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Like too many people, you have confused "blockchain" with "digital signature", which doesn't require a blockchain, and typically already is used to verify thing

Like too many people, you have confused "blockchain" with "digital signature", which doesn't require a blockchain, and typically already is used to verify things. If you need to trust a central authority to hold up their end of the bargain, for example trusting a Hotel to actually provide the room, then a decentralised system adds absolutely no benefit over the hotel simply digitally signing a ticket themselves. The hotel must be trusted to actually provide the room, so why not trust the hotel to also store the booking information?

kemotep 3y ago
That’s the thing. Cryptocurrency and blockchains (at least thr way the Bitcoin protocol works) provides for an “easy” way to verify transactions in a low trust or even no trust environment. However most if not all transactions you engage in need some level of trust. You want to trust that the hotel has a room, the car is not a lemon, a house is not condemned. Putting these transactions onto the blockchain adds nothing to the trustworthiness of these situations and whether you get what they say you are buying and since a lot of advocates push “code is law” the finality of the blockchain will mean you have no recourse. You bought the nft of a house. The house being in ruins is not their problem. The blockchain is the sole source of truth, not reality. Society should probably be a high trust environment and if it isn’t we should work to fix that.
Pet_Ant 3y ago
> The hotel must be trusted to actually provide the room, so why not trust the hotel to also store the booking information? Because the hotel then has to swap the reservation whenever it's traded. Let's say I want to book a hotel in the future for downtown Chicago Cubs making it to the World Series. As the season progresses it's a future whose value goes up and down depending on how they are playing. If the hotel is in the loop they could play shenanigans and charge you a fee every time you reschedule. The idea of the blockchain is that it's out of their hands. The owner of the room at the time of the booking shows up with the private key, and swaps it for the room key. If you involve the hotel enshittification will ensue to make sure they grind out every last cent. Also, being on a blockchain allows for trades such as swapping rooms across chains, trading rooms for cars, etc. The blockchain unifies ownership and rights as tradeable like money did for barter. There is a common unifying method of exchange.
- automatic6131 3y ago
  You're literally suggesting turning hotel stays into speculative financial assets. This is, fundamentally, a really dumb idea. Whilst hotels do price sometimes unfairly, your suggestion where a selection of speculative traders engage in (at best) zero sum - and it doesn't even benefit the hotel providing the service. Just faceless traders.
  - Pet_Ant 3y ago
    > it doesn't even benefit the hotel providing the service. It does. Unused bookings are pure profit for them. It also means that they get the cash now. It means they don't have the uncertainties of unusually low or high demand so it smoothes out their finances. * To be clear, for this to make any sense, the booking has to be prepaid, or at least a significant portion of it. Maybe just minus a room cleaning fee etc that is due on check-in.
    - xnorswap 3y ago
      > Unused bookings are pure profit for them They want to be fully booked, because not only does it avoid the appearance and vibe of being a "ghost town", they also make a lot of money on things like the hotel bar, minibars, laundry services, etc. If a room stays un-used, the marginal cost to the hotel does not actually decrease much, especially not in the short term. They still pay the same to their laundry contract, they still pay the same rent, they still pay for the front of house staff and the chefs to be there, and they still pay to heat / AC most of the hotel. They might save very marginally on some room AC not being on as much, and eventually if the reduced bookings was noticeable might negotiate a smaller laundry contract, reduce head count, but at that point you just look like a failing hotel. I'm confident if you looked at the accounts, it's more profitable for a guest to turn up than not, even if the guest still paid for the booking.
- jkubicek 3y ago
  IMHO, this is a perfect little example of why so much blockchain/crypto/NFT stuff is silly. a) Everything you mentioned here can already be done with just a database. Trading a hotel room, rescheduling, swapping across chains, etc. b) The hotel has no incentive to allow any of this

kemotep 3y ago

That’s the thing. Cryptocurrency and blockchains (at least thr way the Bitcoin protocol works) provides for an “easy” way to verify transactions in a low trust or even no trust environment. However most if not all transactions you engage in need some level of trust. You want to trust that the hotel has a room, the car is not a lemon, a house is not condemned. Putting these transactions onto the blockchain adds nothing to the trustworthiness of these situations and whether you get what they say you are buying and since a lot of advocates push “code is law” the finality of the blockchain will mean you have no recourse. You bought the nft of a house. The house being in ruins is not their problem. The blockchain is the sole source of truth, not reality. Society should probably be a high trust environment and if it isn’t we should work to fix that.

Pet_Ant 3y ago

> The hotel must be trusted to actually provide the room, so why not trust the hotel to also store the booking information? Because the hotel then has to swap the reservation whenever it's traded. Let's say I want to book a hotel in the future for downtown Chicago Cubs making it to the World Series. As the season progresses it's a future whose value goes up and down depending on how they are playing. If the hotel is in the loop they could play shenanigans and charge you a fee every time you reschedule. The idea of the blockchain is that it's out of their hands. The owner of the room at the time of the booking shows up with the private key, and swaps it for the room key. If you involve the hotel enshittification will ensue to make sure they grind out every last cent. Also, being on a blockchain allows for trades such as swapping rooms across chains, trading rooms for cars, etc. The blockchain unifies ownership and rights as tradeable like money did for barter. There is a common unifying method of exchange.

automatic6131 3y ago
You're literally suggesting turning hotel stays into speculative financial assets. This is, fundamentally, a really dumb idea. Whilst hotels do price sometimes unfairly, your suggestion where a selection of speculative traders engage in (at best) zero sum - and it doesn't even benefit the hotel providing the service. Just faceless traders.
- Pet_Ant 3y ago
  > it doesn't even benefit the hotel providing the service. It does. Unused bookings are pure profit for them. It also means that they get the cash now. It means they don't have the uncertainties of unusually low or high demand so it smoothes out their finances. * To be clear, for this to make any sense, the booking has to be prepaid, or at least a significant portion of it. Maybe just minus a room cleaning fee etc that is due on check-in.
  - xnorswap 3y ago
    > Unused bookings are pure profit for them They want to be fully booked, because not only does it avoid the appearance and vibe of being a "ghost town", they also make a lot of money on things like the hotel bar, minibars, laundry services, etc. If a room stays un-used, the marginal cost to the hotel does not actually decrease much, especially not in the short term. They still pay the same to their laundry contract, they still pay the same rent, they still pay for the front of house staff and the chefs to be there, and they still pay to heat / AC most of the hotel. They might save very marginally on some room AC not being on as much, and eventually if the reduced bookings was noticeable might negotiate a smaller laundry contract, reduce head count, but at that point you just look like a failing hotel. I'm confident if you looked at the accounts, it's more profitable for a guest to turn up than not, even if the guest still paid for the booking.
jkubicek 3y ago
IMHO, this is a perfect little example of why so much blockchain/crypto/NFT stuff is silly. a) Everything you mentioned here can already be done with just a database. Trading a hotel room, rescheduling, swapping across chains, etc. b) The hotel has no incentive to allow any of this