Winding Tree - Decentralized Travel Booking Platform
Sector: Tertiary sector · Industry: Tour operators and travel agencies · Organisation: Winding Tree · Maturity level: Concept
Winding Tree was a blockchain-based decentralized platform for the travel industry, developed from 2017 until August 2024. The project aimed to break the high fees and market power of online travel agencies and global distribution systems by enabling travel providers to market their offers directly. After seven years, the project was discontinued as no product-market fit could be achieved and acceptance of blockchain technology in the travel industry was too low.
Documentation status
- Project status: Concept
- Evidence: Evidence high
- Editorial review: Ufuk Avci, 15 April 2026
Description
Winding Tree was founded in 2017 in Zug (Switzerland, Crypto Valley) with the mission to decentralise the global travel distribution system. The problem: Amadeus and Sabre control about 80% of all global flight bookings as duopolistic GDS providers and charge 7-15 USD per booking — a significant cost burden for airlines.
Winding Tree developed an Ethereum-based decentralised distribution: Airlines and hotels publish their offers directly on the blockchain (as smart contracts with availability and prices); travel agencies and online travel agencies can access the blockchain directly and book without GDS intermediaries; payments are made directly between travellers and providers. Airline partners in the test phase: Lufthansa, Air France, Swiss, Air New Zealand, Nordic Choice Hotels. PaxEx.Aero reported extensively on airline blockchain travel initiatives. Challenges: The GDS system is deeply integrated into airline IT systems; switching costs are high; the network effect problem (the platform only reaches full potential when all providers and all travel agencies are on it). Winding Tree ceased operations (reported by PhocusWire) — the concept of decentralised travel distribution remains as a model. Successor initiatives: NDC (New Distribution Capability, IATA standard) pursues similar direct sales goals but with an API approach instead of blockchain.
Perspectives
B2B — organisations perspective
Airlines and hotels can save GDS fees of 7-15 USD per booking through blockchain-based direct distribution and implement dynamic pricing without GDS restrictions.
B2C — consumers perspective
Travellers would have benefited from more transparent prices and direct access to travel offers without markups from intermediaries. However, usage would have required familiarity with cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
Employees perspective
Employees in the travel industry would have needed to develop new skills in blockchain technology and decentralised systems. Workflows would have shifted from centralised booking systems to decentralised platforms.
Benefits
General
- Eliminating intermediary fees could lead to lower costs for travellers and higher margins for providers.
- A decentralised structure would enable more transparency and direct control over booking processes.
- Direct marketing could foster innovation and competition in the travel industry.
B2B — organisations
- Travel companies could significantly reduce their distribution costs while retaining greater control over their pricing.
Employees
- New career opportunities would arise in the emerging blockchain and decentralised technology sector.
Challenges
General
- Lack of acceptance of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies in the traditionally conservative travel industry.
- Difficulty disrupting established market structures with strong incumbents such as online travel agencies.
B2B — organisations
- Building sufficient partnerships with travel providers proves time-consuming and difficult to implement.
Employees
- Significant retraining requirements for existing employees in new blockchain technologies.
Technology foundation
Winding Tree used a public blockchain infrastructure that enabled travel providers to market their offers decentralised and transact directly with customers. The technology was intended to integrate smart contracts for automated transactions and cryptocurrency payments to eliminate intermediaries.
Implementation examples
Winding Tree Airline Partnerships
Airlines wanted to reduce their high distribution costs caused by online travel agencies and global distribution systems. Direct marketing via a decentralised platform was intended to eliminate these intermediary fees.
Winding Tree formed partnerships with airlines such as Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and American Airlines for decentralized travel bookings.
Winding Tree developed a decentralised blockchain platform for the travel industry and was able to form partnerships with renowned airlines. These collaborations were intended to enable airlines to market their offers directly via the blockchain platform and bypass high fees from online travel agencies. However, most of these partnerships remained superficial and often limited to API access rather than full blockchain integration. The corporate travel tech company Simard, which was built on the Winding Tree base, ceased operations already in 2021.
High commissions to online travel agencies and global distribution systems were to be reduced. Control over pricing and customer data was to remain with the airlines.
Tags
Decentralisation, Smart Contracts, Disintermediation, Cryptocurrency, Travel booking