ITB Berlin News - DAY 3 Edition

I NEWS I
How NFTs and the
metaverse are shaping
customer experience
Amanda Du Jing, head of e-commerce for Penta
Hotels, delivered a hard-hitting conference entitled
“Metaverse and NFTs - How do hotels enter the
Web3 era?” on the eTravel stage in hall 6.1 as part of
the eTravel Track series
Amanda Du Jing began her talk by asking: what opportunities does the web
3 space offer for hotels? She went on to address this question in detail using
concrete situations and examples.
If web 1 is for users consuming information
and web 2 is for creating content (for example
with social media) then web 3, Amanda Du
Jing explained, is all about owning.
NFT stands for nun-fungible token and it is
stored and secured on a blockchain. It can
be a jpeg, art, collectibles, etc. Amanda Du
Jing encouraged companies to do their own
research to try and understand what NFTs
can do for their project. For Penta Hotels,
she organised a private event for corporate
clients with perks and exclusive experiences.
The idea was to create an exciting experience
of membership and loyalty using NFTs.
Amanda Du Jing went over the main
criticisms of NFTs and addressed each one
individually. The first was that they sometimes
come with a clunky user experience. She
recommended getting around this by
adapting to customers’ habits rather than
forcing customers to adapt. She suggested
using a webtool app customers are already
familiar with, i.g. getting them to provide an
email address and create a crypto wallet
later instead of insisting they create a crypto
wallet right away. The second was the issue
of sustainability. Blockchains require a lot of
power which uses a lot of resources. Amanda
Du Jing suggested that companies choose
more sustainable blockchain solutions or
invest in carbon offsetting programmes to
limit their impact. The last main issue with
NFTs that she highlighted was the lack of
unified regulations on a global scale. This
could especially be an issue for brands
launching a global loyalty programme. She
encouraged brands to consider this and
be aware of applicable regulations in each
region.
So how do NFTs fit in with the metaverse?
Amanda Du Jing suggested thinking about
the metaverse as Disneyland and NFTs as
the tickets to get there. The rides would
be the web 3 user experience, powered by
blockchains. The metaverse opens up an
interconnected digital reality which allows
companies to engage with customers in a way
they couldn’t previously. With digital twins
and enhanced user experiences, Amanda Du
Jing affirmed that with a bit of knowledge
hotels and travel companies can enter the
web 3 space by understanding what part
of the customer journey they are trying to
optimise and how the technology will bring
them a competitive advantage
ITB BERLIN NEWS • THURSDAY 9 TH MARCH 2023 13