Spanish business daily "Cinco Días" mentions VR-Immersive.com's real estate & tourism solutions

Spanish business daily "Cinco Días" mentions VR-Immersive.com's real estate & tourism solutions
http://cincodias.com/cincodias/2016/03/17/tecnologia/1458246328_037345.html

Virtual Reality in Tourism - the TUI Group

Virtual Reality in Tourism - the TUI Group

Under the title "TUI - how to build a power brand" Erik Friemuth, Chief Marketing Officer of the world's leading tourism company, lectured on 01/28/2015 on the rebranding of TUI Group. The event was organized by the Marketing-Club Dusseldorf e.V. #MCD, at McKinsey & Company in Düsseldorf, Germany. VR-Immersive.com was there!

Coming from the telecom industry, Erik Friemuth described the challenges he faced as part of his career change. TUI Group possessed 2 years ago, when he began to manage the marketing of the company, more than 250 brands, was and is leader in a number of European markets (Logo recognition over 70%), e.g. Germany, Scandinavia, Holland, Belgium and Great Britain. In Germany, TUI is even better known compared to brands such as Apple, Starbucks or Mercedes Benz. Due to his former activities as a marketing manager at Vodafone, Mr. Friemuth brought plenty of rebranding experience onboard TUI.

At TUI he faced some obstacles, especially of a financial nature, when he joined the Group. In any case, he could by means of thoughtful, well planned steps (eg. Rebranding rollout, with the slogan, "Discover your smile", began as a test in the Netherlands) gain valuable experience, and significantly reduce the cost of the rebranding through early advertising placements. This helped TUI when further rolling out the rebranding in other countries, squeezing advertising costs by about 50% (in Spain, their airport ads were highly successful in creating corporate identity and were later emulated at other tourist destinations). The Netherlands are characterized, among other things, by an established online market in holiday bookings in contrast to Germany, where around 80% of all holiday trips are still handled by “brick-and-mortar” branches.

As an integrated vacation/tour operator, TUI offers several advantages over competitors, or even separate flight and accommodation bookings a traveler might realize. Reservations can be booked offline or online (mobile as well as PC) directly and indirectly with TUI; travelers are transported in TUI buses, airplanes and cruise ships to their holidays and accommodated by local staff at destination in TUI lodging, ie. the whole value chain is controlled by the company. The advantages are much closer customer relationships, guaranteeing a coherent brand-specific quality, changes to bookings (e.g. hotel does not meet customer expectations) or ensure repatriations in an emergency (like last year in Tunisia by TUI UK), just to name a few. Intensive supervision allows the company to better meet customer demands. Individual TUI brands cover the increasingly more specific segments, from families to singles, young couples and retirees or activities-related travel, e.g., cruises, yachting/ sailing, canoeing or even snow-related experiences.

In the virtual reality field, TUI has begun to equip individual stores with VR goggles. In the yacht charter business, VR content is highly successful.

VR content that is being shown through this new medium are primarily vacation destinations and hotel views. The company sees this as a marketing innovation, but we believe, based on a real booking example mentioned by Mr. Friemuth, and our vision of VR in tourism, that the potential has not yet been fully exploited. Virtual reality arouses feelings, just like leisure travel through your experiences. Unlike newcomers Airbnb or Booking.com, the assets are owned by TUI, who can therefore design their desired online presence. Hotels are indeed partially presented through 2D 360º videos (not necessarily VR!) on the Internet, but in fact, all TUI accommodations could use VR as a powerful sales weapon, depicting one room for each category available in the respective hotels, as well as presenting hotel facilities (eg. Lobby, restaurant, children's playground, gardens, pool area, beach, rooftop terrace …) letting 360º VR photos or videos come into full play and charming potential clients. Customers receive a comprehensive insight into the facilities, thereby avoiding the booking of accommodations that do not suit their tastes. Specifically, Mr. Friemuth mentioned the case of some friends, a family with kids, where the mother booked a family holiday with TUI. When the family arrived at the hotel, although it met the description in the brochure, the hotel did not fulfill the expected "look and feel", ie. due to the lacking "Feel Good" factor, the father asked TUI for a transfer to a different accommodation, where they would spend the 10 vacation days in a more "pleasant" environment. Within 2 hours, at an additional cost, the family was relocated to another TUI property. This is a service that neither Airbnb nor hotel portals offer. TUI has a positive, close customer care concept unlike some competitors. Nevertheless, tourism companies could avoid such situations, potential customer dissatisfaction (and negative feedback) and costs that arise, by implementing a targeted use of VR at the point-of-sale. Analogously, this argument applies to hotels in general, who wish to highlight their quality standards or seek to differentiate themselves further from competitors. The costs of producing VR content are relatively marginal - pictures and videos should be updated regularly anyway, instead of 2D you take 360º spherical photos and if you wish to offer customers a walk-through, then 3D 360º photos are possible. Such content can be efficiently managed centrally and locally, through our hardware and operating system-agnostic VR Content Management Platform.

In summary, we found the event very interesting, a great evening and can only recommend applying for membership at the Marketing-Club Düsseldorf e.V.

Our second article: Consciousness Propelled by VR?

En el segundo artículo, como parte de nuestra colaboración con el blog COSAS DE ARQUITECTOS, Vito Ferrero, co-fundador de VR-Immersive.com, se pregunta: ¿La Consciencia Propulsada por la Realidad Virtual? “El hecho de que las personas con frecuencia se queden sin palabras tiene que ver con que la experiencia de la inmersión virtual está más allá de las palabras, más allá de la descripción.” Puesto que la experiencia es tan real que es difícil describirla, mejor experimentarla. En la planificación de exposiciones y presentaciones de proyectos, éste medio visual es un “socio” muy potente.

