TORONTO — Best Western Hotels & Resorts will roll out virtual reality (VR) experiences for all of its North American properties as part of its brand refresh.
The announcement was made at the Best Western Leisure Travel Summit, which took place yesterday at the Arcadian Loft in Toronto.
“We’re very excited to announce that by summer of this year, Best Western is going to launch 360° VR tours of all our branded hotels in North America,” said Dorothy Dowling, SVP and chief marketing officer of Best Western. “This is going to allow customers to have an experience before they get to wherever they’re going and really qualify and quantify that experience in terms of what they want to do when they get there.”
The Best Western team demonstrated the VR experience to summit attendees, allowing them to virtually explore the featured properties themselves.
Best Western had previously partnered with Google to create 360° photos of its properties using Google Street View technology, but is now “one-upping that effort” to create a more immersive experience. “We are embracing technology because we believe today’s Best Western is aligned with today’s traveller,” said Dowling.
Once released, the VR experiences will be available through Best Western’s branded channels as well as on Facebook and Google.
