Holiday Inn launch the first ‘augmented reality hotel’
Holiday Inn bosses are hoping to excite guests over the summers Olympics, with various visuals including Nick Dempsey ‘windsurfing’ with a bed sheet in your hotel room.
The budget hotel chain have used the latest cutting-edge technology to create the worlds first ‘augmented reality hotel’. This allows virtual versions of Britain’s top athletes to be brought to life.
Yesterday guests at the Holiday Inn London Kensington Forum were able to see athletes in virtual action with the use of either their smartphone or tablet. Athletes appear around the hotel including locations such as the reception, corridors and bedrooms.
For the athletes to appear on the screen, guests must point their devices at specific sites around the hotel.
In the lobby BMX World Champion Shanaze Reader can be seen performing tricks, whereas the world’s number one Paralympic table tennis player Will Bayley can be seen hitting table tennis balls behind reception.
Jumping in the corridor is the UK’s long-jump record holder Chris Tomlinson, meanwhile in the hotel’s bedrooms Nick Dempsey – the leading windsurfer – surfs with the bed sheet.
Not only will guests be able to experience the stars in virtual motion, they will also be able to have their photo taken with all four of the athlete ‘auras’ in the hotel.
Nick Dempsey said: “Being able to pick up your phone and see athletes appear as if they were right in front of you in unbelievable and a great way to get people excited about the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games”.
The virtual stars can be seen in the hotel for the next two weeks.
Article by Charlotte Greenhalgh
