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business, virtual realityOctober 28, 2019

Report Shows Risks and Detriments of Virtual and Augmented Reality

A report by Accenture disclosed a number of companies that started to implement extended reality (XR) technology, among them are virtual tours and augmented reality. The report entitled "Waking Up to a New Reality: Building a Responsible Future for Immersive Technologies" highlights not only the opportunities that they provide but also the dangers and risks that are encumbered. The authors of the report stated that aside from its threats to privacy the technology may also be detrimental to mental health.

Same as cloud computing and artificial intelligence, XR technology’s value is dependent on data gathering and interpretation. The difference is that with XR technology the data is highly personal. That means that when we use of AR applications we expose a substantial amount of personal data; the most popular of such apps are those that power the filters of Snapchat and Facebook. These are the apps that collect our biometric data once we show our face. The data includes facial expressions, speech information, and even retina patterns. Some apps of this kind can capture everything that the user hears or sees like those devices that involve the use of headsets. Examples of these are Google Glass or Microsoft’s Hololens.

It can be risky to let the kids play with different apps. Furthermore, no matter how much assurance the social media sites give online users that their systems are secure and that user privacy is highly respected you simply cannot tell who can access the app and what they do with your data which there can gather.

According to Rori Duboff, content innovation department head at Accenture Interactive, the users must know what will happen to their data particularly if it is more personal and sensitive. They have to be aware of the data will be used to enhance the user experience of the app or if it is stored for other purposes.

Some patterns suit this concern of users. Some users opt to turn off their location services out of fear that they are exposed constantly. Users often share data on their behavior and movements which can be easily used to steal their identities. Currently, the XR technology is immersed in gaming but it has already started getting into the socialization realm.

VR technology is used today in such a way that blurs the barrier between what is virtual and what is real. We use avatars for payment; VR and AR are often used for training and monitoring on-the-job performance of employees.

Another risk involving AI and VR is that prolonged exposure may lead to problems in mental health. Internet addiction is one aspect. Another is the young people’s widespread use of social media. Young people use social media as a refuge from reality. They also tend to measure their self-worth according to the number of likes and follows on social media sites.

Another danger to the use of AR and VR apps is online radicalization. More evidence shows that being overexposed online can lead to extremist views or even terrorist actions. It used to be that users view the world as one dimension but today with VR and AR technology it has become more complicated.

Duboff advised that it would be necessary to not only focus on the transformative impact of these technologies in society today but also to take note of the possible risks and dangers that go with them.

Virtual tours and other application of XR technology are significant. If you want to know more about the uses of virtual tours, visit Virtual Tour Easy.

virtual reality, Virtual ToursOctober 21, 2019

The Booming Virtual Technology: Top 9 Industries That Uses Virtual Reality

Virtual reality has unexpected uses in various industries. Most people think that it can only be applied in gaming, entertainment, and movies like those in Ready Player One. However, there's more than that. The following are the top industries that benefit the most from this type of technology:

1. Construction and Real Estate

When it comes to construction and design, people can be easily persuaded when they see the end product. Virtual tours are perfect for visualization. Studies revealed that 75 percent of online users prefer to view a virtual tour before they decide to buy. Through virtual reality, it is possible to look around the property and even oversee its construction or add furnishings and do some changes in the design without being in the actual location. Architects and designers also benefit more from virtual reality. It is easier for them to visualize the construction plan and to check for any possible mistakes and to share professional opinions with colleagues.

Lost In Reality — Photographer: Matthew Kwong | Source: Unsplash

2. Sports

People love sports. Millions of people around the world watch live events online or watch races on TV. Some services broadcast live events on 360-degree cameras. This enables everyone to witness the event as if they were in the actual game. Professional athletes also use virtual reality for training. Ski members can use virtual sessions to practice for the Winter Olympics in Korea. It may also be used by players for post-trauma rehabilitation.

3. Retail

VR is a superb tool to attract more customers in the retail industry and to increase profits. Seventy percent of customers expressed their interest in doing virtual shopping. There are new experiences that virtual reality can provide customers from the ability to try on clothes from the shop without leaving the home to decorating a dining area that’s not even created yet. VR is highly applicable and scalable.

