Smart wristbands used within famous Ibiza establishments

Well-known establishments, part of the famous Ibiza island are stepping up their game in terms of adopting unique technologies to enhance guest experiences. The so-called ‘smart very important bracelets’ (VIB), successfully passed the trial period and convinced decision makers that it’s the way to go. Even if these smart wristbands were introduced a while ago on the island, the Hard Rock Hotel and Ushuaia Ibiza Beach Hotel take a different approach by using it in their hospitality and event environments.

These properties are known as the places to stay, party, dine and relax during the summer season in Ibiza. The Ushuaia Beach Hotel, also called ‘The Unexpected Hotel’ because of its unparalleled entertainment offering, events production and technology initiatives, presents the ideal opportunity for such exclusive solutions to be implemented. It all started with the introduction of a biometric technology that enabled guests to complete purchases with their fingerprints. In 2014, these two famous establishments, part of the same hotel group, decided to replace the biometric PayTouch  system with the so-called ‘wearable technology’ or VIB. This wearable technology takes it a step further, replacing the need of carrying a room key, a wallet or a mobile phone on site.

How is this technology impacting the user experience and purchase behavior within the famous Ibiza establishments?

Room Access

The radio frequency chip incorporated inside the smart wristband is replacing the traditional room key. It is nearly impossible to lose it or forget it, since guests wear it all the time. To unlock the room, guests simply place the bracelet against specially enabled readers. The technology is already there. Most five-star hotels and resorts have these special readers already incorporated right under the doorknob.

Access to different areas (VIP)

Ibiza is the type of destination where influential people, such as celebrities, famous actors and artists choose to spend their days off. Celebrities seek personalized experiences and value their moments of privacy, especially during their time off. The smart wristbands are designed to store access credentials for individual guests. Access to restricted areas such as the VIP lounge, spa or pool is simply verified with a tap of the wrist in a matter of seconds. There is no need to assign hotel staff in those areas, since the process is fully automated.

Payment Tool

The famous establishments use smart wristbands as a payment tool, replacing cash or credit/debit cards. Fancy a drink at the pool or in a club? The bracelets are waterproof, and guests can shop their favorite cocktails even while taking a break from swimming. How does it work? Upon arrival, the hotel sends out a newsletter to individual guests and instructs them on how to sync their PayPal account with the bracelet. From then on, the smart wristband works in a prepaid fashion, automatically topping up every time the balance goes below 10 EUR.

Tracking (footfall)

To find out behavior and preferences regarding hotel services, the adopted technology by Ibiza establishments proves to be very efficient. The smart wristbands can track individual guests around the hotel premises, enabling decision makers to allocate staff accordingly during peak hours.

Discounts at on-site facilities

The tracking feature is also used to offer personalized promotions and discounts. Since decision makers have access to purchase behavior and preferences, identifying the loyal guests is fairly easy. For example, if an individual is using the spa facilities quite often, a special discount or even a free massage session might be offered in exchange.

Here at Oveit, our dedicated team believes that its ‘Economy as a Service’ approach could revolutionize the hotel and hospitality segments. The hospitality environment is among those that can take advantage of our extended features, designed to shape a different kind of relationship with its guests.

foto presenting an NFC chip wristband branded with Oveit
March 23, 2020 Economy as a Service, Events, Festivals, Oveit Features, Technology, Uncategorized No comments yet

Oveit partners with Crypto.com to enable crypto payments for events and venues

We are announcing our partnership with Crypto.com, the pioneering payments and cryptocurrency platform. For the past months we have been working closely with the Crypto.com Pay team to provide events and venues an easy way to accept payment in cryptocurrency.

With Crypto.com Pay event planners and venue managers can accept crypto payments in BTC, ETH, LTC, XRP and CRO. If they do not want to be exposed to market volatility, payments in cryptocurrency can be converted to the fiat currency of their choice. This means that visitors can pay in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Crypto.com Coin or Ethereum, and event planners can retain the cryptocurrencies or have them converted to fiat currency such as USD or EUR.

Transactions are powered by the Crypto.com’s CCSS Level 3, ISO27001:2013 and PCI:DSS 3.2.1, Level 1 compliant platform. Crypto.com Pay Checkout safeguards customer payment data, providing event organizers peace of mind while offering customers the option to pay in cryptocurrencies. 

How can event planners use cryptocurrency payments?

Using Oveit’s integration of Crypto.com Pay, event planners and venues can accepts crypto payments in one or more ways:

  • Sell tickets to events or venues.
  • Sell add-ons to tickets: e.g. an event t-shirt, beverages or access to the VIP area in the event, all packed in the same ticket.
  • Allow digital wallets top-ups that can be used in-venue: Oveit offers event planners and venues the option to set up an in-venue economy . In the venue digital wallets can be used with local vendors by simply tapping an NFC wristband, showing QR codes or via biometric payments (face payments).

