SUMMARY

Hotel Borg, Iceland 

The first virtual product ever. The second was Porsche. My role (I was the visionary, creative mind behind this new concenpt, Lead Designer, Programmer, Project Manager).

Hotel Borg is the oldest (Built in 1928), the most beautiful and exclusive hotel in the heart of Reykjavik, Iceland. I was lucky to live and work in Reykjavik for 15 months. Then, not many people knew about Iceland or had it on their vacation bucket list. Fortunately, Iceland is becoming very popular and more tourists are discovering this amazing country with its unique and wild natural landscape. An Icelandic expression says, "why go to the moon when you can come to Iceland". That still makes me laugh.

The hospitality industry is a tough business and offering the best guest experience and service while staying competitive is a challenge, especially in Iceland with many hotels to choose from and not quite enough visitors to fill the rooms.

• Identify and analyze the problem: low occupancy.
• Research new markets, showcase hotel's features and services.
• Find a solution. Increase site visitors. Set trend.
• Solve the biggest problems: Increase visibility & improve the reservation system.

• Build an interactive and user friendly website.
• Improve the visitor experience, determine how?
• Increase reservation revenue and returning guests retention.

• Returning guests improved by 60%.
• The virtual and interactive concept was a huge success and we decided to work on more virtual projects such as Virtual Iceland, Virtual Reykjavik, Virtual Tourist, Virtual Airport, Virtual Bali, etc…
• This concept became the new standard and the technology used today.

1. Identify the problem

In the year 2000, the internet and web design was still a baby trying to stand up and take its first steps. Technical/programing languages (CSS, Javascript etc.) had their own limits. Every business that had a website, also had the same old static images of their product. I thought about a way to capture the attention of more tourists. The rooms were expensive and convincing customers to choose this hotel over many others was a huge challenge. I had to find a way to bring the client into the beautiful space so they could feel as if they were already there. Panoramic images and a virtual tour of the hotel and its various rooms was the logical way to achieve this.

2. Research/analyze, showcase the features and services of the hotel

A picture is worth a thousand words. But one interactive image is priceless. By building interactive and panoramic images of the hotel and rooms I would give visitors the feeling that they were already there and walking through the building. Get them curious, involved and make them fall in love with the setting, and as a result, actually reserve the room. We presented the floor plan of the hotel, with a list of different types of rooms. Blue dots represented the space in which virtual tours were available and the red dot was the active virtual tour. The concept was clear and no explanation was necessary. Visitors found this very easy to understand and use.

3. Find a solution. Improve the site visitors, set trend

A simple survey taken within the hotel guests, and people on the street, gave me a clear picture of what they would love to see before making a reservation. The reaction from the visitors, and everyone that visited the new and interactive website, was beyond my expectation. The website became a top ranked site.

4. Solve the problem. Improve reservations. Retain repeat guests.

As a result we improved the returning guests by 60%. The virtual and interactive concept was a huge success and we decided to work on more virtual projects such as Virtual Iceland, Virtual Reykjavik, Virtual Tourist, Virtual Airport, Virtual Bali, etc… The rest is history and Virtual Tours / Panoramic Images concept became the new standard and the technology used today.

Virtual / Interactive maps

Virtual Iceland

An interactive list of major excursions, with estimated traveling time.

Virtual Reykjavik

An interactive list of theaters, cafes, restaurants, museums etc… By a simple click, you can see the results on a map. Another simple hover will tell you the name of the place and the street. Map is zoomable for easier viewing.