virtual reality

real estate, virtual realityJanuary 16, 2019

A Question for Investors: Would You Buy Property without Visiting It?

High-end real estate agents said that smartphones have transformed how they do business in real estate. Wealthy people make decisions based on 360 virtual tours. Affluent foreigners spend as much as £25,000/week to rent luxury homes in London without having set foot in them.

Increasing Demand

The overseas demand for super-prime properties is high that the very affluent around the globe agree to rent properties after just viewing them on FaceTime or WhatsApp. An agent said that a South African investor agrees to rent a seven-bedroom Hampstead mansion for £12,000/week after simply watching FaceTime.

An unnamed tenant referred to by the agent as a global superstar agreed to rent a seven-bedroom terraced house that overlooks the Regent’s Park after simply watching a live video tour on his iPhone. Henry Pryor, the real estate agent, said that he went live streaming for 45 minutes. There were three properties shown and the superstar picked the seven-bedroom one.

What the Agents Have to Say

According to Pryor, the capabilities of smartphones transformed the agents’ approach to selling and site visits or lettings. Super rich clients often have the money, but they don’t have the time. Apple and the iPhone enable agents to have a client on one ear while another one is being shown around. The tenants can be anywhere around the world whether in a yacht or a mountain.

Pryor said that it is a lot of money to spend on rent, but many affluent overseas individuals prefer to rent properties for them to save on the stamp duty imposed by the government on homes owned through offshore companies.

Renting properties allows individuals to keep their privacy intact. It was known that 200 wealthy foreign investors prefer to pay more taxes than disclose their multi-million worth properties. This is seen in the rise of costly rentals in the middle of a reduction in the sale prices of prime Central London properties. The real situation is that those individuals who considered buying may now rent for four or more years and the cost is equivalent to that of the stamp duty on a comparable home. This leaves them in a better shape to buy the property given the right timing. This is according to Marcus Dixon, the head of research of LonRes. The number of high-end rentals has been increasing gradually for the last two years yet high-end rentals have become a regular thing.

Georgina Bartlett, director of Savill’s prime Central London team, revealed that she was able to let some of the most expensive properties from all over the world using only WhatsApp. According to her, it’s not only about the top-end properties but the net worth value of the buyers. These are people whose time are more worth for other things than property viewings. Bartlett said that it used to be that personal assistants or representatives are sent to do viewings on their behalf, but today they simply use advanced technology like virtual tours to do so.

real estate, virtual realityJanuary 7, 2019

What Awaits Virtual Reality in 2019 and the Future?

You must have heard of virtual reality (VR), but most of the time it is associated with computer games. The specialists in VR expect the VR to be used for different purposes. This means further associations, networking, connections, and highly immersive encounters. VR also gives us a brighter perspective as to how we progress with PC collaboration.

The Potential of VR Outside Computer Gaming

At this point, it is said that VR users have just started to break through the surface with VR technology. The developments in the interactive video and photos have made it possible for users to visit places which are not possible for them to do physically. Its primary use is in computer gaming, but it has shown great potential for business. That’s why it is used by different tech organizations namely Google, Samsung, Foxconn, Apple, Microsoft, HP, Intel, IBM, and others.

VR and Branding

Virtual reality can be used to serve the purpose of a brand or product more efficiently and also to engage the customers. It’s also through virtual reality that the consumers can be enticed by standalone product ads. It’s also through VR that products can be seen to blend with the consumers’ lifestyle which will encourage them to use them.

VR and Its Benefits Across Industries

There are various professional fields that are interested in VR: travel, tourism and adventure; home design; education; live events; movies, records, and videos; and of course, gaming. By 2020, VR is expected to provide $30 billion revenue. The total of active users who make use of VR is expected to rise at $171 million by 2018, $2.3 billion from hardware and $4.7 from software.

VR and the Users’ Expectations

Studies also revealed that 73 percent of Gen Z-ers expressed their interest in VR. About 66 percent of consumers want to go VR shopping while 53 percent of adults prefer to shop from brands that have virtual reality technology in its online shops.