To celebrate this partnership and help event planners adopt this new payment technology we are waiving all fees for Crypto.com Pay transactions until the end of 2020. Crypto.com has announced customers making payments using Crypto.com Pay to events powered by Oveit will receive up to 10% cashback in CRO in their Crypto.com App wallet from now till 31 Jul 2020.

To find out more about the offerings of Crypto.com, please visit www.crypto.com.


About Oveit

Oveit provides Economy as a Service tools for events, venues and smart communities. Using Oveit event planners can sell tickets, manage registration and access control and set up cashless payments in their venues. 

Oveit’s distributed ledger technology creates an Edge Payments (payments at the edge of the cloud) ecosystem that is fast, secure, and always on. Visitors can top up a digital wallet and use it for a customized purchasing experience. Oveit helps events, retail companies and hospitality venues to onboard vendors and buyers, track visitor behavior both online and offline and increase revenue. 

About Crypto.com

Crypto.com was founded in 2016 on a simple belief: it’s a basic human right for everyone to control their money, data and identity. With over 1 million users on its platform today, Crypto.com provides a powerful alternative to traditional financial services, turning its vision of “cryptocurrency in every wallet” into reality, one customer at a time. Crypto.com is built on a solid foundation of security, privacy and compliance and is the first cryptocurrency company in the world to have CCSS Level 3, ISO27001:2013 and PCI:DSS 3.2.1, Level 1 compliance. Crypto.com is headquartered in Hong Kong with a 200+ strong team. For more information, please visit www.crypto.com.

March 23, 2020 Event management, Event tech, Events No comments yet

Organizing events with millennials in mind

Millennials or Generation Y as others like to call them, were born between 1982 and 2000. In the US, millennials represent half of the people in employment and are the largest generation in the country’s workforce. At a global level, this exclusive club of 1.8bn people account for roughly a quarter of the world’s population.

According to a recent study, this generation cares more about experiences and is less materialistic in nature. The event industry is all about delivering memorable experiences and organizers must get creative to retain millennials for future editions.

Entertain millennials through technology

Millennials are tech-savvy and expect to attend events that embrace technology. Begin with the simple things that make a big difference, such as registration. The registration process should be mobile friendly and paperless. In 2018, 58% of online traffic came from mobile devices, while 42% from desktop. Generation Y has a big contribution to these numbers, with mobile devices being the preferred way for web surfing. Forget about physical tickets and send them electronically.

Instead of printing out brochures with event related information, include those details into a branded mobile app. The App can keep your audience entertained and up to date with event related news. It can be used as a networking tool as well. Face to face interactions are still a priority for this generation, despite their online presence. Allow them to match other attendees with similar interests and aspirations by using a dedicated event App.

Content quality

The average attention span is down from 12 seconds to 8 seconds according to a recent study. This is how long it takes for your audience to lose interest during a boring presentation. For organizers that focus on designing events with millennials in mind, providing entertaining content is essential. To achieve that, you can set up a pre-event discussion with the help of social media. This way, you enable your attendees to express their views and expectations. Based on their preferences, reach out to experienced speakers that deliver content in a professional and interactive manner.

Make it sustainable

Classifying as the first generation to grow in a world where climate change finds itself in a continuous debate, millennials tend to be very concerned when it comes to environmental sustainability. They admire progressive companies that take action and contribute to a better world. Your event makes no difference and should approach a sustainable culture to become a success.

Oveit is a tool that allows organizers to design events with millennials in mind. It offers a fast & secure payment alternative, a friendly registration process and on-site entertainment with a simple tap of the hand. If you want to convince yourself and give it a try, feel free to drop us a line!

March 9, 2020 Event management, Event professionals, Events, Uncategorized No comments yet

5 Tips to reduce and recycle waste at your event

Events tend to have a positive impact on the local economy and community. Smaller businesses might generate large proportions of their annual income during an event. However, besides the positive impact on the overall economy, events can also generate large amounts of waste. Therefore, organizers should start the planning process by creating a recycling and waste prevention plan to protect the local environment.

Here are 5 tips that can help event organizers recycle and reduce the amount of waste that is generated during an event:

1. Understand your waste

Identify the most common waste streams and prepare accordingly. A food carnival will certainly have different waste compared to a special event featuring livestock. Therefore, as an organizer, you should inform competent authorities and provide them with details about your upcoming event. They are the ones making sure that recyclables end up in the right place after the event. Examples of common types of waste are: plastic bottles; paper; cardboard; glass; food waste and general waste.

2. Educate your team and attendees

You should inform your participants on the where, what and whys of recycling. Train your volunteer staff and give them insights into effective recycling practices. Create a fun and challenging competition and reward your volunteers accordingly.

