Atlanta Marriott Marquis Unveils VTX Virtual Tour
March 29, 2018
Prefunction meeting space
Imagine putting an entire hotel in your back pocket and sharing it with anyone! This idea became the Atlanta Marriott Marquis’ VTX, a virtual tour experience which provides their sales and events team with a groundbreaking new way to share their iconic property with the world. This innovative new technology layers ultra-high definition, 4K 360 video over an interactive experience, built on a gaming engine, allowing seamless travel throughout the hotel, right from your desktop or handheld device. This unique combination of cutting-edge technology makes it easier than ever to share the hotel like never before. A first for the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, and a global first for the hotel industry.
Meinrad (Rad) Lang III, director of sales and marketing at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, had a vision of reaching a broader audience and creating a sales tool. What started as a discussion about a unique high-definition video application evolved into a much bigger and bolder vision to create an immersive 360 capture of the entire hotel. Artists of the Industry had already been developing the framework for such a platform, and the Atlanta Marriott Marquis was the perfect location to let this new tech shine and become a reality.
Lang says, “With such incredibly taxing deadlines, schedules and budget restraints, this tool will completely replace site visits, saving time and money for everyone.” This platform allows the Marriott Marquis to connect with more meeting and event planners in a realistic manner without having to be onsite. From 360 video in one spot to an interactive tour with panoramas in another, planners will be able to enter and explore rooms and travel up and down elevators while discovering so many different virtual aspects throughout the tour.
Artists of the Industry’s production team architected a 360 camera rig atop a remote-control rover to seamlessly capture the Marquis in all of its beauty. With the help of the hotel staff, a plan to capture all of the 164,000 sf of meeting space, architecture, outlets and guest rooms with over 150 unique points of interest and every single area in-between was achieved.
With phase one of the VTX complete, work is now underway to create phase two, adding exciting new features, apps, customer controlled tours, augmented reality, additional information and locations enabling the VTX scalability far into the future.
To view a behind the scenes video short of the Atlanta Marriott Marquis’ VTX experience, click here.