Planners who want to check out destinations, venues, entertainment, or other elements for their events now have a new way to do it without leaving their offices. Georama is a virtual reality travel platform that offers live tours in high-definition video. The company launched its consumer services in September, and now it is targeting the business sector, including planners, venues, and destination management companies.
“Our vision is to help people be where they can’t be,” says Nihal Advani, founder and C.E.O. of Georama. "We still believe strongly that nothing beats a physical trip, but at the same time many companies can’t afford either the time or money or both to go to every destination they are considering. So it’s a way to do your research, cut down your options and then maybe go physically, if you can, to your top location."
The company currently has 175 guides around the world, and Advani says he expects that number to grow. If a planner requests to see things in a city where there currently is not a guide, the company can either send a guide there or it can lease its technology to the venue or vendor to do the tour itself. Advani says the Hyatt Regency in Chicago is one of its first hotel clients.
Tours are conducted in real time with two-way audio so those watching can ask questions or request a closer look at something. “We’ve also had scenarios where maybe the decision-making team is three or four people but the company can only afford to send one person. So the others can virtually visit while the person who is there is taking a physical tour,” Advani says. The tours are done as a private stream, viewable only with an access code, and each tour is also recorded for viewing on demand.
The Georama software can be customized based on client needs. For example, it can be configured so those watching can bookmark specific moments in the video or add notes for future reference.
