Dear LockTrippers!
We are happy to announce that the biggest deployment we ever made for the LockTrip marketplace has just been completed. Our team is proud to showcase the progress that has been achieved.
This deployment is the culmination of 8 months of work involving hundreds of new features, interface optimizations and overall system refactoring. It is the result of thousands of hours of R&D, testing and code development.
- Nikola Alexandrov, CEO of LockTrip
Let’s look into some of the most visible features.
New User Interface (UI)
Earlier this year, we publicly presented the draft for a fundamentally different design and optimized user interface features. To gather feedback from our community we then launched a quick poll and the results were very positive.
We have since worked on integrating the new design into our marketplace and developing the backend infrastructure to support additional interface features. Let’s look into some of them.
Search and Testimonials
The search page is very clean and simple. There is a strong focus on the search bar, accompanied by a selection of real testimonies from our community, which were gathered from publicly verifiable sources. Clicking on a testimony sends you directly to the source of the quote, which makes it authentic and transparent.
Search Results
The results page is the one with the most radical changes. At the right side of the search results you will spot a dynamically adjusting map that shows the location of your selected hotel, accompanied by nearby alternatives.
At the left side you will see an improved filtering interface as well as the history of your most recent searches. Going back to a previous search is as simple as a single click.
Looking at the results themselves, you will notice that the most important information about the hotel is now displayed directly on the result page. We have also highlighted key points such “Tax Included”.
As you can see, prices are now only shown to logged in users. Previously we showed LOC prices nakedly (as we are not allowed to show fiat prices nakedly due to RPAs), which confused customers that were not acquainted with the Blockchain.
The new setup will prevent confusion and encourage registration, leading to higher conversion rates. Prices will be displayed in LOC and Fiat for logged in users.
Moving on to the hotel page, you will now find a much cleaner overview with the most essential information. One example is that each room type has a brief cancellation policy attached to it directly at the stage of room selection. You no longer need to proceed to the payment page in order to reveal it.
Another example is that rooms are now clearly marked according to the service that comes with the booking, such as “Room Only” or “Buffet Breakfast”.
Dashboard
The dashboard has been stripped into a more compact setup. Individual sections remain as they were, but they are now bundled in a simpler overview. Long-requested and necessary features such as the ability to send out ETH from the built-in wallet have been added.
Stripe
In 2018 we integrated SafeCharge, which is one of the most trusted payment service providers available. With the deployment today we are going one step further by integrating Stripe as a second provider. We want to elaborate on two main strategic reasons for this move.
The first one is to have a backup in case of unpredictable events resulting in one of the two providers becoming inaccessible. In that context we are now more protected than ever against external events and will continue to provide our customers the best service regardless of third party risks.
The second reason is that the synergy between SafeCharge and Stripe results in valuable cost optimization. We are able to reduce fiat payment fees for a significant share of our customers, depending on where they live and which currency they pay with.
Bancor
To enhance the savings mentioned above, we have also added Bancor to our Fiat-to-LOC conversion mechanism. Slippage costs have thus been reduced by a noticeable margin, preventing extreme fees that occurred from thin order books on exchanges.
More reductions should be expected with the upcoming LOC Economy 2.0 deployment, which is already in intensive development.
Instant Login
Another feature that has been deployed today is “Instant Login”. It allows you to quickly get access to our marketplace without going through the manual process of registration. You can simply register with your Twitter or Google account through a single click.
The same convenience applies when logging into the marketplace. Your next hotel is just one click away!
Our team is currently working to expand this functionality to Facebook. It will be deployed together with the flights section of our marketplace, which is currently seeing special treatment in a push to bring it on par with the much earlier launched hotel section in terms of usability.
Crypto Payments
We have a special surprise for you! Our team worked overtime and stayed in the office during the weekend to add one more feature to the deployment: Crypto Payments!
We are proud to announce that the LockTrip marketplace is now accepting various cryptocurrencies for payment.
As of today, you can choose among the following cryptocurrencies to pay for your booking:
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- USD Coin (USDC)
Contrary to LOC payments, there is no built-in marketplace wallet for these currencies. You can simply use your private wallet or connect your Coinbase account for further convenience.
All 5 payment methods above are subject to a 1.5% flat fee, of which 1.1% is reserved for affiliate rewards and an additional 0.4% for conversion fees.
We want to thank our developers for their dedication and for staying in the office during weekends.
Happy Halloween! 🎃
LockTrip is the first marketplace with 0% commission where you can save on average 20% on your hotel and rental bookings compared to anywhere else. Read how to buy LOC tokens here!