4. Automotive

A 360 virtual tour has just started in the automotive industry. It is possible to create a concept and design a manufacturing line using virtual information. Ford has an immersive vehicle environment which enables engineering forces from different countries to combine and produce a design and simulate the assembly process. Other automotive companies focus on virtual user experience, allowing customers to test-drive virtually.

5. Education

There are many interesting and efficient applications of a 360 virtual tour in education. The education process is made more interactive and informative through simulators and immersive workshops. In general, VR enhances the engagement of students and the efficiency of the education process.

People from various industries use virtual simulation to upgrade their professional skills. This technology aids people in handling dangerous and critical situations such as firefighters, military, doctors, etc. VR also makes it possible for training and workshops to be highly engaging and more innovative.

VR Painting @ Trailerpark I/O — Photographer: Billetto Editorial | Source: Unsplash

6. Film and Entertainment

It started with a 3D image and then it led to the interactive film. We can expect to find more virtual reality cinemas in the future. This new experience where the storyline and the viewer both become elements of the movie is called cinematic VR. This is based on 360-degree videos taken with the use of a special camera. Many companies use VR technology to present their products in a different twist.

7. Tourism

Tourism just like real estate can gain the best advantage through using VR technology as a visualization tool. Travel agencies can showcase destinations better compared to the use of brochures. Thomas Cook used a 360-degree virtual tour to convince people to travel more which increased bookings. Virtual reality can also be used in museums and art galleries such as the British Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art that used 360-degree video excursions to show their artifacts to the people.

8. Marketing and Advertising

Consumers today no longer respond to traditional advertising. It is virtual reality that can make them awed. It offers a great means for consumers to have a different experience of interacting with the brand. There are multiple ways to use VR for advertising. Every brand has creative ideas and brand-new solutions. It can be used to tell the story of the company and how the product came about. It can also be used to provide entertainment for a summer collection for instance. VR offers marketers a lot of opportunities to create and keep their customers interested.

Photographer: stephan sorkin | Source: Unsplash

9. Health Care

Virtual reality in health care can benefit both doctors and patients. Patients can receive therapy through VR applications which will do away with phobia and fears. Some solutions can help in sharing knowledge and experiences such as emergency training, virtual surgeries, and also VR anatomy apps. You can also have a live stream of an operation. There are many possibilities in VR technology application when it comes to health care. Perhaps in the future, it may not be necessary to go anywhere to get checked by a physician.

There are many uses of virtual tours and virtual reality. If you want to get started on using this technology, you can create your account on Virtual Tour Easy for free! Sign up today.

restaurant, virtual realityOctober 17, 2019

This Restaurant Chain Starts Training Employees Using VR | Find Out Why!

A standard practice in the foodservice industry is to have new hires sit through a training session and Honeygrow, a fast-food chain that specializes in stir-fry and salads follows the same procedure with their recruits. Cleaning up messes, stocking the fridge, and preparing menu items are topics discussed in the training. With that said, applicants don’t necessarily need to don aprons or follow someone’s footsteps to know the ropes. They don’t also need to sit through a safety video or focus their attention on a thick handbook. They use VR.

Applicants are given a Honeygrow location tour made possible through a virtual reality headset which allows them to have a 360-degree view of the surroundings while hearing from founder and CEO Justin Rosenberg about company values. The same immersive and engaging training experience is provided across Honeygrow’s 17 (and counting) locations.

Many of the new recruits have already been exposed to some of the VR training features during their interviews and are ready for training. Honeygrow collaborated with Philadelphia-based Klip Collective to use this experience as a recruitment tool with their virtual tours.

Recruits will be able to immerse themselves in a game in which they virtually stock an animated walk-in refrigerator as they watch real-life employees in action with Honeygrow’s VR training. The game is fully realized with ambiance and music that plays corresponding animal sounds which users input through remote control with falling confetti to reward players for completing the game.

It should be noted that Honeygrow is not the sole retail company that has integrated VR to employee onboarding. Walmart, for example, has shown interest in incorporating the technology into its 200 training academies in early June of 2017 from which more than 140,000 associates graduate annually by the end of the said year. Walmart worked hand in hand with Strivr, a VR research and development startup that was formed out of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab. According to its Website, Strivr utilizes VR to improve the overall performance of athletes, brands, and organizations. A 30 percent increase in the ability to recall topics is what NFL quarterbacks who trained with Strivr have experienced, which is quite impressive.

