Guest post: Create your digital twin to meet customer expectations in the digital age

Guest post: Create your digital twin to meet customer expectations in the digital age

James Morris-Manuel, EMEA managing director at Travolution European Summit partner matterport, explains how digital twins deliver virtual immersive experiences to grow business and streamline operations 

Images inspire travel. Instagram influencers have built empires on that fact.

But now hotels, attractions and destinations are brought to life in ways that truly connect people to the structure and fabric of a space.

Thanks to detailed digital twins, 3D tours transform the online experience, boosting booking confidence in guests whilst providing travel and hospitality companies with up to 12% more bookings alongside lower sales and marketing costs.

Moving beyond the obvious sales and marketing benefits, the travel industry is also using the technology to improve operations and business development, using digital twins to deliver complete brand experiences and performance efficiency. 

Explore before you book

With the world literally at their fingertips, digital savvy travellers heavily rely (70.9%) on online content when selecting accommodation, with reviews and website images driving their decision making.

3D tours let your guests walk through your property as if they were really there, producing a pre-booking experience that is far beyond any that photographs and videos can provide.

With three times more engagement than 2D images, a digital twin builds customer confidence by allowing self-directed exploration of the space, and highlights key features and interest points through tags to create a sense of story and place.

For example, at New York’s historic Waldorf Astoria, the floor plan includes highlights such as Cole Porter’s 1907 Steinway piano, creating a better sense of connection with interested buyers across the globe.

Technology which goes beyond a simple 360 panoramic photo to provide explorative floor plans, virtual way-finding, points of interest, and measurement tools creates the most realistic representation of your property, leading guests to feel more secure in the product they are viewing.

For one of North America’s leading vacation rental management platforms, Matterport digital twins improve rental conversion by nearly 10%.

Turn into a ballroom bonanza

Event organisers also benefit from digital twins of venues. While business travel budgets may remain tight, Deloitte’s 2022 Travel Industry Outlook found “travel that helps establish and foster client relationships is the most essential to success…Trips to visit prospects and network at conferences will likely come back strongest.”

By embedding 3D tours and in-depth spatial insights into your website, you create an immersive experience for event bookers, without them having to travel.

Digitising the built world accelerates the booking process as event organisers attend remote viewings and gain an in-depth understanding of your venue (including measurements).

This information is easily shared digitally with stakeholders without the need for multiple site visits, reducing costs and saving precious time. 

Germany’s Lindner Hotels & Resorts experienced 25% more online engagement with its virtual event staging.

Planners moved virtually through event rooms, reconfiguring furniture and decorations to scope out the perfect event plan through ultra-realistic 3D floor plans, simultaneously accessible from any device, anywhere.

The ability to wow potential visitors is essential for booking conversion. Says Oliver Stotz, Corporate Director of Marketing and Distribution for Lindner Hotels & Resorts: “We wanted potential guests to have even richer details about our properties. We want them to experience our hotels long before they set foot in one.”

More than words

If a picture speaks a thousand words, then a 3D tour boasts encyclopaedic knowledge.

Matterport’s digital twins provide a replica of an entire property, allowing potential bookers to walk through the space and receive a true sense of place evoked through the sights and stories which can be shared through tags.

Deloitte found “home-like amenities, such as kitchens, adjoining rooms, and space to work” are key requirements for travellers.

With 74% of people re-researching a trip after booking - seeking extra assurances in their choice - the in-depth spatial showcase of advanced 3D tours reassures guests that they have made the right decision. 

Call the sledgehammer

Away from sales and marketing departments, 3D models have deeper operational benefits.

RPM Pizza (the USA’s largest Domino’s franchisee) captures store interiors, using the detailed spatial data library when working on renovation projects and planning new stores.

By sharing the content with designers and builders, the time it takes to construct a new store has fallen by 50% - from one year to just six months.

Teams have less need to be onsite, planning remotely without compromising on the data they need.

Hospitality brands can capture spaces to review brand compliance or achieve more realistic, tailored maintenance and renovation plans.

High-fidelity 3D models allow you to transport your property to contractors and vendors, removing the risk of costly call-out charges.

Spatial data insights (such as the width of a room, the placement of windows, the location of pillars) let you obtain more accurate quotations for work, without spending excessive man-hours escorting companies around your space.

Immersive training environments 

KLM Airlines has adopted Matterport to create a digital twin of each type of aircraft, receiving nearly one million views, that is helping to train ground crews, flight attendants and pilots. 

“Cleaning crews work more efficiently, flight attendants learn the layout of an aircraft ahead of time, and pilots reference digital twins during safety checks. 

“With remote access to digital twins, trainees avoid disrupting the maintenance work of an aircraft, enabling our fleet to return to service faster. All of this adds up to performance efficiency,” said Chris Koomen, virtual reality specialist at KLM.

Right here, right now

A world in which space can be easily shared - regardless of timezone, post code or language - exists thanks to today’s technology.

By creating a digital twin, your property works harder and smarter alongside your wider team to grow and support your business.

Digital-savvy customers expect more from their online experience than ever before.

Transforming your space into spatial data so they, and you, can understand, explore and experience it from anywhere at any time will be a cornerstone of business success for hospitality companies.  

Matterport a leading the digital transformation of the built world. The company’s spatial data platform turns buildings into data to make nearly every space more valuable and accessible. Millions of buildings in more than 177 countries have been transformed into immersive Matterport digital twins to improve every part of the building lifecycle from planning, construction, and operations to documentation, appraisal, and marketing. Learn more at matterport.com and browse a gallery of digital twins