ZANADU, a Chinese lifestyle travel platform, has today revealed a virtual reality (VR) concept store in Shanghai Village called Travel Experience Space.
The store combines 360-degree VR experiences with digital point-of-sale (POS) terminals, as well as a integrating of mobile apps, e-commerce and social media. The VR content at ZANADU Travel Experience Space includes films showcasing some of the world’s best hotels, destinations and activities. So before visitors to the store make a booking they’ll be able to experience the travel destination to help make their decision.
The company uses Samsung Gear VR head-mounted displays (HMDs) in combination with the latest Galaxy S7 smartphones. Dirk Eschenbacher, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of ZANADU said in a statement: “Our VR films work as a teaser, which provide travellers with a virtual experience of what the real vacation could be like. They can immerse themselves into spectacular destinations, living in luxury resorts, explore the wonders of the world and learn everything about their next adventure, before they actually go there. And then they can purchase travel products that are beautifully curated on our website and App.”
The store is themed around a digital balloon journey, made up of hundreds of physical pixels, to create the atmosphere of a cyberspace. In the middle is the VR experience stage, with 5 massive balloons suspended in air. There are also 20 destination cubes with digital books, other cubes are made of leather, grass and colourful glasses.
So after the VR experience, guests can continue to browse through travel ideas in each of these cubes. The digital book allows guests to browse ZANADU’s luxury travel products in that particular destination, including boutique hotels, private villas, domestic short trips, luxury packages, bespoke journeys and high-end cruises.
“The ZANADU Travel Experience Space opens the door to the future of travel. It is a revolutionary innovation in Travel Retail industry, and a milestone breakthrough for ZANADU after the launch of the Travel VR App,” said Zan Wu, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ZANADU. “As the leading luxury travel expert in China, we are committed to developing new and creative travel products that resonate with the discerning Chinese luxury travellers, as well as producing more exciting travel content that will be shown in our WeChat channel, the newly launched ZANADU Travel Life magazine, the Travel Experience Space, and in traditional video format as well as VR.”
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