Even though Walmart does not usually release data with regard to the result of its VR training pilot program, a company spokesperson has disclosed information that they have received significant results enough for them to expand the program. The company was able to notice a huge improvement in both the retention of the material as well as engagement with the content.

In early May, Honeygrow began rolling their VR training out for testing. The company has been keeping track of what percentage of its managers were certified on several categories within its training program even before adding VR. As a result, Honeygrew received an increase of team members who were certified of culture from 50 to 77 percent just within 30 days of implementing VR technology.

You may also start training your employees through virtual tours. Virtual Tour Easy is a virtual tour creator that can help you create interactive virtual tours in just a few seconds. Try creating one today!

Lifestyle, virtual realityOctober 14, 2019

Your Next Vacation Won’t be as Dull as Before Because of Virtual Tour Technology: Learn Why!

Through technology, travel destinations reach travelers faster and closer and it helps them experience the place before they even book. The virtual tour replicates not only the sights but also the smells and sounds in the area.

Your mobile phone can offer you possible destinations based on your most recent searches, preferences, and travels. You can come up with a shortlist and search engines will prompt you to go on a virtual tour using a quick response code to be scanned in any virtual reality destination. Here you can conference with a friend and tour a scenic destination. You will be able to choose flights, hotel rooms, and packages using the virtual tour. All you have to do is link your biometric systems for you to use it for customs, airline check-in, and hotel check-in. You can also pay through your crypto account using coins, cash, and points.

Generations Y and Z are more tech-savvy and 60 percent of them are more likely to choose a travel destination using social media instead of paid ads. The sharing economy also came into the picture and that’s why companies like Airbnb and BlaBlaCar have become game-changers.

Virtual Tours Bring Seamless Experiences

The journey of a traveler who uses virtual tours has been changed mainly due to his or her desire to have seamless experiences, personalization, reliance on peer-based feedback, and instant gratification. Such travelers are growing. According to statistics from The World Tourism Organization by 2030, there will be 1.8 billion international trips.

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality is currently used for language simply by pointing smart phone cameras at words, routing, and navigation. This is the basis for the interactive New York Subway map.

Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet has an impact on the discovery and booking processes through the voice-enabled Alexa search, Kayak, and Booking.com. Guests can also have keyless digital entry to hotel rooms, baggage tracking and notification, seamless integration of your own gadgets and interconnected hotel room devices.

Artificial Intelligence

AI-driven engines are more inclined to learn consumer behavior. The more information AI gets from you, the better the recommendations it can provide with more economic and emotional benefits to the providers. Mobility app, Mobacar, makes use of machine learning for predicting the mode of transport and the type of vehicle a traveler may prefer and pushes only the relevant offers.

Metalhead — Photographer: Franck V. | Source: Unsplash

Biometrics

Biometrics can help in the identification documents such as passports through the use of fingerprints, facial, or iris recognition used in customs, hotels, and airlines.

Blockchain

The entire travel chain has been changed by Blockchain as it increases disintermediation and democratization. It can remove the intermediaries and balance the bargaining power in online travel agencies and inventory owners. Travala is one example of this. It is a travel booking marketplace that ledgerizes and decentralizes the hospitality industry which enables users to add rooms as supported by smart contracts.

Robotics

This technology is used for automating tasks that are monotonous. You can have consumer service robots and digital concierge and social robots. These can answer queries on predeparture gates, directing passengers to restaurants they prefer, or to help them access the Wi-Fi.

The New Age Customer

The customer is evolving today and he or she has been pampered by the services offered by travel intermediaries and the rise of other inventory providers such as digital tours and tour guides, online travel aggregators, and metasearch agencies. Hotels and inventory owners no longer have much bargaining powers due to the huge online travel agencies. Airline loyalty programs don’t have that much influence on travelers anymore. A good deal on a particular platform can help shift loyalties.

The landscape of hospitality and travel industries will offer an opportunity for alliances which allow for a new and sustainable ecosystem to be set up. Boundaries are being blurred and partnerships have emerged. Travelers are expected to gain more value for their travel money, and they will be pampered with multiple options due to innovations.

If you want to learn more about the value and uses of a virtual tour, you can contact us. You can also create your own virtual tour for free. Sign up today!

virtual realityOctober 10, 2019

Real Estate and Architecture: Top Industries Where Immersive Tech Flourished

Almost every creative field including architecture has been radically changed with the help of virtual reality. The field of real estate and architecture embraced immersive tech in just a short amount of time since its inception a few years ago. Many consider it to be an invaluable tool, helping relay a property design.

