INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. - eTradeWire -- Phinge® Corporation today announced its intention to disrupt the outdated Online Travel Agency (OTA) model dominated by travel, hotel and leisure platforms and companies, with its upcoming patented Netverse® app-less ecosystem.

By creating an "app-less," patented hardware-verified, and rewards-based platform, Netverse will empower hotels and travelers alike, circumventing the high commissions, data exploitation, and privacy vulnerabilities endemic to legacy travel booking platforms.

For decades, the travel industry has been held captive by a duopolistic market of OTAs that charge hotels commissions of 15% or more. This has forced hotels to operate on thin margins and has inflated prices for consumers through strict pricing parity clauses. Phinge's Netverse, built on its own proprietary hardware, will dismantle this model by offering a fundamentally different, more transparent, and rewarding travel experience.

The Netverse Difference: A Paradigm Shift for Hotels and Travelers

For Hotels and Hospitality Businesses:

• Drastically Reduced Costs: Netverse will enable hotels to reduce or eliminate high commission fees. With PhingePay, Netverse's integrated payment platform, businesses will pay zero commission on purchases made with Phinge rewards and a significantly lower fee for cash payments. Hotels can pass these savings directly to consumers through better rates or enhance their own profit margins.
• Direct-to-Consumer Engagement: By freeing hotels from dependence on OTA listings, Netverse will restore their ability to build direct relationships with guests. Netverse's free integrated tools allow businesses to manage reservations, marketing, and customer communication from a single dashboard, replacing the need for costly and siloed business intelligence software.
• Verified Listings and Reviews: Unlike anonymous OTA review systems, Netverse will feature hardware-based verification for all users and businesses. The Phreeviews platform will offer authentic, trustworthy reviews, building genuine trust between hotels and guests and curbing fraudulent or bot-driven activity.

For Travelers:

• Universal, "Same-as-Cash" Rewards: Netverse through PhingePay, introduces a universal rewards system where travelers earn and spend rewards dollar-for-dollar for every transaction within Netverse, including all third-party platforms. Rewards earned from booking a flight can be instantly redeemed for a hotel stay, dining, or other services on the platform, creating a seamless and financially empowering travel experience.
• Enhanced Privacy and Data Ownership: Netverse fundamentally rejects the "surveillance capitalism" model of traditional OTAs, where user data is collected and sold for profit. Phinge users retain ownership and control of their personal data and can choose to be directly compensated for sharing it. This hardware-verified ecosystem will ensure a secure and private booking experience.
• Unprecedented Security: Access to the Netverse will be restricted to Phinge's proprietary hardware, creating a highly secure, ecosystem. This hardware-level security significantly reduces the risk of fraud, phishing, and data breaches that plague software-based platforms, providing a new level of confidence for travelers.

The End of the OTA Tax

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The "OTA tax" is a term, often used by hotels and other travel suppliers, for the high commission fees charged by Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) like todays large hotel, travel and leisure platforms. These fees significantly reduce the profit margins of hotels, which in turn influences pricing for consumers.

How the "OTA tax" works

• High commission rates: The major OTAs typically charge commissions ranging from 15% to 30% on each booking. While smaller properties may pay higher percentages, larger hotel chains may negotiate rates on the lower end of this scale.
• Pricing parity agreements: In the past, OTAs have enforced "rate parity" agreements that prevented hotels from offering a lower rate on their own website. While strict rate parity clauses have been banned in some regions, the threat of lower visibility on major OTA sites still keeps hotels from significantly undercutting OTA prices.
• Cost of visibility: Hotels pay the "OTA tax" to gain visibility and reach a global audience. For many independent or smaller properties, the marketing power of large OTAs is essential for filling rooms, especially during slower periods.
• Impact on profit: The high commissions cut directly into a hotel's profitability. For a $200 booking with a 20% commission, the hotel loses $40 before factoring in any operating costs. This pressure can limit a hotel's ability to invest in property upgrades, staff wages, or other improvements.