The future of virtual reality will involve not merely headsets and game controllers. Users can also expect the VR to be more physical in the future. In its beginning, the VR is seen to cater to the visual senses, but experts in the field expect the VR to become more sensory oriented through the introduction of better touch controls. Frank Azor of Alienware said that when VR caters to the rest of the human senses, you will likely feel temperature-wise, body-wise and even smell the actual thing, the reality element of VR is strengthened, and its virtual aspect starts to fade.

Hugo Barra of Facebook said that VR and augmented reality will continue to work together since each of them has a different purpose. Virtual reality enables users to immerse while augmented reality enables users to interact with the environment. These two technologies will continue to connect people regardless of where they are located.

Find out more about the benefits of virtual reality tours. Sign up to Virtual Tour Easy Now for FREE!

BlogDecember 12, 2018

Top 5 Reasons Why Hotels Needs Its Own Hotel Virtual Tour Using Virtual Tour Easy

A virtual tour is an ideal tool for businesses since it highly welcomes potential customers into their private space. This is particularly true in the accommodation and travel industry. If you are one of the entrepreneurs who have businesses in these industries, it’s high time for you to check the following benefits of using a hotel virtual tour:

Having a virtual tour sets you off from your competitors right away

It will be displayed on Google’s organic search results using the name of your Virtual Tour. Having a virtual tour makes any hotel business more interactive and immersive, stimulating, and of course colorful and interesting. It can help in gaining more attention for your business, giving you an edge over your competitors.

2. It can give your customers a lasting first impression

Imagine yourself as a customer, if you are planning to book a hotel, it is likely that you will stay in a hotel that has a virtual tour which enables you to see every room’s exact size and décor. Since it offers a highly immersive tool for business, customers are likely to decide to visit the place personally. A hotel virtual tour enables the entrepreneurs to highlight the competitive features of the hotel. It is possible for the entrepreneurs to lead the potential guests to the foyer, rooms, the gym, restaurant, and other amenities of the hotel.

3. They can encourage hotel customers to provide positive reviews online

The most sensitive to reviews are small to medium-sized businesses since these reviews can have a huge impact on them. It used to be that travelers book their accommodation without really seeing the place in person. A virtual tour can help to manage the expectations of the customers by allowing them to see and immerse in the actual room size, with all its decors, and amenities. Once the expectations of the customer are met satisfactorily or even beyond, it is easy to receive an online review from them.

4. A virtual tour can give your customers an unsurpassed level of detail

A hotel virtual tour has many facets to offer not only the text and still photographs. Through a virtual tour, it becomes easier to legitimize the business. Any business may be able to have a well-designed site, some clever angles for them to create photos which can hide or accentuate certain parts of the hotel room. Through a virtual tour, customers will be able to see if the room matches the description given as text on the hotel website.

5. A virtual tour has high entertainment value

It is through a virtual tour that a hotel can give its customers visuals of their destination instead of merely using a map. It makes the whole thing of finding the right accommodation so much fun. It is possible to show the immediate environment and the important landmarks of the hotel by giving a virtual tour of both the external and internal environment. It will allow customers to explore the property and its immediate surroundings conveniently.

Get your own virtual tour fast. Sign up with Virtual Tour Easy now, It's Free!

BlogNovember 12, 2018

How Does a 360° Virtual Tour Allow You to Improve Your Sales?

The 360 Virtual Tour is a way to show 360 panoramas of a group of varying small spaces. For example, you are going to take pictures of the different rooms of the hotel and you have to present them as a subject which is in 360 degrees. The way to combine all the 360 panoramas together and make the viewers feel like being there in person. That is through what is called the 360 virtual tour.

Virtual tours are used across varying industries as a promotional tool. It is known to be quite an effective one. It is also a valuable tool for increasing sales for several reasons. Here are the best reasons why virtual tours are considered as an excellent tool for increasing sales.

It is an effective marketing tool.

The virtual tour gives you a more realistic preview of the real estate property. The virtual tour is also more immersive and interactive. It almost means being in the real space itself. It is through the 360° virtual tour that you can have a virtual visit to the property you like. Through this type of tour, you can have a better understanding of all the layouts. This makes it a powerful means to promote real estate and increase sales.

It gives you the competitive advantage over your business rivals.

The 360° virtual tour gives you an edge when negotiating with potential clients. This will give you exclusivity when your competitors have not thought of using the 360° tour as a tool for promotion. It is also a cool and more modern way of promoting the real estate property. Even the young professionals who like to have their initial investments will be able to appreciate the 360° virtual tour.