Architects and their respective clients can work as true collaborators during the design phase of their projects with the help of the technology promptly. Having a fully-visualized interior before deciding the fine details makes it possible to create a property walkthrough pre-build. Its novelty has worn off, but the technology stays relevant, becoming a groundbreaking resource in the design, communication, and property trade. Let us look at what role immersive technology plays in changing the work and function of architects.

State of the Art Visualization

There is a story in every building an architect creates. The functionality and purpose of the property need to be cohesive, and this can be seen in how architects tell their stories, bringing them to life through paintings. Drawings, 3D models, and 2D digital simulations were often the visual narratives architects use to relay information to their clients. Although these methods are proven to work, their scope is somewhat limited as this does not allow an individual to truly immerse themselves inside the property.

Things changed for the better in the introduction of VR, this having the ability to immerse an individual into a projected building, giving a much clearer overview of its layout. Architects can save a fair amount of time and resources with the help of this immersive tool. VR has poised itself as a discovery tool with its ability to find design flaws earlier before breaking ground. The option to explore and have a feel for the interior and exterior of a property is available from the get-go as if the individual steps inside the building. Things can also be easily changed if there are elements that do not go well to the overall value of the building.

Collaboration with Its Design

Architects, interior designers, and clients can work hand in hand to complete on design through virtual and augmented reality. The process itself can be troublesome and can consume a considerable amount of time, but it is something that should not be overlooked. Changing layouts, adding windows, doors, and hallways all from a headset is a welcome change and at the same time helps cut downtime and fees when done through free virtual tours.

An Effective Training Tool

VR provides timely information of a property to potential clients while at the same time the future generation of architects will be able to use the lessons administered within the tool. VR has become a staple tool in the field of medical, automotive as well as architecture and real estate due to the teaching tools it provides.

Helps Seal the Deal

The final step passed on to a real estate agent is selling the vision of the company and its property. Back then, building completion is what agents will be waiting before they are allowed to step in and build out a selling strategy and messaging points. The process, however, is streamlined through VR. Now real estate agents can get a headstart on finding the perfect client as they will be able to get an early preview of the final product.

Now that you know the importance of a virtual tour builder in many industries you can start creating your own. Check on Virtual Tour Easy for an easier process.

real estate, virtual realitySeptember 23, 2019

Virtual Staging Adds Real Impact to Multifamily Marketers

To provide a realistic sense of a home or an apartment unit’s potential, it is important to ensure virtual staging. Multifamily developers try to rely heavily on this tech-driven method to set them off from the residential properties. Virtual staging requires the integration of immersive elements and 3D components. There is a long list of techniques to choose from when it comes to real estate marketing, but most marketers choose augmented reality and virtual reality.

Augmented reality is expected to become a $133.78 billion business by the year 2021. Virtual reality and augmented reality enable renters and property buyers to visualize the property they want to buy. According to the National Association of Realtors, 77 percent of the buyers expressed that it was easier for them to buy a home by going through staging by virtual tours.

The following are some of the best benefits of virtual home staging:

Allowing for More Interactive Experiences

The usage of virtual tours and augmented reality in virtual staging is high. These enable property buyers to have a more realistic experience of the properties while the developers can bring virtual staging to a higher level. It enables future owners of the property to walk around and experience the property personally.

Buyers can also shop while virtually roaming around the property by clicking on the furnishings and properties that they can find while on tour. Virtual reality and augmented reality enable multifamily marketers to showcase their portfolios to diverse markets.

Can Help Cut Cost

Virtual staging helps increase profits from real estate properties. It also aids in cost-cutting. Physically staging a home can be expensive. With virtual staging, it only costs as much as the furniture being delivered. Virtual staging can also replace the model units which can be rented or sold to add more to the profits. The average amount of expenses reaches $20,000 to $24,000. This is based on the monthly expenses of renting a one-bedroom unit as a model.

Many Staging Options Available

Virtual staging is highly scalable which makes it easy for developers of multifamily properties to market various properties, each with unique characteristics and features. Each type of property will be ready for virtual interaction with property buyers. Virtual staging can feature an open-floor concept with minimal designs. Another unit may be more opulent with grand entrances and statement details.

