In the future, intewill will feel more and more like the real world, working in immersive virtual and augmented reality environments instead of 2D screens. This is called the metaverse. What possibilities does this technology bring to the hotel industry? A new study by the Fraunhofer IAO outlines its advantages and disadvantages and provides specific use cases.
When Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would invest $10 billion in the Metaverse at the end of 2021, the public began to understand where the world’s biggest tech giants were headed. According to a study co-commissioned by CoinGecko, Bloomberg, MVIS and Roundhill Investments, virtual gaming revenue is expected to grow from $180 billion to $400 billion from 2020 to 2025. The metaverse is still in the early stages of development, but it has great potential. It is particularly conducive to growth for the hotel industry as it provides a new environment for interaction, communication and collaboration. “The business of the hotel industry is adding a holistic dimension to his ecosystem,” emphasizes Professor Weinborkmann, the hotel’s initiator and project manager. His FutureHotel Innovation Network at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO. “While we can reach new and existing customers, we also see the importance of location, as accessibility is a challenge.” Addresses various principles of the Metaverse. In light of this, the institute has published a new study called “FutureHotel – Extended Realities.” Metaverse and its hotel business potential. With a focus on the hospitality industry, this publication details the appearance, features, strengths, weaknesses and possibilities of the metaverse across various sectors. It outlines how the metaverse can be applied in various business areas, areas of foreseeable future development, and provides specific use cases.
The published research results are from the 7th project phase (2022-2025) of the FutureHotel Innovation Network led by the Fraunhofer IAO.
Metaverse technology opens up new interaction spaces, regardless of time or place
Communication and entertainment in the metaverse will reach unprecedented levels of sophistication, revolutionizing areas as diverse as hybrid work, gaming, e-commerce, and social media. As demonstrated by the recent augmented reality mobile game Pokémon Go, people can be directed to specific locations in the physical world and congregated there through virtual events as well as digital assets. For the hotel industry, this creates new opportunities for digital business models. The study shows his three specific use cases for hotels that have already deployed the metaverse.
Make real estate virtually accessible in 3D
For clients in the hotel industry, German streaming platform Arcware Cloud provides potential buyers with highly realistic insights into a proposed hotel and its individual apartments in the coastal city of Primosten, Croatia. We have developed a virtual 3D experience called “Prime Bay”. Once completed, Prime Bay will continue to be used to market hotel rooms and facilities online by allowing potential hotel guests to view everything in 3D prior to their stay.
Link physical hotel rooms to virtual community spaces
Hotel brand RoomThe plans to launch a new hotel concept later this year, partnering with hosts to offer one or more rooms in various buildings in various locations across the United States. All hosted hotel rooms are combined to form the Roomza Hotel, giving all visitors access to additional virtual common areas. This allows guests to interact with each other in a variety of ways regardless of their location. For example, you can hold a drink in the physical world while you talk to others in a virtual bar.
Metaverse virtual venues and events
Marriott used VR headsets at the Seville trade fair to let visitors view virtual hotel rooms that had been completed up to that point. This was the digital twin of Madrid’s Marriott Auditorium Hotel and Conference Center, which consisted of the actual hotel’s auditorium, meeting rooms, and networking rooms. Marriott hopes to use this to offer up to 2,000 attendees more engaging digital events than simple video conferencing.
Establish new revenue sources and diversify existing service portfolio
The research team believes that there is great potential for hotels to create additional hotel services, as the Metaverse opens up new realms for hotels to provide additional tangible and intangible services that are not available in reality. Guests can safely and easily attend hotel events, no matter where they are. There is further potential to see the Metaverse as a ‘creative community space’ where people, companies and institutions from all over the world can come together on a regular basis to develop, for example, sustainable social solutions and business projects together. Additionally, the Metaverse environment allows you to target customers of different age groups around the world, providing an opportunity to build a strong community of loyal hotel guests and expand your target audience. The Metaverse also provides resources for advertising and branding, as a company’s brand awareness can be applied to the new environment of the Metaverse world.
scientific contact
Professor Weinborkmann
Smart city environment from the Leiterin team
Fraunhofer IAO
Nobel Street 12
70569 Stuttgart
+49 151 16327782
