Greg Murtha explains VTour: A virtual tour platform for hotels

by Josiah Mackenzie on July 02, 2010 1 Comment

At the end of each week I like to look at a new product or startup in the hospitality technology space, and today we have Greg Murtha walking us through VTour – a virtual tour product. Rich media is becoming increasingly popular on hotel websites, and when done right, can give your site visitors a good idea of what to expect (setting expectations).

What is the big problem you saw that inspired you to create this?

The limitations of existing technology to allow a potential customer to move freely from one location to another and see and be sold on all of the unique attributes of a hotel property in an engaging environment. With our competitors’ technology all you can see are small snippets of one aspect of a property then you have to close that link and open another to go on to the next destination or to see a video or other rich media. Nothing is cohesively linked together. We wanted to create a dynamic environment in which you could move from one destination to another without having to open and close 30 links and wait for them to load in the process.

Explain how your product helps solve this big problem

VTour’s technological platform empowers the consumer with game-like interactivity to explore a hotel and learn about all of a properties unique amenities and offerings.

What key things have you learned as you created this?

In the current economic climate the consumer wants to make sure they are getting the most value possible for their money. Travelers want to see more than a few glamour shots or best of photos of a property. As a hotelier you want an engaged client and you want to show them and tell them why your property is the best possible option.

What surprised you the most during development?

One of the things that surprised us most was that after years of initial development how quickly we were able to fulfill our commitment to becoming the most immersive multi media technology on the web. Our ability to deliver large format high quality transitional imaging, spherical 360’s, integrated audio, video, 3-D animation, still photography, full screen viewing, closed captioning, multi-lingual international marketing and interface with existing on-line reservations systems in a single player environment has quickly made VTour a powerful sales tool.

How does this make money for you? For hotels?

We custom build each clients tour and can connect a hotel to the key attractions in the surrounding community. The modular nature of our technology allows for easy future expansion and revisions as a propery is remodeled or expanded. Our revenue model is based on the initial development of the project and subsequent hosting fees. For hotels the guest is immersed in a dynamic multimedia experience of their property with integrated sales content on everything from rooms and F&B to meeting and convention sales, spa, golf, skiing and other ancillary services. Direct links to a properties existing reservation system close the loop on the sale.

The goal of this blog is to encourage hotels to create memorable experiences for their guests. How does your product assist with this?

VTour engages the consumer in a game-like journey of self-selected discovery. You no longer need to open and close multiple links to see photos, videos, 360’s or other immersive content. The self directed nature of VTour’s technology allows a guest to see the key aspects of a property that are of interest to them personally. The guest is now empowered to discover what interests them. Our new Facebook application will allow guest to share their magical moments with friend and family in their network and will tie people and the places they visit together in a way that has never been done before.

What features do you have planned for the future?

We are working on a new mobile application, webcam integration, incorporating dynamic 3-D modeling for future developments and refinement of our Facebook application.

Can you give us some examples of hotels that have used this successfully?

If a hotel is interested in your product, how can they begin working with you?

Call or email me!



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Article by Josiah Mackenzie // July 02, 2010 Josiah helps hospitality organizations use technology and the social web to provide better service and generate more profits.

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Comments

 
  • Mitaroy Goa Hotel // July 2, 2010 @ 1:04 pm Reply

    I think this is a great idea Josiah !

    But once again, I am worried about the infrastructure aspect.

    Can a website handle such an application, given the slow broadband speeds we experience these days ?

    It is all very well to say that we have made progress in broadband.

    But as someone mentioned the other day, in the past we had slow speeds but we also had mostly text based websites.

    Now we have broadband but a greater pressure on the broadband network with applications such as the VTour or YouTube which ensure that there is no significant increase in speed despite the progress made by broadband.

    I still remain a sceptic…

    Cheers
    Mihir

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