Hotels and Advanced Technology
September 28, 2014
I read “For Marriott, the Future of Travel Is a Virtual Reality Teleporter Phone Booth.” The article illustrates how Google’s and Facebook’s moves into augmented reality have influenced organizations not known for their mastery of bits and bytes. Finding a hotel is getting more difficult. But won’t virtual reality make it easier? Sure, according to the write up. Technology will just make travel so much better.
The examples presented in the article are important because:
- The craziness of an advanced technology companies’ engineers can infect professionals who may struggle to update their iPhone’s operating system
- The ease with which a writer can create an impression in a reader that “this stuff is just around the corner.”
- The money that a consulting firm can be made by shotgunning a suite of technologies into the strategic thinking of executives with degrees in food service and accounting, among other quasi technical fields.
What did the write up state about virtual reality as a business opportunity for a hotel and food outfit? Try this passage:
“We talked about the idea of virtual reality being another metaphor for the ‘future of travel,’” Dail says. “How can we take what was existing and use content to start the conversation, and really engage people with the brand on a whole new level, because you don’t think of hotels as being part of VR.
Navigate to Hotels.com or any other site that allows a hotel management team to post an image of their “property”. Now rent a room and show up at midnight. How often does that room match what you actually get?
In my experience, not too often. The spacious reception area for a Marriott property or the beautiful bed in a Marriott suite hotel is often not exactly what appears in the online service’s write up.
How will virtual reality address this issue? I have zero doubt that marketers will make hotel properties look their best. Food photographers have this art figured out. Those Whoppers look just like the pictures in ads.
The issue with technology is distortion. Reality, just like search results, may be sweetened. For example, slapping on a headset is unlikely when I book a hotel from an airport taxi. Believing what is presented online is not something I will buy into.
The blend of marketers and technology has made information retrieval anything but objective. A hotel “selling” virtual reality is going to follow the same path.
Lucrative for marketers. Not so good for others. Pumping up expectations contributes to twisting one’s ankle on reality. Will some folks care? I doubt it.
Stephen E Arnold, September 28, 2014
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