Travel Industry Eyes Blockchain Potential for Fees, Delays, Lost Bags

Travel Industry Eyes Blockchain Potential for Fees, Delays, Lost Bags
In this photo illustration, the website for Expedia Inc. and Orbitz Worldwide Inc. are seen next to each other on Feb. 12, 2015 in Miami, Florida. Expedia annouced plans to purchase Orbitz for about 1.34 billiion dollars. Photo Illustration by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
|Updated:

Blockchain technology has the potential to shake up the travel industry by giving airlines and hotels a way to bypass controlling intermediaries like Expedia or Amadeus and gain better access to customer data.

Major players including Lufthansa and citizenM hotels are partnering with startups and talking to large corporate clients about whether they can do group bookings via blockchain instead of using middlemen, who charge up to 25 percent of ticket or room prices in fees.