Is NFT the Next Big Thing in Hospitality? A Perspective from the Dubai Research Center

Published by: Rochak Khandelwal

In the last two several years — particularly in 2021 — we all have occur across this acronym “NFT” that anyone has been speaking about, and how these NFTs are getting marketed for hundreds of thousands of pounds. Lots of celebs and business enterprise tycoons have revealed interest — but to start with: what is NFT? Underneath, discover a definition of NFT and how it can be the subsequent large matter for company and hospitality in 2022.

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a cryptographic asset that simply cannot be duplicated and presents evidence of ownership of a solitary digital merchandise, this kind of as a photograph, audio file or online video. Blockchain technological innovation is used to record NFTs, ensuring that each merchandise is exclusive and can be validated as true. The point that an NFT is a a person-of-a-variety structure has a wide variety of rewards for the two entrepreneurs and material creators. The potential to use digital data files in the identical way as actual physical assets is the most sizeable get. As an case in point, a buyer could possibly acquire an primary piece of artwork that is then marketed to them in electronic variety.

For the reason that the technological know-how is nonetheless new, NFT hospitality marketing is nevertheless less than-explored despite obtaining a great deal of probable for hospitality by increasing customer engagement, product promotion, manufacturer recognition and business collaborations. It is step by step developing by itself as a viable and most well-liked selection in the Dubai hospitality sector. You can see how NFTs are becoming applied as a hospitality internet marketing instrument in Dubai and how some dining establishments, lodges and movie star cooks are creating use of this technological know-how to improve their existence in the sector and appeal to new consumers. 

Alexandros Sperxos, an award-winning Dubai chef who has taken on NFTs, is the initially in the planet to generate a sequence of seven electronic artworks of glow-in-the-dim food stuff, and even an NFT of himself. Sperxos was named an formal ambassador of Greek gastronomy in the United Arab Emirates in 2019 and has promoted Greek delicacies around the globe, which includes at the Dubai Expo 2020. Now, the chef has entered the NFT industry and consumers can bid for the NFT assortment on the web. These dishes will be served at a private glow-in-the-dark occasion held at The Alley in Al Quoz in Dubai, where by bidders will also be capable to satisfy Sperxos.

I not too long ago visited a new Vietnamese restaurant Goi Rolls positioned pretty in close proximity to to my university, the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management (EAHM). The restaurant has observed a new way to bring in buyer loyalty by selling its possess NFT assortment on the web. Consumers getting these tokens get half the amount back to invest on foodstuff at the restaurant. As per Hayder Nashie, common supervisor of Goi Rolls, it is not only a way of publicizing food items but also a utility, as they are offering again worth to the purchaser of these tokens. It is a distinct way of partaking with your shoppers. The digital sushi rolls (NFT from Goi Rolls) can be bought with Ethereum and NFTs on the OpenSea marketplace, the major hub for shopping for and selling NFTs. Just one is priced at ETH0.0221, or $52.52 at the recent fee, with the caveat that cryptocurrency price ranges have fallen as a outcome of Russia’s steps in Ukraine.

In March 2022, Dubai adopted a new legislation in the emirate authorised by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid, vice president and ruler of Dubai, intended to regulate digital property, defend investors and supply intercontinental specifications governing the virtual asset industry. Before long right after this announcement, we have seen elevated interest in NFTs from many firms.

NFT in hospitality could be a recreation-changer. With new regulations regulating the technological innovation, lots of folks and traders who originally considered NFTs as a fraud are intrigued in adopting this technological know-how to encourage and develop their companies, not only in foodstuff but also in vacation and lodging.

Internationally, Marriott Bonvoy, an award-profitable travel program, was just one of the 1st to introduce its NFT assortment. It has produced vacation-impressed NFTs that had been auctioned in Miami in December 2021. Emirates in Dubai has just lately declared its NFT assortment and have jumped before long soon after legal guidelines had been controlled. These illustrations of huge hospitality models leaping into NFTs to produce a special way of attracting consumer loyalty and market their businesses absolutely suggests the NFT could be the following large matter in hospitality.

Rochak Khandelwal is a investigate scholar with the HFTP Center East Investigate Center and student at the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Administration in Dubai, UAE.