Hotel chain promotes 2200 properties with VR videos

The Best Western Virtual Reality Experience will enable guests to explore each hotel's rooms, lobbies and facilities online before booking.

Virtual reality is being thoroughly embraced by the hospitality industry. We have already seen VR postcards via room service, and as Skift has noted, everyone from Shangri-La Hotels to Hilton is experimenting with VR and 360 video as a marketing tool. Now Best Western is the latest. The hotel chain has introduced a Virtual Reality Experience, which will enable guests to experience each of the companies 2200 hotels online before booking.

The Best Western Virtual Reality Experience was produced in collaboration with Google Street View by gathering 1.7 million photos of the hotels across North America. The images were then turned into 360 videos and enhanced with narration and music. When viewed with a headset such as Google Cardboard or Oculus Rift, the video is transformed into virtual reality. They will soon be available online, so that customers can check out the venue’s rooms, lobbies, and amenities before they arrive.

What will get the VR treatment next?