Marriott Pushes ‘Vacationing’ In Your Hotel Room With Samsung Gear VR-Fueled ‘Vroom Service’
Marriott is putting a new twist on room service by delivering Samsung Gear VR headsets to guests. The new “VRoom Service” features a VR headset and headphones, along with virtual reality travel videos. Fire up the VRoom Service headset and you can explore Beijing from your hotel room in New York.
The Marriott VRoom Service headset.
“Travel expands our minds and helps push our imagination,” said Matthew Carroll, vice president, Marriott Hotels. “Our guests want to be in inventive spaces that help foster their creativity and thinking. VRoom combines storytelling with technology, two things that are important to next generation travelers.”
Having access to a VR headset sounds like a much better way to spend an evening in your hotel room than watching random TV episodes, so we hope the test program is a success and results in something more permanent. Right, now, Marriott is running the test for just the next two weeks – and only at its New York Marriott Marquis and London Marriott Park Lane hotels.
The key to your digital travels is the new VR Postcards software, which features multiple trips that you can watch through the VRoom headset. There are three stories so far, including adventures in Beijing, Rwanda, and Chile. Marriott refers to the videos as “stories” and describes them as following “a real traveler on a journey to a unique destination.”
By the way, if you already have a Samsung Gear VR headset and compatible phone (right now, that would be a Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy S6, or Galaxy S6 Edge) you will soon be able to check these adventures out via Samsung Milk VR, a service that provides VR videos for the Gear VR headset. Marriott hotel guests won’t need a phone to use the service, however. The VRoom Service kits arrive with everything needed to play the virtual vacations, as well as other videos available through Milk VR.
This isn’t Marriott’s first swing at using technology to entice travelers. The company recently struck a deal with Netflix and other Internet video services and it offers a 4D “virtual reality travel experience” to travelers with its Marriott Teleporter.
The Marriott VRoom Service headset.
“Travel expands our minds and helps push our imagination,” said Matthew Carroll, vice president, Marriott Hotels. “Our guests want to be in inventive spaces that help foster their creativity and thinking. VRoom combines storytelling with technology, two things that are important to next generation travelers.”
Having access to a VR headset sounds like a much better way to spend an evening in your hotel room than watching random TV episodes, so we hope the test program is a success and results in something more permanent. Right, now, Marriott is running the test for just the next two weeks – and only at its New York Marriott Marquis and London Marriott Park Lane hotels.
The key to your digital travels is the new VR Postcards software, which features multiple trips that you can watch through the VRoom headset. There are three stories so far, including adventures in Beijing, Rwanda, and Chile. Marriott refers to the videos as “stories” and describes them as following “a real traveler on a journey to a unique destination.”
By the way, if you already have a Samsung Gear VR headset and compatible phone (right now, that would be a Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy S6, or Galaxy S6 Edge) you will soon be able to check these adventures out via Samsung Milk VR, a service that provides VR videos for the Gear VR headset. Marriott hotel guests won’t need a phone to use the service, however. The VRoom Service kits arrive with everything needed to play the virtual vacations, as well as other videos available through Milk VR.
This isn’t Marriott’s first swing at using technology to entice travelers. The company recently struck a deal with Netflix and other Internet video services and it offers a 4D “virtual reality travel experience” to travelers with its Marriott Teleporter.
