Travel preparation in 360

Whenever I travel for work or personal reasons I like to get familiar with what is going to be my second home whilst away. This preparation includes working out navigation routes to / from my transit point via public transport, location of cafes for meals and local attractions.

But I also like to know more about where exactly I’m staying including a visual of my room (or the one I would like to stay in if money was no object). A significant number of accommodation options already provide these options and there is a gradual increase in those adopting virtual tours via 360 photography.

360 photography?

For those not familiar with 360 photography the clue is in the name. Traditional photography only captures part of the scene. 360 photography captures everything: up, down, left, right and all in between. Virtual tours are created via the stitching of a series of 360 photos together and allowing the user to navigate virtually through the space via a VR headset or a mobile / desktop app via a mouse or keyboard.

Whilst article is from November 2022, and there have no doubt been additional virtual tours created since, it does give a good snapshot of what is already out there: 15 Amazing Examples of Virtual Reality Hotel Tours.

Considerations

What makes a good virtual tour? In my view it’s one where all parts of your experience are covered including, but not limited to:

• Main entrance
• Reception area
• Onsite restaurant / buffet area
• Additional hotel features like gyms and swimming pools
• Hotel room which you have booked into

So why is this important? For me its to get familiar with my new surrounds. It’s also to check on specifics like whether the advertised “kitchenette” in my room is actually a stove-top and microwave or just a lonely kettle sitting above a mini fridge large enough to fit a single apple. For others it could be to familiarize themselves and reduce any potential anxiety of their upcoming trip or to do an assessment on how accessible the hotel room and its features actually are.

On this latter point it’s interesting to see in some virtual tools there is ability to use a virtual ruler to measure how wide that door is or how high that grab rail actually is in the toilet or shower.

What’s missing?

With the virtual tours available however there are a couple of thing that stand out:

• Visuals of wet areas like toilets, showers and bathrooms aren’t included
• The tours lack audio

I suspect I already know the answer why wet areas are generally not included as they are not always the most marketable. A lot can be said about accommodation by the state of such areas. That said if someone has specific requirements for such areas re: grab rails and circulation space why exclude them from a virtual tour?

But what about audio in virtual tours? I’ve created 360 photographs whilst traveling and know that is possible to achieve without the need for expensive hardware or software. What’s more with these solutions I’ve used sound which is recorded in 360 degrees in sync with the visuals. No trickery, no smoke and mirrors.

So why consider audio?

Think orientation.

Think spatial orientation.

Think how accessible is your virtual tour to someone with a vision impairment who could obtain auditory cues from the tour. The use of auditory cues can also be beneficial for anyone where particular sounds and levels can be detrimental to their experience staying at that location. Just don’t hide the actual audio behind some ambient, atmospheric music in your tour.

Now if you want to through 360 video virtual tours into the mix…

The technology is there to provide virtual tours of any accommodation option regardless of budget level. I’m keen to see how producers of this content can go the next level.

What virtual tour am I going to jump on today?