantly visible without intermediaries.
  • Enable trustworthy, credential-based interactions between hotels and guests.
  • Create a privacy-preserving, fair economic model where value stays with hotels and users.

👉 With Verana, hotels can finally say: “We own our reservations, our reputation, and our data.”