Data Protection via Blogchain

Error prevention with blockchain technology

Data Protection via Blogchain: Large amounts of sensitive information – booking, passport, credit card data – is transferred between hotels and business travelers. Now, in collaboration with Siemens, hotel solutions provider HRS has developed a way to protect this information from misuse. Blockchain technology underpins it all … and this is just the start of the journey.

TEXT BY: Jürgen Baltes

Some time ago, executives at Siemens and HRS noticed that the individually negotiated corporate rates enjoyed by Siemens’ staff at certain Chinese hotels were being offered to the public on shopping websites. Evidently, strangers were claiming to be Siemens employees in order to be able to stay at these hotels at cheaper rates.

”It was a thorn in the side of all partners to see that the negotiated rates were obviously being used by unauthorized parties,” said Martin Biermann, Vice President for Product Development and Innovation at HRS. But the local hotels that should have been able to control this were “totally overwhelmed” by this issue, he added.

You are who you say you are with Corporate Hospitality Blockchain

Working alongside their client, HRS took immediate action and last year the two firms developed a system that unequivocally identifies guests as Siemens employees and at the same time protects their personal data as well as possible. They call it the “Corporate Hospitality Blockchain”.

The blockchain works harder still: Because the data is verified and always correct, registration forms can be filled out in advance and recurring invoice errors, like incorrect addresses or titles, are avoided.

The implications of this technology are far-reaching. Payment systems could become ever more secure and cheaper; sales departments could be automated. Beyond money transfers, patents, land registers and copyright could all be administered simply and efficiently using blockchain. The dissemination of news, photos and videos could be accurately and swiftly traced back to its source, countering the proliferation of fake news.

Martin Biermann sees further application in the secure administration of personal data, particularly in light of EU GDPR.
“A hotel typically conducts sales through numerous channels, via which a considerable amount of personal data and payment information is exchanged,” says Biermann. Monitoring – and if necessary, proving – which data is stored where and who can access it has been virtually impossible up to now, he says.

That is why HRS is committed to incorporating this data into a blockchain – so it can guarantee to corporate customers not just that correct data will be used, but that it will be deleted later, he explains.

“Smart contracts”

The prospect of concluding automated contracts via blockchain also looks appealing. These “smart contracts” fulfil themselves according to what parameters were previously agreed. In negotiations between hotels and companies, for instance, the trend is increasingly moving towards “continuous sourcing”, Biermann says. For example, every quarter, it is determined whether negotiated rates are actually available, or if the promised volume has been reached.

This is Biermann’s vision: “If we had personal data, rates and bookings in the blockchain, we could automate this partially time-consuming process too.”

“The possibility of concluding automated contracts via blockchain is also appealing.”

Areas of application for blockchain

Transparency and manipulation security have triggered a veritable hype about blockchain across all sectors. Here are a few examples in the here and now – and into the future.

1. Blockchain gained recognition as the technological basis for the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. The blockchain ensures that Bitcoins can be transferred between parties with complete transparency and free from manipulation.
2. Flight reservation system Amadeus is using blockchain to test the tracing of lost luggage in real time.
3. US retail giant Walmart uses blockchain to identify recalled foods on the shelves in all its outlets within seconds.
4. The Hobo Hotel in Stockholm has integrated its entire range of services into a blockchain. Third-party providers can access it automatically, for example to customise their own travel packages .
5. Estonia was the first country to base its entire public administration on a blockchain.
6. Travel group Tui plans to manage all its bed quotas in future via a blockchain.
7. BMW intends to use blockchain to record the mileage on leasing vehicles – in order to make fraud virtually impossible.
8. The city of Vienna plans to use blockchain technology to put all the paper meal vouchers for its approx. 20,000 employees onto smartphones.
9. Belgian diamond company De Beers wants to use its blockchain tracker Tracr to ensure that its precious stones are produced under ethically unimpeachable conditions. Russian competitor Alrosa has joined the initiative.
10. The Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank, and Deutsche Börse, the operator of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, tested the settlement of securities transactions using blockchain in autumn 2018. The results were positive.
11. The German Federal Ministry of Health organised an ideas competition on the use of blockchain in the healthcare sector in October 2018, for example for documenting organ donations or for consent forms for research projects.
12. The “Dubai Blockchain Platform” announced in October 2018 aims to help the Emirate to shift its entire administration to paperless processes.