It is time-saving.

Through 360° virtual tours, you can allow your clients to visit the real estate through virtual means. This means no unnecessary visits to the site which adds more to the cost. It also means you have more time to use in doing the more significant aspects of business.

It is not difficult to use, and it doesn’t have a high learning curve.

Producing a 360° virtual tour does not entail enrolling in a crash course or a learning curve that can last for weeks or months. All you have to do is to have a 360° camera, a tripod, and choose to have a virtual tour solution. You can simply follow some guides that can be easy to follow and try to shoot real estate properties using the 360° camera. There are techniques and tricks that you can learn in s short time. You along with your partners or collaborators can become expert in the creation of such material in just a short time.

It is budget-friendly.

It doesn’t require to hire a production team to come up with a 360° virtual tour. You can have one for only USD $100 while the more popular ones may cost from USD$400 to $600. A tripod can only cost around USD$20. You can also have a year’s subscription of a pro plan for a service like the VirtualTourEasy.com for only USD$400.

BlogOctober 19, 2018

Top Benefits of 360° Virtual Tours on Your Business

360̊ virtual tours do have a prime spot in any company’s marketing initiative. Why? Communication is key to every business regardless of the industry. This is especially true for 21st century companies. It’s beneficial for a company to have different methods of communication to potential customers. The presence of the Internet is something that makes things easier, but it also makes the competition much tighter.

For industries that require site visits for the customer to see first hand what they are buying, it is even more time-consuming and physically exhausting for the staff or personnel involved.

Who Benefits from 360° Virtual Tours?

One industry that can benefit a lot from virtual tours is real estate. The real estate agent or broker may now let the client visit the site of the property and get a feel of it without going there physically. All they have to do is wear a virtual reality mask and the client will exactly feel what it is like to be in the physical home.

For interior designers, a portfolio is so outdated and ineffective. Possible clients will become more interested when they can show their designs through a virtual tour. The potential client may also see the colors and patterns and feel the texture of the objects and items used in the design.

The same principle applies to the hotel industry. Through virtual tours, potential guests can see the exterior and interior designs of the hotel. They will be able to view every room and find out about the amenities provided by the hotel. This is helpful for constant travelers and for those who book for corporate events.

For physical shops, it’s easy for potential customers to view the products or services that are made available in those shops through 360° virtual tours. It is also possible to add a link to a video of a product or service demo on the virtual tour on the hotspot feature. You may also add a link to your site or add more information about your business.

State of the art 360° virtual tours can help different industries in increasing their number of customers. This is primarily because the tool can increase business interaction with potential customers. Of course, it is not like chat bots that personalize the interaction. Virtual tours on the other hand allow the potential client to do what they want to do with the property. They have the option to view more those areas of the property that they are more interested.

Other Implications in the Use of 360° Virtual Tours

Google conducted a survey on 147 restaurants and discovered that 50 percent of online visitors who were presented a virtual tour made a reservation. It is also easy to promote your virtual tour through various social media sites. Potential clients don’t have to go to Google View to look at your shop or property. Facebook for instance now accepts 360̊ photos. That’s not all there is to it. There’s a software that you can use to produce excellent 360° virtual tour you will need for your business. This is the Virtual Tour Easy. You can check it out through this link, you can create tour for free, you just need to upload your 360° pictures and hotspots. Have a look at https://virtualtoureasy.com.

BlogOctober 14, 2018

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality: Clearing the Blurry Lines

When it comes to advanced technology, there are two types that have been vying for popularity: virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). This competition has caused confusion among its users.

It’s a recreation or a simulation of a real-life situation, condition, or environment. It’s computer-generated. It offers a great means for the user to immerse in a particular situation by going through the simulated situation firsthand. The technology does this by enhancing the user’s hearing and vision.

VR is usually done through wearing a headset which is integrated with the technology. It is prominently used in two ways. First it is used to enhance and recreate an imaginary reality for gaming, play, and entertainment purposes for instance in computer and video games or 3D movies. Virtual reality is also used to simulate a real-life environment and situation for the purposes of training such as flight simulation for pilots.

The coding language used for this technology is called VRML or virtual reality modeling language. This computer language is used primarily for creating a series of images and to specify the types of interactions that are possible using them.

