“People will forget what you said, forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
– Maya Angelou
Kevin May, the editor of Tnooz.com, travel tech website while in conversation with “the Guardian” established that offering immersive visual information can benefit hotels and travelers. “Giving consumers who are searching for a hotel on the web the ability to go inside and see how wonderful the pool, the view, and the lobby area is great,” he said. He went on to add that “ Augmented reality is where the real future lies”. “Information will be projected in front of you – using things like Google Glass – as you travel around.
It will allow you to customize your experiences based on your needs. For example, if you are with someone who is disabled, you could find step-free routes through a town. Then we will see elements of gamification, where you will be playing games or interacting with elements of your environment as you go.”
Many hotels and restaurants have already incorporated Augmented Reality into their current marketing efforts.
Use of AR in Travel and Tourism
- In 2014, the global chain of hotel Marriot used Augmented Reality to display an immersive 4-D virtual reality travel experience, where the user will have to wear the Oculus Rift spectacles so that they can be teleported to other Mariott hotels spread across Hawaii, London and San Francisco, etc.
- The same year, Destinology, a luxury tour operator used up 2 months working with Google to create StreetView guides to 40 of the hotels that it markets, and Best Western hotels also pronounced that it had plans to invest US$2m to capture 360-degree images of 2,200 of its properties for a similar project.
- There was also an AR app allowing tourists in London to find the neighboring mass transit stations in a specific location just by pointing their Smartphone in whatever direction they like
- In 2016, Thomas Cook, a UK travel company used AR technology to boost the print and online versions of their Sentido hotels brochures.
- The Hub hotel from Premier Inn, in the UK, allowed the guests to point their smartphone at the wall maps placed in the hotel room and see added details about local places of interest, enhancing the use of the map and delivering an interactive experience for them.
Use of AR in the Restaurant business
- Yelp, an online rating website for restaurants, bars, and eateries, has ventured into the AR arena. It makes use of GPS and the customer’s smartphone camera to display in a 360 radius, neighboring restaurants, and bars, by their preferences.
- Chipotle developed its own game to keep their customers engaged and entertained, while also educating them about where their food comes from. On completing game levels, they were also given rewards, which worked to drive traffic to the store.
- In 2011, Domino’s used Augmented Reality to allow users to make virtual pizzas and order pizzas within their app
- ERICSSON launched its 3D Augmented Reality menus, which is interactive, letting the guests examine pictures, ingredients, and nutritional information for the item in the menu
Use of AR for Advertisements
AR can also be used in other ways by Restaurants to get more customers. The customers could scan the logo of your restaurant on their mobile devices using an AR app and get to see your menu, or maybe they can scan the menu and get a video of the food is cooked, or even see the head chef on their phone screen, welcoming them. They would be more interested in the interactive and immersive customer experience that you provide them.
- Domino’s Pizza in the UK is making use of Augmented Reality to produce interactive outdoor ads in 3D. Customers were also able just to scan using the phone and see the menu, special offers and also to place the order.
- Starbucks’ ventured into Augmented Reality to add life to the coffee cups with sledging polar bears, ice skaters, Christmas trees and so on
Wrap-up: It is in a bid to woo the tech-savvy millennial target group that many of the companies or brands in the travel and tourism or restaurants sector have decided to adopt augmented reality to use. It also helped to give them a leading edge over their competitors. It’s a massive opportunity for companies to get their brands in front of consumers.
Augray works to bring the brands to the fore, by providing its consumers with an immersive dining experience. We also deliver AR technology will bring the menu to life and make the whole experience more interactive for brands and customers.
