You know those arguments where an offended party states, “It’s not what you said, but it’s how you said it”?
We need to keep that in mind when trying to reach Millennials. If we want our message to be heard, we have to deliver it the right way.
And how exactly do you do that?
One way is through technology. At The Pfister Hotel, we’ve started Augmented Reality (AR) tours. You can learn some of the details from the press release if you’re interested. I also discuss AR in detail in my upcoming book, “I’m Not Buying It,” to be released in January.
The Pfister is the first hotel in the U.S. to make an augmented reality (AR) tour available to guests. Participants download a free AR app to their smartphone. The app prompts them on a guided tour of the hotel’s extensive art collection.
The tour also can be viewed through Google glasses and similar devices. It’s pretty cool stuff; you really should check it out.
The tour provides a real-time, digital, full-motion experience for guests, featuring games, videos and other graphics. The app is free and is available for download on www.pfisterAR.com, where you also can learn about the tour and how it works.
It’s ironic in many ways – using the latest technology to help connect a new group to a 120-year-old hotel. Yet at the most basic level, it’s telling the same story. It’s not what we’re saying, but how we’re saying it.
One other key AR point: As stated, The Pfister is the first U.S. hotel to offer the AR tour. Innovation is a key component of the hotel’s history.
For example, The Pfister was the first commercial building in the state of Wisconsin to have electricity. It also was the world’s first hotel to have individual thermostat controls in each room. (SC Johnson, the company that built the thermostats, was next door to The Pfister at the time.)
What’s next on the AR front? We’ll additional stops on The Pfister tour, to be sure. More of our hotels will offer AR tours of their own, too.
And why not? We have great stories to tell. It’s all about finding ways to be heard.