If you are thinking of starting a virtual tour for staging a property soon, you can get a free virtual tour when you sign up to Virtual Tour Easy.

real estate, virtual realitySeptember 16, 2019

Newest Technology Trends Shaping Cities in the Future

Thirty percent of the total amount of energy consumed by the world comes from the commercial and industrial structures. It requires smart systems for building construction to help control climate change. Innovations in technologies involving the built environment are slow to come by compared to other industries. Across a lot of regions, cities are trying to test different ways to improve air quality, reduce traffic congestion, and to be able to supply clean and sustainable energy to the residents. The following are the top trends that shape the future of the built environment as discussed by experts in the field:

Pop-Up 3D-Printed Houses

3D printing is the more affordable, faster, and a highly innovative means of building in the construction industry. It is not impossible to see 3D printed houses becoming mainstream in the next few years. Using 3D printing, construction time could be cut short by hours to weeks. Customized components are likely to become cheaper as well. The best advantage of 3D printing is that it allows for more temporary and flexible accommodation. The idea is for people to be able to build homes in 24 hours and stay there for a couple of years. In 2018, the technologies construction company Icon came up with the first 3D-printed home in the US. This year the company aims for a first 3D printed community.

Co-living and Co-working Spaces on the Rise

Co-working and co-living spaces have been revolutionizing the property market. This sharing economy has been constantly on the rise. Many service tenants and buyers are always looking for more flexible and affordable residency options. When it comes to the co-living market, real estate startups have been dominating it. These startups are known as Proptech companies. These companies develop space-efficient, tech-ready, and affordable for professionals and students who prefer co-living. The whole process from booking to generating a contract is done online. This means that anyone can simply book online and move into a flat share. Utilities and Wi-Fi are included in the setup.

One of these Proptech companies is Medici. Medici offers an apartment and hotel hybrid units which can include en-suite bedrooms with kitchens, laundry areas, living areas, gyms, and workspaces that are communal. Buildings erected by Medici have weekly networking events and an app that residents can use to book comprehensive services and use smart-living technologies. Another company WeWork offers super sleep workspaces in Manhattan including all amenities from IT services and coffee. This follows the community model which enables tenants to network with entrepreneurs and innovators.

Electromobility for Smart Cities

Berlin is a smart city and it has committed to let out 1 million electric vehicles on the road on 2022. You can find electric cars around Berlin with different charging stations around the city. You can easily find e-bikes and e-scooters around Berlin. E-buses are also currently tested. Electric vehicles offer drivers cleaner and more affordable transport particularly when cars are charged with renewable energy. Smart cities are also encouraged the electrify public transportation.

Big Data Use in Building Maintenance

In the next decade it is expected for buildings to run on a digital backbone that can control and measure all the facets of the structure. An intelligent building starts from the construction phase when a sensor is built in each brick which in turn will make the house a data-collection mechanism. This almost translates to automating building maintenance. You can easily notice when a new roof or certain parts of the house will be rebuilt. This technology can also be extended to cities that use data for revolutionizing their spaces. Sensor data can help control almost anything from monitoring parking spaces, full trash bins, and intelligent streetlights. Cities may also have automatic irrigation and transportation systems.

Photographer: Jonathan Chng | Source: Unsplash

Eco-friendly Smart Buildings

An eco-friendly smart building today is nothing like those in the past. You can find buildings that can purify the city air and housing developments that create more energy instead of simply consuming it. Smart buildings have some common elements such as intelligent energy systems for controlling temperature, security, and air quality, recyclable construction materials, and renewable energy sources. Andreas Koster, from Garamantis which is an interactive digital installation firm, said that various buildings in the future will ensure that various sensors are placed in each room. This enables the management to control the settings and maximize the use of energy.

VR Site Visits

The traditional use of pencil and paper in building design is still dominant in real estate but it is slowly changing with the help of technologies such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence. The entire structure of the building can be visited like in its actual physical space through a virtual tour. Virtual Tour Easy enables companies to create a virtual tour in just five minutes. This will enable you to enter the structure, look around, turn your head and head on to the next room. It gives you the complete sensation of being in the building yourself. This is advantageous to property buyers who barely have time to travel.

