Why Online Travel Agencies Will Line Up Against Blockchain Adoption
Skift Take
The online travel agencies — as the Apex Predators and beneficiaries at the top of the current distribution scheme — aren't likely to rush in to invest in a technology that democratizes access to travel content.
Glenn Fogel, CEO of the Priceline Group, has brushed off the threat of Blockchain to his business.
Fogel's commentary, which took place on stage at the Skift Global Forum last month, felt a lot like the early onset of the Innovator's Dilemma, which sees market-leading companies usurped by new technologies and competitors. The CEO of a $94 billion public company has many things that keep him up at night, and a relatively nascent technology, BlockChain, which is arguably at the peak of inflated expectations, should not be particularly worrying for him over a two-to three-year horizon. Don't expect online travel agencies to necessairly rush into any decentralizing technology such as Blockchain. The reality is the online travel agencies sit at the top of the 50-year-old distribution-food chain like Apex Predators (and innovators). They are beneficiaries of the barriers to entry that the modern distribution environment places on acce
