Por stringnet
They say that the expression “doing a 360° turn” to refer to a radical change is a mistake. Because it is a complete lap that returns you to the starting point. But what if we told you that big changes can come from this angle? The advantages of 360 photos and videos for hotels are proof that if you can take a 360° turn and not end up in the same place as always, especially if you want to attract more guests and increase reservations.
BENEFITS OF 360° PHOTOS AND VIDEOS FOR HOTELS AND RESORTS
VIRTUAL TOURS
Remember that your client is not going to bother to see your hotel in person to decide if it is a good place or not. That is why 360 photos and videos are very useful when it comes to showing in detail the luxuries, comforts, and attractions of your establishment to your potential guests.
The videos of this format allow generating virtual tours. As if your client had hired a private tour of your hotel, they would explore each space of your establishment from the lobby, suites, rooms with sea views, terraces, swimming pools, and the natural landscapes that decorate your lodging center.
Virtual tours help customers to know where they are going to settle, to know what awaits them, and be more confident with the decision to schedule a reservation.
EFFECTIVENESS PROVEN BY GOOGLE ITSELF
Google conducted an experiment to find out if 360° video advertising generated more viewer engagement than traditional video.
It was a campaign with 2 ads for Columbia Sportswear, a sports and outdoor clothing brand. The first version of the ad was shot in 360°, while the other featured a standard format.
Typical metrics were analyzed on both ads, such as view rate and viewer retention. But a new engagement metric called “interaction rate” was also considered, which measured whether users interacted with the 360° video by dragging the viewer on a PC screen or tilting their smartphones.
These were the findings of the experiment:
- 360° video motivates viewers to see more and interact: The ad in this format had a higher click-through rate, revealing that viewers were more interested in watching the extended version of the video.
- Generates greater interaction with the viewer: The interaction rate, a metric that detects the frequency with which users explored the 360° functionality either by scrolling the image or tilting the cell phone, exceeded the viewing rates of that same ad. It was concluded that the 360° video prompted engagement through interactions, even if users did not watch more than 30 seconds of the video.
- 360 videos drive viewers to share, subscribe and watch other videos: The 360 videos beat the standard ad on all action metrics achieved, including views, shares, and subscriptions. Collectively, the 360° ad had 41% more earned actions than a traditionally shot video. It also generated more engagement with Columbia Sportswear’s YouTube channel than the standard ad.
- However, there was another discovery that was impressive: Because the ads were 60 seconds long, the only way the viewer could see the full version was by clicking on it.
So, Google believed that views for the extended version were going to come from clicks on the shorter 360° ad.
But they were wrong. People who saw the long version of the 360° ad were copying the URL to share it with others.
Messaging apps like WhatsApp and iOS Messenger were among the traffic sources for the 360° version, but not for standard video. The 360-ad had 46% higher views at the end of the experiment than the standard full-length version.
In addition, the 360° video was more efficient in terms of profitability, since its cost per view was lower when organic and paid views were combined.
INFLUENCE THE DECISION-MAKING OF YOUR POTENTIAL GUEST
- “But the hotel we saw has very nice panoramic videos on its website”
- “This hotel seems more reliable to me because it shows a tour of the establishment”
- ”The hotel showed a beautiful video with a view of the sea and I felt that I was really there“.
Many of these praises do not remain just as compliments without action.
These videos have the power to influence the decision of your potential guests when choosing an establishment to stay.
They tip the balance in favor of your establishment, making a person choose your hotel over another and make a reservation.
The reason is very simple: this format has a magical charm that helps it stand out among so many visual resources that abound on the Internet.
Sharing a 360 photos & videos on your website or social platforms can be a compelling reason for a guest to choose to stay at your hotel and discard the other options on their list.
HIGH BRAND RECALL
Another great advantage of 360 hotos & video for hotels is the enormous impact and permanence in the user’s mind.
The behavior of your guest before choosing a lodging is investigative. The guest then does an exhaustive search and comparisons of different hotels.
Among so many alternatives, you will only remember the one that stands out the most.
If your competition has not taken advantage of the benefits of 360 photos and videos and you have, it is more likely that the guest will remember you for your attractive panoramic video in which our all the comforts, attractive rooms of your hotel and surroundings.
HOLDS THE USER’S ATTENTION
With so much saturation of visual content on the internet, a video, however attractive and produced it may be, can be brutally ignored.
However, sharing 360° videos on platforms in your company’s profiles on YouTube or Facebook helps the user stay with your video.
The reason? People have to scroll the screen or tilt their devices to explore the widescreen video.
They will spend more time watching your footage as they are not just spectators, but protagonists of an immersive experience. In those moments all their attention is focused on your video.
VIRTUAL REALITY COMPATIBLE WITH BTL ACTIVATIONS
360° videos for hotels are not only for sharing on social networks but also for integration into your BTL campaign or brand activation. How? Well, immersing your client in the video thanks to its compatibility with Virtual Reality.
Through special viewers, attendees will be able to explore the beauty of your hotel in first person. From the entrance, passing through the rooms and the natural views that surround your establishment, as if at that precise moment they had been teleported to your hotel.
GIVE A “360° TURN” TO YOUR HOTEL WITH OUR SPHERICAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND VIDEOS SERVICE
Now you can say “my hotel had a 360-degree change” without being corrected thanks to the attractive and immersive videos of your accommodation with panoramic perspective.
At Strignet we film all the attractions of your hotel, resort, or establishment and turn them into 360 virtual tours that advance the experience.
We give you attractive pieces of photography and video that you can:
- Share on YouTube and social networks to trigger your interaction.
- Make them irresistible ads to increase your reservations.
- Upload on your website so that your potential guests virtually tour your facilities at any time.
- Publish in your feed to diversify your content and show yourself as a hotel that is always innovating.