If you stay at Marriott hotels, you can visit Chile, Rwanda, and Beijing without leaving comfort of your room. Marriott Hotels launches an experiment with virtual reality headsets in two of its premium properties: the New York Marriott Marquis and the London Marriott Park Lane. All you have to do is request a Samsung Gear VR headset to your room. Called “VRoom Service,” this project created in partnership with Samsung Electronics is the first in the travel industry.
Using the VR headset and headphones, guests can now access a new virtual travel platform called “VR Postcards.” Each of the three videos shows a different traveler on a trip, narrating their feelings to an unseen camera. The three travelers include a woman in Chile, a woman in Rwanda, and a man in Beijing. So, the viewer gets to see places like the Andes Mountains in Chile, an ice cream shop in Rwanda and the streets of Beijing in 3D with 360-degree views.
Guests will also have access to the rest of the Samsung Milk VR platform, which is sort of like a YouTube for virtual reality video content. The experiences were created in partnership with Framestore’s Virtual Reality Studio.
The program is currently being tested for two weeks at the New York Marriott Marquis and London Marriott Park Lane properties, after which the brand hopes to scale it. The locations have 300 and 100 sets each, which are available for guests to use for up to 24 hours. The VR Postcards will not only be available to guests at these select properties, but also to the general public. Those technology aficionados who own a Samsung Gear VR headset can access the postcards through the Samsung Milk VR app.