As a real estate agent, you can use these trends to help build a more productive community. Start by using the virtual tour for your property listings. Contact us here for more information.

real estate, virtual realitySeptember 9, 2019

A Highly Advanced Tech That Changed the Real Estate and Construction Industry

During the housing market crash in 2008, an entrepreneur plunged into the real estate industry without buying properties. Glenn Sanford started eXp Realty which is the first cloud-based real estate brokerage.

The eXp Realty built its mega-campus virtually with the help of VirBELA. The company showed the impact of a dematerialized workspace. It cut down the cost and also redefined the term “real estate.” After 10 years, eXp Realty already has 14,000 agents across 50 US states and in 3 provinces in Canada without the company setting up a physical office.

Virtual reality and Artificial Intelligence or AI have been working hand in hand to revolutionize the entire real estate and construction industry. That’s why you have flying cities and driverless cars. They are also removing the middleman in the process. A forecast for the global construction industry is for it to surpass 12.9 trillion dollars in 2022. Last year’s total value of the housing market in the US was $33.3 trillion.

Even today, location is still the primary consideration with regard to finding the right property. The limitations of land increased the cost of land, and urbanization has continuously caused problems. Today there are two mechanisms that are known to have been driving the creation of brand-new locations: floating cities and flying cars or autonomous electric vehicles.

Floating Cities

These are offshore habitation hubs. This has been seen as a solution to the rise of sea levels. If this becomes a success, this will entail abundance in real estate, recreation, commerce, education, and scenic living. A good example of this is the Oceanix City which was created by the Oceanix BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group. This would be a galaxy made up of hexagonal floating modules which are built as satellite cities of the coastal urban locations and run by renewable energies.

A 4.5-acre platform can sustain 300 people. The hexagonal modules are linked to the 75-acre tessellations that can sustain up to 75,000 residents. They are anchored to the ocean floor with the use of biorock. Electric boats and flying cars will bring you to work. Meals will be supplied by vertical and outdoor farming. Share economies will provide the goods.

On Sunday, I was exploring my girlfriend’s workplace business centre in Bangsar South City, Kuala Lumpur. Come to my surprise there was nobody in the area and I have my camera with me back in my car. The idea of the photo was initially making her looked like she is dancing in the sky, it was until she was starting to land on the ground I took another chance to take another picture. I find it looked like she is floating in the air, took some edit and this seems to be the best photo I took. — Photographer: Marque Tan | Source: Unsplash

Flying Cars or Autonomous Electric Vehicles

With today’s real estate properties, location is valuable when the property is near the workplace, the best schools, or the business district. This will all change when you have driverless cars that will bring you to the workplace. There will also be autonomous ride-sharing services that will do away with parking problems and will remove you from the steering wheel. You can also choose to go via aerial taxis. Uber has plans of setting up the UberAIR airborne taxi project. By 2023, it will roll out its first drones in Dallas and Los Angeles. Drones flying over the rooftops would be able to accommodate passengers at 1,000 to 2,000 feet at about 100 to 200 mph speed.

The Disappearance of the Middle-Man

Buyers would aim for a continuous and personalized preference-tracking that can only be provided by an AI. Over the next decade, AI will be the agent while VR acts as the medium. Around 98 percent of the home searches would be conducted right from one’s couch through the use of a virtual tour. When you have keyed in all your preferences, the AI will seek for the best fits to your search.

There would also be new construction materials to use in the next decade namely the nanomaterials, upcycle materials, and the self-healing infrastructure. If you want to know more about how VR, AI, and how virtual tours can help you improve your business, you may visit Virtual Tour Easy

hotel, marketing, restaurant, virtual realitySeptember 2, 2019

Best Uses of Virtual Reality in the Hospitality Industry

Many operators in the hospitality industry take the virtual reality that seriously. They all found out the benefits and applications of the tool to be far-reaching. Today the hospitality industry is looking past the novelty value of VR and AR or augmented reality. They are thoroughly trying to weigh all the benefits of immersive technology towards the owners, customers, and all the employees.

IHG

There are several uses of VR in various hotels. At IHG, the VR solution is used primarily for the design development process. It helps them save time and money and enhances their relationships with the hotel owners. The group used to have physical pilot rooms for testing design schemes. It cost the company €100,000. Now with the use of virtual reality, they were able to come up with virtual concept hotel. This enables to look around the hotel and its design regardless of their position and even when they are under the bed.