Broader impacts of OTA fees

• Reduced ancillary revenues: When guests book through an OTA, the hotel receives less detailed customer data. This limits its ability to engage with guests directly before they arrive and to upsell add-ons like breakfast, spa treatments, or room upgrades, from which OTAs may also take a commission.
• Erosion of brand loyalty: OTAs become the primary brand that customers associate with their booking, not the hotel itself. This makes it more difficult for hotels to build long-term relationships and encourage repeat direct bookings.
• Customer service limitations: The OTA often becomes the first point of contact for customer service issues. Hotels may have limited power to help guests with modifications or refunds for bookings made through a third-party site.

How Phinge's Netverse aims to eliminate the "OTA tax"

Phinge's Netverse seeks to disrupt this model by removing the intermediary and its associated costs:

• No-risk, No-upfront-cost advertising: Netverse through PhingePay operates on a lower-cost model of 10% commission at the point-of-sale. Phinge will offer all verified third party platforms, including hotels a minimum amount of free advertising for each offer or advertisement they run on Netverse.
• Zero-commission on rewards redemptions: Businesses on Netverse would pay zero commission for transactions made with Phinge rewards. This incentivizes hotels to offer travelers higher reward percentages, which acts as a powerful motivator for direct booking on the platform.
• Direct relationship and data ownership: Netverse is a neutral arbiter and facilitates a direct connection between the traveler and the hotel, restoring the hotel's ability to build brand loyalty and control the guest experience.
• Enhanced security and trust: By using hardware-verified identities, Netverse will reduce the risks of fraud and fake reviews, which adds value for both hotels and consumers

Phinge CEO Robert DeMaio believes "For too long, the travel industry has been dominated by a few major players extracting exorbitant commissions, at the expense of both hotels and consumers."

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Netverse will not be an incremental improvement on an outdated system; it is a complete re-architecture. By eliminating the 'OTA tax' and giving power back to businesses and users, it is creating a more transparent, secure, and rewarding travel ecosystem for everyone.

By leveraging its patented technology and hardware-first approach, Phinge's Netverse will represent a direct and formidable challenge to the incumbent OTAs. As travel continues its recovery, Netverse is poised to lead the next evolution of online booking, driven by a new model of fairness, privacy, and user value.

You may learn more about Netverse and it's patented, magnetically attachable smartphones and devices by visiting Phinge's websites at
https://www.phinge.com

To get on a contact list please fill out the online form here
https://www.phinge.com/netverseai.html

About Phinge Corporation

Phinge was founded and through Netverse® is being developed to disrupt today's outdated App technologies, including the App-store duopoly, by partnering with and giving its users and businesses ownership and control of their data, enhanced privacy and a better overall mobile experience including their ability to monetize it.

Phinge through its upcoming patented Netverse App-less technology platform with proprietary AI, will be a better, safer, verified and rewarding alternative platform and technology for users and third party businesses and developers to today's App stores, operating systems and ecosystems of Apple, Google and Android.

Netverse will not be an App or Super App that resides on the major technology platforms of today.

Instead, it will be a standalone, all-in-one, app-less platform, accessible only through Phinge's revolutionary, patented, Mobile Hardware which includes Magnetically Attachable/Detachable Phones, Tablets, Mobile Gaming Systems and peripherals like the stylish, wireless earbuds with interchangeable batteries and built-in sensor screens for continuous usage without recharging and Smart Watches that never need to be charged as they come with stylish external, interchangeable bezels with built~in rechargeable batteries and come in a variety of colors, patterns and finishes.

Netverse will be a verified, centralized-decentralized platform.

Centralized in the way it provides universal safeguards through verification of all users, businesses, organizations, entities and IP through Phinge's patented Netverse technologies and hardware.

Centralized because Phinge and Netverse will be compliant with all government regulations regarding data and privacy.

Decentralized because all thirty party platforms will be compliant with all government regulations regarding data and privacy as soon as they are verified and join Netverse.

Decentralized because its users, businesses, organizations and entities will have the power to live, work and thrive in a verified world.

Netverse will benefit all verified users and approved, verified third party businesses, developers and platforms on Netverse in ways not possible with today's technology including total verification of all users, businesses, organizations, platforms and entities.