SaleS & Marketing
Best Western Virtual reality experience provides guests with an immersive 360-degree , threedimensional look at nearly 2,000 properties .
Marketing through virtual reality by Brittany FarB GruBer , associate editor
With the objectives of connecting with today ’ s travelers seeking engagement , technology integration and consistent service , Best Western Hotels & Resorts rolled out virtual reality ( VR ) tours for all of its North American hotels . Launched in September , Best Western Virtual Reality Experience ( BWVRE ) provides an immersive 360-degree , three-dimensional look at nearly 2,000 properties . Videos range from 50 seconds to two minutes and include narration and music , aiming to provide an engaging storytelling experience . Over the course of three years , Best Western worked with Google Street View by gathering 1.7 million photos for BWVRE . Consumers can access videos from Best Western ’ s YouTube channel , giving them an opportunity to immerse themselves in the hotel lobby , breakfast space , fitness room
How the Vr service looks on a mobile phone .
or guest room before making a spending decision .
“ Best Western ’ s Virtual Reality Experience is reinventing the way guests view hotels ,” says Dorothy Dowling , chief marketing officer and senior vice president of Best Western . “ We are pleased to be the first hotel company of our size and scale to implement this advanced technology and elevate the industry standard to a new level .”
One of the most significant challenges over the three-year process was developing a system that could handle all the data required to create a VR tour for more than 2,000 hotels . Partnering with Google helped accomplish the large-scale task .
" Our Google Street View photo assets were state-of-the-art a few years ago , but today ’ s travelers want the immersion experience ," says David Kong , president and CEO of Best Western . " That ’ s why we are partnering with Google to roll out our new visual assets ."
Best Western also hopes to roll out BWVRE globally . At the company ' s convention in October , Dowling said she was speaking to global owners about adopting the technology and expects the most alignment in Europe , particularly Italy .
BWVRE is part of the Best Western brand ’ s refresh , which includes US $ 2 billion investment by hotel owners for property improvements and renovations across North America . The company also introduced a new master brand logo and new logos for Best Western , Best Western Plus and Best Western Premier , as well as its other brands in 2015 .
Best Western ’ s oBjectives for its vr program :
• To be a valuable resource and a key driver in moving the brand forward
• To connect with today ’ s travelers seeking technology integration
• To significantly impact the hotel booking process for consumers by providing the deep information that household decision makers will appreciate
• To be transparent and give the consumer the opportunity to see exactly what they ’ re getting before they stay
48 hotelsmag . com December 2016