In our second article, as part of our collaboration with the Spanish-language architecture blog COSAS DE ARQUITECTOS, Vito Ferrero, co-founder of VR-Immersive.com asks himself: Conscience Propelled by Virtual Reality? “The fact that people frequently are left speechless has to do with the experience of a virtual immersion beyond words, beyond description.” Given that the experience is so real, it is difficult to describe, so better to experience it directly. In the planning of exhibitions and presentations, this visual medium is indeed the most powerful “partner.”

In unserem zweiten Artikel, als Teil unserer Kooperation mit dem spanischsprechendem Architektur Blog COSAS DE ARQUITECTOS, Vito Ferrero, Mitbegründer von VR-Immersive.com fragt sich: Bewusstsein Projeziert durch Virtuelle Realität? “Die Tatsache, dass Menschen öfters sprachlos bleiben hat mit der virtuellen Immersionserfahrung zu tun, jenseits von Wörtern, jenseits von Beschreibung.” Aufgrund der so “reellen” Erfahrung, ist es schwierig diese zu beschreiben, besser ist es diese zu erleben. In der Planung von Exhibitionen und Präsentationen, ist dieses visuelle Medium ein sehr mächtiger “Partner.”

La Era de la realidad virtual ha llegado

El jueves, 3 de septiembre, 2015, VR-Immersive estrenó una primera colaboración con el blog COSAS DE ARQUITECTOS, publicando el artículo titulado “La Era de la realidad virtual está aquí”. Durante las próximas semanas, nuestro socio y co-fundador, Vito Ferrero y otros miembros del equipo de VR-Immersive, compartirán sus visiones, oportunidades pero también riesgos y preocupaciones alrededor de la realidad virtual y su aplicación en distintos campos, primordialmente en la arquitectura, diseño e inmuebles. Vito repasa en su artículo las distintas fases de la revolución digital hasta llegar a la experiencia más inmersiva. Nos encantaría intercambiar opiniones con nuestros lectores.

Last Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015, VR-Immersive initiated its first social media collaboration with the Spanish-speaking blog “COSAS DE ARQUITECTOS” (literally translated: “Architects´ Things”), publishing the article titled “The Virtual Reality Era is Here.” An English translation is found in our blog. During the coming weeks, our partner and co-founder, Vito Ferrero and other members of the VR-Immersive team, will share their visions, opportunities but also risks and concerns surrounding virtual reality and its application in different fields, particularly architecture, design and real estate. Vito briefly reviews in his article the different phases of the digital revolution until reaching the most immersive experience. We would be delighted to exchange views and comments with our readers.

Letzten Donnerstag, den 3. September, 2015, initiierte VR-Immersive die erste soziale Medien Kooperation mit dem spanischsprachigen Blog “COSAS DE ARQUITECTOS” (wörtlich übersetzt: "Architekten Dinge"), durch Veröffentlichung des Artikels "Die Virtuelle Realität Era ist hier". Eine englische Übersetzung könnt Ihr in unserem Blog lesen (“The VR Era is Here”). In den kommenden Wochen wird unser Partner und Mitgründer, Vito Ferrero und andere Mitglieder des VR-Immersive Teams ihre Visionen, Chancen, aber auch Risiken und Bedenken rund um virtuelle Realität und ihre Anwendung in verschiedenen Bereichen, insbesondere Architektur, Design und Immobilien, teilen. Vito verschafft uns in seinem Artikel einen kurzen Überblick über die verschiedenen Phasen der digitalen Revolution bis zum Erreichen der bisher immersivsten Erfahrung. Wir würden uns freuen, Ansichten und Kommentare mit unseren Lesern auszutauschen.

The VR Era is Here

by Vito Ferrero Architect/vr-immersive.com

re in a digital age revolution. We see it in every field and more and more the boundaries between disciplines are merging into a vital organism through internet. In a sense we already have been working in a virtual reality since computers came to our homes and offices. We tap into virtual objects that appear to be buttons, we see thorugh virtual windows and watch virtual faces telling stories through YouTube.  Could it get more virtual?

The “touch technology” deepens our illusion that those moving and dancing 2D objects are there but people don´t usually talk about how virtual it is already. The fact that all abstraction, -including reading an old fashioned book- is virtual reality can be a very philosophical matter. The mere character appearing in screen pixels, is virtual appearance. The letter is not there: It appears to be there. But even when you have ink on paper, the sound represented is not there, it is in your head. So in the screen we got what they call:“Virtual ink” . Nevertheless the advent of more immersive technology lead us to the term “Virtual Reality” wich is the representation of an object in a way so exact, so vivid, that resembles reality to an extent that almost completely tricks the senses. In our busy lives, we do not often take the time to deeply think about implications and consequences of technology use. The fact that tech it is progressively easier and easier to use, seamless and accesible -as it should- put us as a global culture in front of ourselves. Our power of representation of abstraction has increased so our responsibility and maturity as a species will naturally develop beyond this kind of “cultural adolescence”.  But hey, since Guttemberg, is that so new? I personally see technology as liberating, fascinating and as a profound game changer. Instead of being fearful that big brother or a dreadful “all seeing eye” will ensalve humankind in dreamlike world, I prefer to envision a world were incredible power is given to us to free ourselves from meaningless efforts and

concetrate on what really matters. Things like beauty, sharing, living fully can be theresult of the good usage of technology. Making a better world -In the realm of architecture and design as in any other- starts with a plan, and what better than testing the result first in Virtual Reality to see if it works? What do YOU think?

VF.