Marcus Hotels & Resorts has announced that its flagship property, The Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, Wis. will be the first hotel in the U.S. to offer an augmented reality (AR) tour available to guests. To be launched during Milwaukee’s Gallery Night Friday, October 17, participants will be invited to download an AR application from their smartphone that will prompt them on a guided tour of the hotel’s extensive art collection.
At launch, ten of the items in the hotel’s world-renowned art collection will be interactive, with the goal of adding additional pieces in the coming months. The tour provides a real-time, digital, full motion experience for guests, featuring games, videos and other graphics. The app is free and is available for download on www.pfisterAR.com where guests can learn about the tour and how it works. The app will also be available on the Apple Store and Google Play, and can be used on any smartphone or Epson or Google Glass wearable.
“We now have the ability to provide millennials and tech-savvy guests the opportunity to connect and engage with a 120 year old hotel in a modern format. What a perfect way to visually learn about the story behind the pieces and engage with the items that make this historic hotel so unique. Many guests of the Pfister are interested in the stories and history behind this landmark hotel – AR will help us tell those stories better than ever before. We are excited to be the first hotel to offer a state-of-the-art augmented reality tour such as this and hope to expand the technology to other locations in the future,” said Chris Anderson, senior vice president of Marcus Hotels & Resorts.
Augmented reality, a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented, or supplemented, by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data, is gaining popularity among marketers. “AR is a creative way to capture our customer’s attention, and allows them to see our brand in a new way and engage with us on a completely new level,” added Anderson.
