VR Marketing is Essential for The Hilton Hotels & Resorts
virtual tour is just a begining…
Throughout the years, virtual reality technologies have taken the world by storm, especially in industries like hotel and real estate. Customers don’t have to use their imaginations on what the place looks like by looking at 2D photos, instead, they can have an immersive experience through virtual tours. Not only they can “visit” the place on their smartphone, tv, and desktop devices, they can also wear a VR headset to immerse themselves fully during the tour. This experience can give customers a better understanding of the places and also allow them to have a “taste” of what the place could be like if they go there. It’s the best way to accurately show what your location really looks like. While home adoption is primarily driven by the gaming industry, people in other sectors, including the travel industry, are increasingly aware and exploring the technology’s potential, especially as a marketing tool.
Virtual Tour on Website & YouTube
The Hilton hotels and resorts offer several virtual tours through different locations on their websites and YouTube channels, for example, Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resorts & SPA, Hilton Marco Island Beach Resort & SPA, and Hilton London Bankside. The website tours around the lobby of the hotels, presidential suites, guest rooms, deluxe junior suites, and family parlor suites. Customers are able to click on the places they want to go which allows them to move freely among those areas without physically being there. And these experiences can generate sales in a way that no other marketing campaign can ever achieve before.
What intrigued me about how Hilton hotels are using virtual tours is their attention to detail. For example, I can go to the front desk and see the lobby from the receptionists’ view. I can also zoom in as close as possible to the ceiling of the lobby which I could not see even when I’m present at the hotel myself. I can achieve and see so much more on the virtual tours which catch my attention and curiosity. These details in the virtual tour show their customer how they care about customer experiences which better Hilton’s brand image and generates brand awareness. In 2021, 50% of adult users of the Internet rely on virtual tours for research and decision-making. Customers spend 5 to 10 times more on sites with virtual tours. 67% want more businesses to offer virtual tours. Global virtual tours see more than 5 million visits per day. Therefore, it is safe to say that the VR marketing trend will not fade but grow even more in the future.
What the Future looks like for Hilton Hotels in VR Marketing?
There are so many possibilities for the Hilton hotels to explore further in the VR field which could drive up customer conversion rates. They could partner up with games like Decentraland and Star Citizen. Decentraland had successful marketing experience partnering up with an international firm like Heineken so it will be easier for a big firm like the Hilton hotel to communicate their marketing objectives. For Star Citizen, it is an in-development futuristic first-person space combat and trading sim set in the 30th century. The game is the best game that ever exists so far which allows players to go, drive and fly with their character wherever they want in a huge, almost realistic universe. If Hilton builds a hotel in the game that looks like what the hotel could look like in the 30th century and allow players to live in it, it will be a great teaser for Hilton hotel’s future and also allow Hilton to have a futuristic brand image. The possibilities in VR marketing for the Hilton hotels are endless.
The hotel industry is competitive. So many unique and themed Airbnb are popping up every day and most of them are heavily promoted by social media influencers, OG hotels like the Hilton do need to follow closely to trends but remember not to lose their authentic image at the same time. VR marketing can certainly be a way to compete!
