Marriott Hotels launches VRoom Service, which it claims is a ?first-of-its-kind guest service? that allows guests to order inspiring virtual reality experiences to their rooms.
Created in collaboration with Samsung Electronics America, the launch represents the latest in a series of innovations by the Marriott International flagship brand that it says are changing how people travel.
Guests are invited to call a dedicated VRoom Service extension or use Marriott?s Mobile Request app to request a Samsung Gear VR headset and accompanying headphones.
Once they are hand-delivered to the rooms along with easy-to-use instructions, they are available on loan to guests for up to 24-hours.
The programme is currently being tested for two weeks at the New York Marriott Marquis and London Marriott Park Lane properties.
Marriot also launches its virtual travel content platform VR Postcards. These are described as ?intimate and immersive travel stories? that users experience in 360 3D via a virtual reality headset. Each story follows a traveller on a journey to a unique destination. Viewers are ?immersed in the destination? and hear the travellers? personal stories about why travel is important to them.
The first three VR Postcards were shot in the Andes Mountains in Chile, an ice cream shop in Rwanda and in the streets of Beijing.
?Travel expands our minds and helps push our imagination,? said says Marriott Hotels? vice president Matthew Carroll. ?Our guests want to be in inventive spaces that help foster their creativity and thinking.?VRoom?combines storytelling with technology ? two things that are important to next-generation travellers.?
VR Postcards will be available to guests partaking in VRoom Service at select properties, as well as to the public via Samsung Milk VR premium video service, accessed via the Samsung Gear VR headset.
Marriott again worked with Framestore?s Virtual Reality Studio to develop the technologies and techniques used in creating the VR Postcards experiences.