It feels really bad when your expectations are not met. You paid hundreds of dollars for a hotel room that looked straight out of your dreams in the pictures but when you finally get there after hours of traveling and you find that it’s not that it was made out to be, you tend to get disappointed. Travel-booking company Expedia wants to make it a more immersive experience so that its customers can get a proper feel for the room, and for that it’s relying on virtual reality.
Expedia is working on providing virtual reality versions of its hotel listings so that customers can check them out in an immersive environment. It has embarked upon this endeavor as more and more people have access to some form of a VR device at home.
“If you’re going to make the decision of [booking] a cruise, wouldn’t it be cool if you could check out the ship [virtually] before you spend that much money?” asks Arthur Chapin, Expedia’s Senior Vice President, Product and Design.
Virtual reality can play a vital role in helping people make their travel decisions. It will enable them to virtually step inside a hotel room and experience it right from the comfort of their own couch. Users will even be able to interact with their surroundings by sliding the doors open and stepping out onto the balcony.
It will take some time before VR is implemented on a wider scale for properties listed on Expedia, but it’s an exciting possibility nonetheless, one that Expedia is working hard to bring to reality.
Filed in . Read more about Virtual Reality (VR).