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Travala (AVA): blockchain technology for traveling

In this article, we will talk aboutTravala.com and its AVA token. This different blockchain protocol focuses on facilitating the user experience in travel by creating a pass aimed at hotel reservations and airline tickets.

TravalaTeam.

Travala launched in 2018, although it was called Concierge at the time, with an initial coin offering of currency, which raised $2.6 million and provided a solid foundation for the platform's expansion. Behind the project is Steve Hipwell, founder, COO, Matthew Lopez, CIO, CFO, and co-founder, along with several advisors with expertise in both blockchain and travel. The goal set by the Travala development team was to completely change the traditional dynamics of the travel industry to improve the services they offer and bring them closer to all pockets.

The platform seeks to correct traditional travel agencies and companies' mistakes, such as high commissions, which annoy users. At the same time, the team created its token, AVA, which they want to position as one of the most competitive in the market, as we could say that it is a niche token. Regarding its business model, Travala uses its digital currency to create a free ecosystem, where suppliers and users can book with 0% hidden commissions. In addition, they offer communication platforms between the client and the supplier to maximize the transparency and reliability of the platform, making it clear that they do not take any commissions.

What is Travala?

Travel is a hotel and accommodation booking platform covering more than 500,000 properties worldwide. However, it differs from other similar platforms, such as Booking or Tripadvisor, because it is built on the same technology as cryptocurrencies, i.e., blockchain.

By introducing blockchain into its system, Travala is optimized to reduce costs in the travel industry by making vacation packages more affordable, creating a secure payment platform, and offering seamless administration of loyalty rewards programs through tokens. In this regard, Travala boasts of offering accommodation rates up to 15% cheaper than other competitors such as Booking or Expedia, and up to 40% cheaper than travel agencies, as they have eliminated all hidden fees, as well as booking fees typically charged by travel agencies.

At the heart of Travala is its AVA token, which offers incentives to customers and users who help the platform grow. This can be done by reviewing properties, services, and accommodations, creating related content, or attracting new customers to the forum. At the same time, AVA tokens can be saved, and the rewards offered by the platform are proportional to the size of the user's wallet stake. Travala also allows users to use more than 40 cryptocurrencies to pay for services purchased on the platform.

How does Travala work?

Travala has created a personal travel agency, where the user logs in, plans his trip, books, and earns AVA tokens.

For example, the user consults the Travala website, which functions as a travel agency with information on available trips and advanced search functions. New users are asked to register, which earns them a reward in AVA tokens. If they are regular users, they will be notified of the number of tickets in their wallets and receive an alert when they are running low. Users can then start the booking process, choosing the payment method, among the options offered: traditional cash, AVA tokens, or other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, Binance Coin, Litecoin, and more. In this regard, the most attractive offers are reserved for users paying with AVA. To finalize, one can pay for the entire booking or just a part of it. Once the trip is over, users can provide reviews about their experience, which are published and awarded several AVA tokens once verified via blockchain. Tickets are also awarded for customer referrals. Users are incentivized to work their reputation on the platform as "guides," as those most voted as helpful reviewers can receive more AVA tokens.

 

The Travala dApp

The Travala platform is built on three layers that form an ecosystem. These layers are:

The dApp layer: this layer functions as the platform's user interface; its central part is to make it possible for customers to browse offers and suppliers and complete bookings. The coating provides access to the Travala wallet, where AVA tokens are stored. It also serves as a support engine for users to post comments and reviews and is linked to suppliers offering their deals. The protocol layer: This is the layer that handles the underlying economic engine of the platform. It supports the implementation of the NEP-5 brilliant contract standard. The layer hosts a new smart contract each time one is made. Consensus layer: The consensus layer plays a vital role in enabling the transfer of value on the platform, including economic transactions and reputation feedback. This is made possible by intelligent proxy contracts, which are used to establish the validity of the process and greenlight transfers for interested parties.

How the consensus layer works

The Travala consensus layer primarily handles the underlying registries in the Travala platform. This layer is built on top of the NEO blockchain. It also uses a dBFT, i.e., delegated Byzantine fault-tolerant, a protocol that combines the commissioned proof-of-stake system features.

According to the Travala team, this system can process about 1,000 transactions per second, and they have plans to scale to 100,000 transactions per second in the future. This layer serves as a repository for governance records that present essential information related to critical stakeholders in the platform economy. Again, intelligent proxy contracts are used to track monetary transactions and data management statuses. Examples include monitoring users' token balances and their commitments defined under smart contracts. Thanks to this, the platform can verify the reputation of individual users and confirm it as reliable.

The AVA token

Currently, there are more than 51 million AVA tokens in circulation and, although mainly, they can be obtained on Travala's platform as rewards, it is possible to buy, sell or exchange them on exchanges such as Binance, BitBNS, Nami, Bilaxy, Polniex or Gate.io, among others. Customers using the AVA token on the platform get access to loyalty schemes and exclusive discounts, which are not available to pay with cash. In addition, when spending with AVA, they receive 10% of the price in AVA that accumulates in their wallets.

AVA tokens also function as a means of reimbursement for all activities on the platform, including refunds for services that have been paid for with traditional cash. Finally, AVA tokens can be used to cover fuel costs if a vehicle is rented on one of Travala's partner platforms.

Future of Travala

Travala is a platform focused on crypto lovers, seeking to open cryptocurrencies to everyone, especially travel lovers. Thanks to the ability to pay with both cryptocurrencies and traditional money, it has the potential to attract a wide variety of customers.

Moreover, thanks to its partnership with Expedia, it has a very extensive offer in both hotels and vacation apartments and all kinds of places to stay. But on the other hand, the incentives and rewards in the form of AVA tokens give it a touch of gamification that can be very attractive to a specific user profile that appreciates this type of interaction with the platforms.

Conclusion

Travala wants to popularize cryptocurrency payments for travel. In this sense, the platform was inspired by Expedia, which in mid-2018 offered Bitcoin payments to its customers. In this sense, this is a great initiative, as crypto payments allow instant confirmation and elimination of commissions. In addition, Travala is very simple to use and intuitive, as the platform works the same as the rest of similar products such as Booking, Expedia, or Tripadvisor. You need to enter the dates and destination to receive all the offers on-screen, and they also have an app for Android and iOS. The only real big disadvantage of Travala is that not everyone needs or wants to access a travel platform on blockchain and with cryptocurrencies as a payment method since, at the moment, not everyone owns or trusts cryptocurrencies. In this sense, the overall savings difference is only worth it if you have AVA tokens; otherwise, it is no different from other platforms like Booking or Tripadvisor, making it a niche platform.

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