Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality for the Hospitality Industry

The hospitality and travel market is embracing VR, the latest in immersive and interactive visualization technology; VR should be embraced in a broader way as the technology is used to increase product differentiation knowledge. The use of such technologies can go beyond the current realm. On the hotel operations’ front, the use of VR can certainly be employed to enable consumers to visualize rooms, meetings and event spaces of our other brands. For example, corporate clients will have the ability to visualize and experience their function areas before making their booking. And for couples, VR provides them the opportunity to view their potential ballroom wedding setup, prior to making a major decision of their lifetime. VR will provide potentials with a more realistic feel to the venue for more informed decisions.

Leveraging on the AR tool has several uses including the integration to the hotel’s online booking sites. A hotel’s guest booking experience is enhanced as you provide them with the ability to have the three-dimensional feel of the room type or hotel surroundings – all within the convenience and accessibility of their mobile device. Geo-tagging and customization of locations are also possible with such apps; this has led to even more effective communications where relevant information such as nearby attractions can be experienced in a more interactive and immersive manner.

Robotics and artificial intelligence continue to grow and will potentially become ubiquitous in the hospitality industry. As cloud technology and computing emerge, various algorithms and methodology has enabled big data and information collected from various avenues of booking transactions to be converted to an easily understood information for better decision making. With machine learning, algorithms can be input to analyze sentiments, improved data analysis can increase productivity. For example, instead of the laborious hours of manual computation for revenue managers, artificial intelligence will now be able to detect anomalies and its market variables effectively to calculate the optimum hotel rate in real time. In the same fashion, sentiments may enable hoteliers to identify their guests’ preferences.

With an evolving technological landscape and the multitude of opportunities that are available to the hospitality industry, understanding the opportunities, which abound, and undertaking the right platforms to fit your business model requires a significant evaluation of your strategies and readiness to get ahead of the curve.