THE FIRST OFFICIAL PARTNERSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT !
ROOMDAO Strikes Up Partnership with PumaPay
PumaPay is excited to announce the partnership with ROOMDAO, a decentralized marketplace for travelers. A crypto startup currently in the pre-ico phase, ROOMDAO is a platform that addresses all travelers’ needs: from accommodation booking and renting a car to finding a tour guide and restaurants at their destination. ROOMDAO will have its own coin but will also accept PumaPay as a payment tool.
Why would an ambitious crypto startup that has its own coin want to associate itself with another coin? Aren’t you afraid of competition? This is the question we asked both CEOs, ROOMDAO’s Andrei Dutov and PumaPay’s Yoav Dror.
Andrei Dutov: There is a strange perception that ICOs should be competing. But why? Partnerships boost credibility of both brands, which is crucial in the current ICO environment. Developing certain components together helps save costs. It’s a win-win for both sides of a partnership. And speaking of PumaPay, why wouldn’t we let holders of your coin use it on our platform?
Yoav Dror: We envision PumaPay as a widespread means of payment in the future and want as many platforms and merchants as possible to accept PMA. Furthermore, the idea of ROOMDAO appeals to a lot of people — after all, most of them travel, be it internationally or locally. Just as credit cards fail to meet the requirements of modern payments, the current approach to travel leaves a lot of room for improvement. ROOMDAO takes the hassle out of travel, and as a frequent traveler, I personally relate to that. PumaPay and ROOMDAO teams share the vision that blockchain is the future and strive to incorporate its advantages in daily life.
It seems like both projects have originated from your background and the need you saw first-hand in your professional experience. Could you talk more about that?
Yoav Dror: Most of the PumaPay leadership, myself included, have strong background in high-traffic and high-transaction projects. We have been exposed to the shortcomings of the modern payments system for years. Basically, we’ve been in the shoes of the merchants whom PumaPay is striving to help today. We know first-hand the challenges of high transaction fees imposed by credit card companies, the uncertainty merchants face due to chargebacks and how serious their consequences can be. When the blockchain revolution broke out, we started thinking how it could benefit our business. And once we had the idea of PumaPay, we knew it wasn’t just us as a company or even as an industry — it’s the solution everyone needs.
Andrei Dutov: I have a similar story to share. Having worked in tourism since 1999, I remember the times when hotel booking confirmations were faxed, not emailed, and no one heard about centralized booking systems. In 2000s, things started changing fast, and you can fast-forward to today’s online infrastructure, where planning a trip is certainly easier than it was 20 years ago. But still, it’s a hassle. You need to go to one website to book your tickets, then to another one for your hotel booking, you also need to rent a car, probably book a tour guide and look up a few restaurants you want to visit — so you’ll want to check some reviews and then make a reservation. Some websites combine their offerings, but still, how many platforms do you visit when you plan your vacation? Keep in mind that aggregators like Expedia charge hefty commissions, and as a user, you overpay a lot. ROOMDAO will not charge merchants any commission, so our prices will be significantly lower compared to platforms like Expedia, Booking.com, Agoda, and so on.
PumaPay is a free, open-source protocol, ROOMDAO is a marketplace that won’t charge any commission. How do you intend to monetize?
Andrei Dutov: We’ll be monetizing through ads and driving traffic. Think of ROOMDAO as a cross between the travel booking engine and a social media platform. To provide users with all the information they need to plan their trip, we’ll be including blogs and reviews for destinations, hotels, restaurants, and so on. Users will be rewarded for their contributions. You will no longer need to go to Yelp, Foursquare or anywhere else to see reviews of a place.
One could say that this is something TripAdvisor has been trying to do lately. There are some features, after all, going social is a natural trend for all platforms, but again — look at their prices. ROOMDAO will ensure a decentralized blockchain-based travel planning system for everything, and merchants will not be charged up to the whopping 20% they are forced to pay to web platforms today. Sometimes a fee that’s bearable for a global hotel chain can kill a small family business. And we’d be happy to help small businesses thrive.
Yoav Dror: Helping merchants is something PumaPay is also passionate about. We truly share this vision. When it comes to monetization, it’s not the main motivation behind PumaPay. Of course, the project needs to be sustainable — this is why we have carefully calculated the token allocation after the token generation event, which will allow us to consistently bring more Early Adopters and partners. As more and more merchants start accepting PumaPay, the product offering will increase, and customers will follow, which will drive the demand for the PMA token. This is a working economic model, which can be sustainable without charging the fees that merchants incur today.
PumaPay and ROOMDAO share the vision and goals of improving day-to-day life by leveraging the potential of the blockchain. Follow both projects on Telegram:ROOMDAO and PumaPay and stay tuned for more updates about this partnership.
