Sterling Sovereign (STSO)

What is Sterling Sovereign

Introduction and background

Sterling Sovereign will revolutionize travel booking by directly connecting travellers to providers through the blockchain, resulting in 20%-40% savings on travel purchases, as well as substantial increases in reliability, transparency, and transaction security.

The current travel booking ecosystem is caught in a stranglehold by two sets of powerful intermediaries that stand between customers and providers: Global Distribution Systems (GDSs) and Online Travel Agencies (OTAs).

GDS is a primarily B2B computerized reservation network, utilized as a single access point for making and tracking airline, hotel, and rental cars reservations by travel agents, OTAs, and consortiums like American Express. Together Sabre, Galileo, Amadeus, and Travel port control most of the GDS industry. These companies extract substantial fees to use these networks – for example, the average added cost of an airline ticket booked utilizing GDS is $10 (USD), and the average hotel booking commission is 20%. Developed initially in the 70s and 80s, GDS predates the modern web, and unfortunately, the security of their antiquated systems predates any modern notion of web security as well. Passenger private information can be accessed utilizing a just single 6-digit identifier coupled with the traveller’s last name, allowing anyone with this information to modify reservations or acquire that traveller’s home address or email.

On the OTA side, two companies dominate: the Priceline Group (which includes Booking. com), and Expedia (which includes Travelocity and Orbitz). Online global travel booking in 2016 exceeded $523 BN (USD), which was over half the market of all travel sales, and their share of the market continues to grow. This effective duopoly has allowed OTAs to impose “rate integrity” agreements on travel providers, ensuring that no one can publicly list lower prices than they themselves offer, even on those providers’ own websites.

Sterling Sovereign will replace this morass of hidden fees and artificial pricing with a straightforward cost-plus model, powered by the blockchain. Inventory is purchased at a bulk discount from elite travel providers, and listed on a secure platform. Members (anyone who has purchased one Sterling Sovereign token) may make airline, hotel reservations on this platform using STERLING SOVEREIGN tokens, and the resulting transactions are executed immediately and recorded securely on the blockchain. Since Sterling Sovereign platform is members-only with a website that requires a log-in, it is effectively private, allowing Sterling Sovereign to circumvent rate-integrity agreements and their bloated margins and thereby offer its customers a considerably lower price.

Overview

In addition to significant savings and genuine security, Sterling Sovereign will provide numerous additional benefits and advantages over current booking systems. Sterling Sovereign Rewards program will offer a substantial rebate on every purchase, in some cases as high as 20%, returning Sterling Sovereign tokens to members that can be used for future travel purchases. Sterling Sovereign Referral program will award up to 10% of all Sterling Sovereign token spent by the person referred to the referrer. Its platform will also feature premium concierge services that will allow members to maximize the enjoyment and success of their travel plans.

Worldwide, the travel industry is a staggering $6.6 (USD) enterprise, which creates a tremendous opportunity for technological disruption for anyone with the right combination of experience, connections, insight, and technical savvy. Travel providers and consumers alike are frustrated with the status quo, frustrated by high commissions and fares, frustrated by monopolistic intermediaries extracting rent on every booking. Comprised of a set of industry specialists with over 50 years of travel and hospitality experience, Sterling Sovereign team is uniquely positioned to seize this opportunity. Their experience has already been leveraged to form partnerships with most premier travel providers, ensuring access to the best inventory.

Sterling Sovereign Token

The Sterling Sovereign is an ERC20 token that serves the following functions on its platform:

Membership:

Based on the Reward rate for each travel option, a percentage of Reward Sterling Sovereign tokens are returned to the member’s walletwith each purchase.

Rewards Program:

Reward Sterling Sovereign tokens are only created through the Rewards Program. Reward tokens can only be spent on the Sterling Sovereign booking platform, and unlike regular Sterling Sovereign Tokens, they cannot be sold or transferred. Reward Sterling Sovereign tokens function as partial mechanism to reduce Sterling Sovereign velocity.

Sterling Sovereign tokens can be exchanged to purchase on many exchanges and will have its own decentralized exchange.