Marriott Hotels has partnered with Academy Award-winning creative studio Framestore to create Marriott Hotel\u2019s virtual travel experiences.<\/p>\n During the virtual \u201cadventure,\u201d guests wearing an Oculus Rift DK2 headset are totally immersed in 4-D virtual reality giving them a 90-second \u201cvacation\u201d disembarking to London and Hawaii via a \u201cStar Trek\u201d-like transporter known as a \u201cteleporter.\u201d<\/p>\n The Teleporter seamlessly blends live-action 360-degree video with \u201cphotoreal\u201d computer-generated imagery (CGI). It was created by Relevent, an experimental marketing agency, and Framestore \u2014 the studio responsible for the \u201cphotoreal\u201d CGI in the recent film \u201cGravity.\u201d<\/p>\n Travel enthusiasts can actually see, hear and feel what it\u2019s like to be in far-flung destinations.<\/p>\n The Teleporter is just one component of the hotel chain\u2019s Travel Brilliantly campaign, which is striving to rebrand Marriott as \u201csomething a little more hip and high tech\u201d \u2014 something more than your average business hotel.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re pioneering what travel is going to mean in the future and how technology can enhance the experience,\u201d said Michael Dail, vice president of brand marketing for Marriott Hotels. \u201cMarriott is not that traditional company you once thought of.\u201d<\/p>\n On Oct. 26 in the lobby of the Marriott Marquis, guests lined up for the opportunity to be teleported halfway across the planet.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat this is, is 4-D emergent technology,\u201d said Stephanie Tiredo, a virtual \u201cstewardess\u201d with the Teleporter\u2019s staffing company.<\/p>\n While strapping a headset on each virtual vacationer, Tiredo explained, \u201cIt\u2019s basically a sensory deprivation pod that we put you in with the goggles mixing sound and visual effects, really giving you an exceptional sensory experience.\u201d<\/p>\n The brief but intense virtual \u201cjourney\u201d begins with the goggle-wearing vacationer listening intently to the stewardess\u2019s voice through the headset.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you get to your location, look up and down, left and right, turn around \u2014 it\u2019s 360 degrees,\u201d Tiredo said.<\/p>\n Gazing through the goggles, the virtual vacationers find themselves completely alone in a computer-generated version of the Marriott lobby bar surrounded by tables and a fireplace. The guests begin experiencing a sense of physically moving forward through the room as if standing on an invisible conveyor belt.<\/p>\n \u201cCheck out where you came from,\u201d instructs the headset voice. \u201cLook up at the ceiling. Down at the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n The guests see a circled map of the Hawaiian islands and are immediately transported there to find themselves standing on an island seeing ocean waves, hearing them crash on the shore, feeling \u2014 almost believing \u2014 they\u2019re actually there.<\/p>\n Suddenly, the guests are exiting to another virtual map with London, England circled. They experience being suspended, as if in a helicopter, above the city at night.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at the left-hand corner, you\u2019ll see Big Ben down there,\u201d intones the headset voice.<\/p>\n The virtual vacation then shifts back to the Marriott hotel lobby bar where the guests find a cocktail waiting for them. The experience is so real, it\u2019s hard for them not to reach out and grab a chair to pull it away and sit down.<\/p>\n \u201cAwesome and welcome back,\u201d concludes the virtual stewardess asking, \u201cHow was your trip?\u201d<\/p>\n The virtual \u201ctrip\u201d \u2014 the whole minute and a half of it \u2014 is over. But the experience isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Unbeknownst to them, a video has been made of the guests\u2019 virtual experience. Tiredo shows them a clip documenting their reactions to their virtual vacation. She tells them they can email it to themselves as a permanent visual and audial record of their experience.<\/p>\n \u201cIs everybody going to have one of these in their homes someday?\u201d asked one virtual guest.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can get it for home use right now,\u201d Tiredo said.<\/p>\n The Teleporter is just one interactive \u201cinnovative idea\u201d being shared by guests with the Marriott through its \u201cTravel Brilliantly\u201d contest. Contestants share their innovative ideas with the hotel chain, submitting written descriptions (up to 500 characters) of an idea answering a specific question posed during each entry period.<\/p>\n To enter Marriott\u2019s \u201cTravel Brilliantly\u201d contest, visit\u00a0travelbrilliantly.com<\/a>.\u00a0You must be a legal U.S. resident, a citizen of Canada (excluding Quebec) or the United Kingdom and be at least 18 years of age.<\/p>\n![\"Louise](\"https:\/\/sandiegodowntownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Louise-Roe-and-Newlyweds-for-Virtual-Travel-Marriottweb.jpg\")
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