Inform your attendees about designated recycling areas in advance. You can send out newsletters and give brief instructions. Besides that, you can assign volunteers to offer assistance and assure that waste is sorted properly.

3. Vendors should use recyclable or compostable materials

It is important to assure that vendors use recyclable materials. They will be responsible for a large amount of the venue’s waste. Make it mandatory and include in the contract that adequate packaging and materials must be used by event vendors.

  • Recyclable materials – these materials are reused and some examples include: aluminium and steel cans, cardboard, glass, newspapers and plastic bottles.
  • Composting materials – it is a process that involves organic waste which can be used for different purposes. It gives back to the earth the materials that initially came from it. Examples of compostable materials include: fruits, vegetables, leaves, old wine and any biodegradable waste.

4. Print only necessary materials

Instead of printing out promotional materials and tickets, try to do that electronically. There are many platforms that provide solutions for that, Oveit being among them. For promotional materials, you can send out newsletters instead of brochures and flyers. However, in some situations, brochures and flyers prove to be more effective. If you decide to print, do that strategically. Do it on both sides and avoid blank spaces.

5. Clearly mark all containers for recyclables

Clear signage is essential to differentiate which materials can be recycled and where to put them. It would be a good idea to place signs high, so that your attendees can see them from distance. Use self-explanatory photos with universal symbols to assure that foreigners will have no trouble understanding the message. Besides that, provide written instructions in English and other relevant languages.

Communicate in advance with the local recycling service provider and request color-coded bins. Avoid placing recycling bins in separate areas, because it’s not convenient for your participants. Instead, place a recycle bin next to every trash can and use clear signage to differentiate them.

February 27, 2020 Concerts, Event management, Event professionals, Events, Festivals, Uncategorized No comments yet

Your event: Successful or not?

Recently, you’ve hosted an event and you feel like your hard work finally paid off. Ticket sales were above expectations and you managed to reach your goals. However, with so many stakeholders involved, it is important to evaluate the success of your event in an objective manner. Obviously, feeling good about its outcome is a great sign, but in the events industry, there is always room for improvement.  

In this article, I will go over different methods that can help organizers measure if their event was successful or if they need to make changes for future editions.

Pay attention to social media activity

In these days, it’s a given that you should be active on social media, especially if you want to promote an event. Post-event reactions coming from your attendees is the most valuable and rewarding feedback. In the end, all your hard work is centred around them with the purpose of creating memorable experiences. If you identify positive comments to your posts, such as: reactions, likes, comments or retweets, you will know for sure that your participants had a blast. Keep in mind that you should create social media content after the event to measure reactions more precisely.

Post-event surveys

Surveys are also a great method to find out opinions related to the success of your event. For relevant and truthful answers, try to keep them anonymous and don’t ask for personal details. Create questions strategically and don’t expect your participants to reply with long answers, because they won’t. Before conducting the survey, you should clearly define what you expect to get in return. For instance, dichotomous scales (‘yes’ or ‘no’) won’t help you find out if a customer was happy with an experience or not. In our case, a Likert Scale will prove to be more efficient. It is a good way to measure attitudes or feelings, therefore providing you with valuable insights.

Examples of questions that can measure the success of your event:

  • How do you rate the event location?
  • How do you rate the content that was presented?
  • What is the likelihood to recommend this event to your friends?

If attendees respond with ‘less likely’ or ‘very unlikely’, you can insert a box that allows them to elaborate on their answers.

Event ROI

ROI (return on investment) = (benefits of the investment – cost of investment) / cost of the investment. Depending on your event theme and purpose, the benefits of the investment may vary. For instance, if you aim to turn a profit from ticket and registration sales, finding the ROI is simple. However, for a company that launches a product and therefore decides to host an event, the ROI will most likely be negative. The purpose of a product launch event is to generate as many leads as possible. You should look at it as a long-term investment that will generate a return in the future and not immediately after the event.

Sponsors Satisfaction

As previously mentioned, it’s not only about your attendees. Sponsors have a great contribution to your event and their feedback can add value to future editions. On top of that, they are the ones funding your event and they can’t be neglected. It might be relatively easy to bring them in for a first edition, but more importantly is to establish a long-term relationship that results in mutual benefits. Their level of satisfaction and willingness to return is measured slightly different. Listen carefully to their constructive feedback and prove that you fully understand what needs to be different for the next event.

Define your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

A key performance indicator is a performance measurement tool designed to evaluate the success of a business and its particular activities. The KPIs for measuring event success will be different based on your pre-defined goals and objectives.

The KPIs covered in this article apply for most events. However, for specific objectives, you might have to establish additional indicators.

February 21, 2020 Event management, Event professionals, Events, Uncategorized No comments yet