Hotels, restaurants and other businesses in the travel industry are seeing a boost in customer traffic thanks to What3Words, a global addressing system, said Richards Lewis, Partnership Director of Travel and Tourism for What3Words.Â
What 3 Words divides the world into 3 meter by 3 meter squares and furnishes each square with a unique three-word address, like "table. chair. spoon," said Lewis at the ITB Conference in Berlin.Â
"What3Words saves businesses and travelers time by providing a precise point of entry â€" like a hard to find restaurant door or the right stadium entrance for a ticket," said Lewis.Â
"The system works universally in every city in the world in the exact same way â€" and it's free to use" he said.Â
That means it can be used even in cities like Dubai that don't give conventional alpha-numeric addresses to buildings and businesses. Even smaller destinations that lack an address or even a name can take part.
"Three word addresses have been used by people to share the location of food markets they visited in Marrakesh that don't have a name," said Lewis.
What 3 Words is already partnering with players in the travel and hospitality industry to supply three-word addresses to landmarks, businesses and other points of interest, he added. Â
Rental apartments on sites like Airbnb are frequently more difficult for travelers to find than larger, conventional hotels, said Lewis
"So we work with Airbnb in a new service called Airsorted that gives a three-word address for every Airbnb accommodation around the world â€" that directs travelers right to the door of their Airbnb rental," said Lewis.Â
Certain hotel chains in the United Kingdom are likewise now supplying three-word addresses to room reservations when their customers book online.
Travelers and other users are also beginning to utilize three-word addresses to share locations, even natural landmarks without a conventional address, on social media.Â
"That way photographers can share their three word address on Instagram to show followers where they stood to take pictures," said Lewis. Â
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