Profiling early adopters of blockchain-based hotel booking applications: demographic, psychographic, and service-related factors

To successfully introduce blockchain-enabled booking platforms in the tourism and hospitality industry, providers need to understand their target audiences. We present the results of a survey of 505 US consumers who, in a simulated hotel booking scenario for a leisure trip, picked between traditional Online Travel Agencies (OTA) and a blockchain-enabled booking app with varying degrees of services, discounts, and brand recognition. We find that blockchain-enabled booking apps that meet the following three conditions could attract up to half of the market: (1) offer discounts over OTAs, (2) provide services which go beyond mere booking, and (3) have well-known brand names. In a series of three nested logistic regressions, we investigate the impact of demographic, psychographic, and service-related traveler characteristics. We find that early adopters of blockchain-enabled hotel booking platforms will be young and highly educated. Potential cost savings over OTAs will also attract travelers with lower incomes and from larger households. Other traveler characteristics that facilitate adoption include a high preparedness to take risks, high IT innovativeness, prior familiarity with blockchain technology, and, mediated through IT innovativeness, a high Generalized Sense of Power. Male travelers are more likely than female travelers to be early adopters due to their higher familiarity with blockchain technology.