They produced one single 3D model that makes use of a virtualization system which is called Unreal Engine. This means that a single design change can update all the other related design production assets such as images, 360 virtual tours, and VR. The greatest benefit that IHG gained from the program is engagement with all the current and prospective owners. It has also helped in validating the results of current and future guest research wherein VR is a primary instrument which reduced the requirement for expensive physical piloting programs.

Hilton

Hilton, on the other hand, has a different VR approach. It makes use of creating immersive environments for the corporate staff to understand fully what everyday life is for all the employees. Through the use of the Oculus Rift goggles which are linked with a laptop for high-end gaming. Customers can go around the hotel and its different departments and at the same time users are also asked to join in three operational tasks: creating a room service tray, cleaning a guest room, and checking the rewards program list found at the front desk. The result of the pilot program is positive with 87 percent of the participants saying that they now appreciate and have better empathy for team members who work in the hotel and 78 percent of them anticipating that this will have an effect on the work they do within the office. The program is set to be applied globally.

Hard Rock Hotel Ibiza

Hard Rock Hotel Ibiza is the real example of a customer-facing VR where dinner is served at €1,500 per head and guests are offered multisensory 14-course extravaganza. This includes a simulation of what a party would be like in 2050. Certain technologies are used. One is e-spoon which offers a 3D animation of a snack giving the diners more nutritional information about the food they are eating. Another technology is the leap motion technology which enables the guests to lift the snack using virtual hands and tasting it in a completely virtual environment. There are also guest-facing VR that can be found nationwide. This enables guests to see the arrival in real-time in different areas of the hotel.

Tree By Naked

In Japan, food connoisseurs can now dine at the Tree By Naked, a virtual reality restaurant. Here you can find a fusion of multiple Japanese dishes from Ryotaro Muramatsu, the creator of Naked Inc. Experience dining in a building with a facade filled with elaborate projection displays and adorned with many 3D elements.

With all the options for technology, the first question that a hotelier has to ask is if it has to be a VR. You have to think if you are solving a problem or you are in fact creating a problem that does not exist. It is also important to consider first and foremost the quality of output. It’s not enough that you are first to use a particular technology. It doesn’t matter anymore these days. It is also crucial to consider the budget since you are not only spending for the virtual reality product but also for the equipment needed for the guests, employees, and owners to experience the virtual product.

Hotel owners and managers and key players in the hospitality industry can create their own virtual tour with ease and minimal cost through the software Virtual Tour Easy. The software has many free features, and it’s user-friendly. Check the site for more information.

virtual realityAugust 23, 2019

Tokyo Hotel Now Offers “Superior Cockpit Room” with Full Sized Flight Simulator

The Haneda Excel Hotel has installed a full-sized flight simulator inside one of the hotel rooms. Hotel guests will be able to book for a 90-minute simulator experience for $277, complete with a flight instructor. An additional amount of $234 must be paid to book the entire cockpit room. This development is inspired by its location which is near Haneda’s Airport Terminal 2. The Superior Cockpit Room will be launched on July 28.

Guests can book the room for the night for $234 a night for the twin room, but guests are not allowed to lay their hands on the simulator or the instruments. Those who book for the flight will be able to experience operating a Boeing 737-800 aircraft and flying from Haneda to Itami Airport in Osaka.

This is not the first time when a brand used flight simulation as a selling point. The First Airlines restaurant opened in Tokyo and offered in-flight hotel virtual tour dining experience. It allowed guests to have a tour of the cities of New York, Paris, Rome, and Hawaii.

Diners checked in to the flight, sat in a comfortable first-rate seat, and were treated to a pre-flight safety demonstration before they dined on dishes that are similar to ones served during the flight.

Guests were treated to a four-course meal based on the cuisine of the flight destination. For New York, the meal included chopped salad, balsamic truffle sauce and cheesecake, Manhattan clam chowder, and Angus beef steak with bacon. Those who traveled to Italy enjoyed meals such as tiramisu and salmon carpaccio.

If you want to have your hotel virtual tour, all you need is the right tool. It’s not as complicated as you think. Sign up on Virtual Tour Easy today for free!

virtual reality

Report Shows Risks and Detriments of Virtual and Augmented Reality

The Booming Virtual Technology: Top 9 Industries That Uses Virtual Reality

This Restaurant Chain Starts Training Employees Using VR | Find Out Why!

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