VR may seem futuristic but travel brands are already
experimenting, and succeeding, with this new medium to generate consumer
interest according to EyeforTravel’s
Does Virtual Reality Have a Place in Travel? White paper.
The biggest use-case for VR currently is in-store, where
consumers can try it out for free, according to the report. Brands such as
Thomas Cook, Flight Centre and Virgin Holidays are already experimenting with
this. In-store VR makes the most out of VR’s main potential in travel, which is
to inspire travellers. It also allowed the consumer to avoid the costs
currently associated with the majority of VR headsets and supporting systems, which
can be very expensive with the exception of Google Cardboard and its imitators.
Both Flight Centre and Virgin have found it so
successful in their trials that they have widened the placement of VR in their
stores. Both of these companies and Thomas Cook used VR devices to give potential
customers tours of key destinations. For Thomas Cook in the first three months of
in-store deployment it generated flights and hotel bookings totaling GBP12,000
in the UK and Germany and has seen a 40% return on investment. There was an
180% uplift in New York excursions revenue demonstrating that visualization of
tours and activities could be the most powerful use of VR in travel.
It is not only tour companies that innovating, with
hotels and airlines also noted in the report as using VR for innovative
marketing purposes. In 2015 Marriott and Shangri-La Hotels announced VR
services using Samsung Gear that allowed guests to borrow headsets and
experience VR environments. Best Western Hotels and Resorts has gone a step
further by creating a Best Western Virtual Reality Experience that allows users
to view virtual reality tour of nearly 2,000 properties.
Lufthansa, has deployed VR for various marketing
campaigns and has won awards for these and also used VR to offer customers
upgrades to Premium Economy Class at the gates in New York and Frankfurt. In a
case study within the white paper Lufthansa notes that for VR marketing
campaigns “Timing and relevancy are important” for VR marketing campaigns notes
Lufthansa in a case study within the white paper, citing the example of their “Soccer
Summer Story in 360-Degrees during the European soccer championship in France.”
However, users should be aware that “scheduling a storyline for a 360° video
requires more time and energy than an average video.”
“I would advise travel brands that can see a way in
which they can get VR face-to-face with the consumer and at no cost to those
individual consumers to get engaged with this medium straight away,” said Alex
Hadwick, Head of research at EyeforTravel. “This shows real returns on
investment today if done well. Similarly, if travel brands can see a
cost-effective way to make VR content they should also experiment. Getting in
at the ground level now should help when this technology is more widely adopted
in three to four years’ time. In particular, experimenting with VR content for
activities at the destination and trying to upsell these to consumers could
yield real rewards, as allowing consumers to get a taste of experiences they
may not have even considered could spur many to action. Already, videos have
been shown to increase conversion rates for travel consumers, so there is no
reason not to project this over to VR and expect at least the same effect, if
not a more pronounced one.”
The full whitepaper goes into detail about the business case
for VR, case studies from leading travel brands currently using VR and much
more. You can
download the full whitepaper here.