Augmented Reality

On the other hand, augmented reality (AR) layers all the computer enhanced reality over a real-life situation which makes it more meaningful as the user is enabled to interact with it. This is the technology which is developed into apps and mobile devices for digital components to be integrated into real life, enhancing it and at the same time it can be set apart from it.

AR has a lot of mainstream media uses. This technology is behind the display score overlays on sports games and 3D emails that pop out. It’s also used in photos and text messages sent through mobile devices. AR is also used for holograms and motion-activated commands.

Differences between the Two

There are main differences between these two technologies apart from its uses and the manner in which each technology is used as described above. When it comes to consumer space, augmented reality has a bigger dent compared to virtual reality.

Augmented reality has several applications in video games and hardware, e.g., Google Glass. Virtual Reality is trailing behind AR in social encounters in the virtual world but it has found an edge with Oculus Rift.

Both technologies have a place in the consumer market, but AR is seen to be more commercially successful since it does not completely lift the user out of the real world. The truth about these two technologies is that they are often fused together for the user to have a higher quality of immersion into enhanced reality.

Virtual reality is defined by 6 Degrees of Freedom. This is the number of ways in which the user can move around and interact with the virtual surroundings. The 6 Degrees of Freedom can be categorized into two: rotational and translational movements. Rotational is composed of roll, yaw, and pitch while translational of left/right, upward/downward, and forward/backward.

Augmented reality is simpler. It does not remove you entirely from your reality. It enables you to look around while objects and other data are placed around you which you can interact with. This is the application used in the popular Pokemon Go and Snapchat Filters.

CorporateOctober 13, 2018

Virtual Tour Easy: A Great Interactive Tool for Business

There are a number of businesses that require a lot of time to accomplish. One of them is real estate. They say the first step to a negotiation with a potential client is when they agree to check the physical property. Unfortunately, this is also the most time-consuming part. Imagine setting a common time with the client and going to the site miles away. You may need to drive to the location yourself. Now what if you’ll be told that there is a software called Virtual Tour Easy where you can come up with a virtual tour for free.

This will reduce your travel time to more than half if not to zero. Imagine when the property you are selling can be seen on the net at a 360° angle. It means your potential client can go around the property and see it like they are on the site physically. It’s even possible to make the experience more immersive and interactive through the use of a virtual reality mask. It’s like being teleported, and this removes the need to be in the physical property.

Virtual Tour Easy for Real Estate

Virtual Tour Easy is beneficial not only to the real estate industry. It can also benefit other industries such as interior design, hotels, boutiques, retail shops, engineering, etc. When you are an interior designer, the traditional way of showing your portfolio is to show them images of your craft. Instead of one-dimensional images, you can let your potential client see every minute detail of your design through a virtual tour. They will be able to choose any part of the house which they like to focus. This will give them sufficient information to come up with a smart decision.

Virtual Tour Easy for Hotels

For the hotel industry, a virtual tour of the entire hotel can give it a competitive advantage against those that don’t use this technology. Travelers can view every room available in the hotel and all its amenities by viewing the virtual tour. This will help them decide on the particular accommodation they want. It’s even more helpful for executives who plan to conduct their corporate events in the hotel.

Virtual Tour Easy for Retailers

Retail stores will also benefit a lot from Virtual Tour Easy. Some customers are hesitant to visit the physical store due to distance and time constraints. One thing that frustrates them is the time it takes to find where the items they want to buy are located. This concern is completely addressed by a virtual tour. Customers and potential ones can check on the shop and its contents. They don't need to be there physically.

Virtual Tour Easy for Architects and Engineers

Virtual tours can also help architects and engineers in showing their clients their previous designs as reference. It makes it easier for the potential clients to choose a particular design for the blueprint of their new home.

The best aspect of Virtual Tour Easy is that it is easy to use. All you have to do is get your 360° camera, take pictures of your property or products, upload them all into the tool, link them all, and save. Now you have a virtual tour video that you can share on all your social media sites in just a few steps.

virtual reality

A Question for Investors: Would You Buy Property without Visiting It?

What Awaits Virtual Reality in 2019 and the Future?

Top 5 Reasons Why Hotels Needs Its Own Hotel Virtual Tour Using Virtual Tour Easy