The word Metaverse is defined by being broke into two parts[Meta = Beyond / Verse = Universe] and ultimately is touted as a beautiful virtual world where utopian immersive experiences are designed by users to interact and access services freely and easily from anywhere with a click/tap of a button, a gesture, or potentially a even a thought.
While the Metaverse is evolving rapidly with countless companies in an ‘experience-race’ to create the most realistic 3D environments, (one which Forbes says will be a $1 Trillion revenue opportunity) we still have a way to go for mainstream adoption. As of this writing, the eventual perfect portal is a polaroid, under construction, and open for many interpretations. But don’t let your Web2 mindset fool you, an eventual utopian Metaverse is a reality that is on it’s way with Billions of dollars being burned as fast as possible by top technology companies to fuel its arrival ASAP. So while we may be in a Nissan at the moment, the Rolls Royce version isn’t too far away,
While their busy doing that, the rest of us already see the best version of the Metaverse as moving from simply telling stories (Web2) to really living in them (Web3). Even for some of us non-techies, this is a thrilling concept with limitless possibilities to enhance our existence with real ‘nuts and bolts’ ideas, not just pie in the sky fantasies. Let’s take just look at one vertical, travel/tourism for an example and ‘see’ the potential the Metaverse has to take it to another level...
Consider how we use satellites to help us navigate the streets of a new city via our Maps, or how we live vicariously through the vacation videos on social media channels. IOW, we are already living in the future. What are we not seeing?
- Metaverse features that allows a visitor to tour a hotel room or resort before coming, even seeing and feeling something like view from the room and the sheet count. Most travel businesses are already using these ‘try before you buy’ options to convert guests.
2. The Metaverse booking experience, (with payments playing a key role), can feel even more comfortable when asking inquiries, customizing your trip, paying in a convenient trusted method, and perhaps even negotiating a better deal, making it more likely that a customer will complete their booking journey, rather than back out.
3. Customer service and operations would be better experiences (other than by phone or chat), where guests on-site enjoying “physical” vacations my go to the Metaverse to resolve a customer service issue, order room service, be upsold particular in-destination events, meet the manager (seen as an virtual human type avatar) who can tell you about trendy restaurants and the best boutique stores around, etc. This enhanced interaction will open up new possibilities and different ways in which a destination can help you and make your trip unforgettable.
4. How can the Metaverse affect employee interactions? They could lead guests on a tour of local attractions and museums, and owner could hire an employee in New York to run a hotel in California via a hologram, IOW, there is a lot of room for travel companies to establish a competitive advantage.
5. The look and feel of airports, aircrafts, train terminals, and other transportation and vehicles (as well as ticketing lines, boarding queues, and other passenger/traveler services) will alter as a result of the Metaverse, since the majority of travel will be leisure travelers. The inevitable domination of leisure travel will result in a renewed focus on pleasurable travel.
6. A related and very important Metaverse benefit: Inter-city community will be reduced as well. Our current infrastructure runs something like this, employees become more distant as they move further away from their corporate office to more affordable locations, employees will be allowed to gather and work together without wasting time and energy in long commutes everyday. Also, knowledge employees will benefit too, wind farm technicians, ferry crews, garbage and recycling collectors will be able to supervise autonomous cars/transportation and manage robotics from afar as the Metaverse works. This truth will disrupt what are today called critical services. Networked robotics are used already in police and firefighting. This will create more sustainable and efficient infrastructure.
7. Remote travel could also restrict health-related deficiencies, COVID, as a result our existing socially isolated ecosystem already allows travelers to be wherever they wish, whenever they wish. Until now, we’ve relied on 2D technologies like Google Earth and Google Maps to view foreign locales in real-time. In Metaverse, factors such as environment sustainability will benefit greatly, physical limitations and other health related issues will not hinder people from visiting locations they enjoy.
8. Metaverse could also bring stronger retailer=customer connections. Once the Metaverse is accessible to people of all walks of life, reliance on brick and mortar physical retail store model will decline to a very small footprint. Buyers will be able to see, “touch” and test the things they want to buy w/o having to leave their space using a VR headset. The Metaverse stores would shatter location-based limitations allowing them to engage with potential buyers all over the world. Supply and demand, IOW, may take on a broader global meaning than a country specific or region specific one. “Nearly 70% of Gen Z (ages 10–25, aka; ‘the future’) believe brands should sell products in the Metaverse.” — Ty Downing, CEO, MetaNAV
9. Other Metaverse in-experience advantages will put to the test current travel industry status quo’s like attractions, hotels, points of interests, onboard entertainment, booking sites and travel agents.
10. Everywhere I look hotels and resorts are preparing for an immersive experience like the Metaverse. One example is Ca’ di Dio. The 5-star hotel opened in 2021. The hotel held an NFT auction that sold for 1 Ether (the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum blockchain), worth around $3.280 at the time. Ca’ di Dio went down in history as the first hotel ever to offer NFT bookings and it just ignited the movement. Today, there are entire hotel booking platforms that turn each individual stay at each individual hotel room into an NFT you can buy for your own use or even sell it later on.
For NFT holders and lovers, around the world, these kind of advances are exciting. They will be able to experience as a community, a place to go to and be completely immersed in exceptional services, technologies, and NFT based experiences and membership rewards in both the physical world as well as in the Metaverse. (More on this later.)
While still in the early stages, and it’s too early to make definitive judgments, the Metaverse (or VR) as a whole does not provide the ‘actual experience’. Travelers understand that it's not just about gazing at things, even if the scenes become ultra-high resolution. It’s a whole sensory experience that encompasses everything, from the fragrance, to the weather/temperature, and most importantly the atmosphere >> the breeze that caresses your skin on a beach in the Caribbean cannot be captured in a VR headset. The awe you experience in a real experience is unparalleled in the Metaverse. A 360-degree view of Mount Everest’s summit is nothing compared to the sense of accomplishment you feel when you reach the peak in real life.
So, it’s safe to say that the Metaverse will not replace reality and it is not here to eliminate travel, that's silly, but it surely will bring something entirely new for all of us and younger audiences.
The bottom line
As the Metaverse evolves, so will the way travelers experience the world. Avatar-based travel agents will be able to provide customized, real-time recommendations for top destinations and experiences. From personalized, concierge services, beta releases for new luxury destinations, and more immersive virtual brand experiences, it will be a whole new ballgame when it comes to what traveling means. And in a virtual world where your every desire can be catered to, there’s no telling what new and exciting possibilities may lie ahead for Metaverse travel.
