The breakout success of the Pokemon Go app has boosted public visibility of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology. Using AR, the gaming app superimposes Pokemon images over the real-world sites where users point their phones, bringing its fantasy world to life. Businesses of all kinds, including hotels, are racing to discover innovative new ways to use AR as well as VR, which fully immerses users in an imaginary world, to attract and entertain guests.
Impressing Guests With Immersive Experiences
The buzz may also help draw more attention to current hotel projects in AR and VR marketing, entertainment and related hotel industry trends. For example, this summer also marked the expansion of the Best Western Virtual Reality Experience to all the brand’s North American properties. The Best Western project creates 360-degree videos of its properties that can be viewed online or more immersively on a VR headset. The idea is to allow potential guests to experience each property’s rooms and amenities virtually online, driving bookings by impressing them with the chain’s new look.
Worldwide shipments of virtual reality hardware will skyrocket in 2016, notes International Data Corporation, with total volumes reaching 9.6 million units. According to Statista, 44 percent of U.S. consumers are very interested in virtual reality.
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