Applying Virtual Reality to Developing Customer Services in Hospitality Industry

Abstract

The internet is playing an increasingly important role in the way consumers' search and reserve travel and lodging. Hotels of various class levels differ with respect to their property features and target markets. Given this, one may reasonably expect a hotel's website to reflect its market position and the interests of its target market. Hotel industry is dynamic and accompanied by rapid changes. The new Virtual Reality frontier marks another point of competition for hospitality firms. Embracing the new opportunities presented by the internet can give a hotel a significant advantage over those choosing not to emphasize this increasingly vital marketing tool. Virtual Reality is a technology that enables the design and implementation of new paradigms for human computer interaction applicable in various application domains. A new and mostly unexplored field for Virtual Reality enhanced applications is tourism. The main advantage in the application of Virtual Reality environments is in the marketing and promotion of tourism destinations and services. Particularly, the special and exploratory nature of both Virtual Reality and tourism is an ideal factor to bring these two areas together. By the use of brochures, magazines, films, and/or videos people are already applying their power of imagination to experience new holiday destinations.