As the American advertising and PR agency Ypartnership investigated, 57% of all leisure travelers and 46% of business travelers want to see a 360° virtual tour as a decision-making aid on a hotel’s website. More than 50% of respondents use virtual tours in their online research, and the trend is rising.

78% of respondents express that visual impressions of the ambiance are their primary criterion for booking decisions. In a study of 130,000 „unique consumers“ by the hotel chain Omni Hotels, it was found that the conversion rate among the group of consumers who had seen a virtual 360° tour was 2.9 times higher than the control group. Overall, this group was 67% more likely to book ultimately.

In addition, the study revealed that a hotel’s 360° tour is also an important customer acquisition tool on third-party websites.

Nearly 30% of consumers who viewed the virtual tour on a third-party website visited the Omni website. Of these, a significant percentage made a booking.

These results demonstrate the value of 360° tours and their critical impact on the consumer decision-making process.  

Best Western Chain determined the significant added value of a 360° presentation and virtual reality technology for the hotel industry.

Hotels with a virtual 360° tour were able to record up to 48% more bookings.  Due to the impressive and unexpected result, Best Western International decided to deploy a 360° virtual reality experience for all 2,000 hotels in North America in order to significantly increase sales.