Like with any new technology, a number of hospitality industry experts predicted that Apple’s new headset would have a huge impact on travel and hospitality.

My take? Let’s not get carried away! Apple’s new VR/AR glasses will be revolutionary for gamers, elite Apple fans and the military. Will it affect hospitality? Not in the near and midterm.

Apple’s Vision Pro is immaculately designed, yet it’s just a headset. A device you have to put on in order to submerge yourself into the virtual world or augment the real world.

Vision Pro aficionados could learn a thing or two from… the 3D TV craze 11 years ago. In 2012, 3D television shipments totaled 41.45 million units, compared with 24.14 in 2011 and 2.26 in 2010.

In late 2013, the number of 3D TV viewers started to decline, and in 2016, development of 3D TV was limited to a few premium models. Production of 3D TVs ended in 2016.

The main reason why according to researchers? Requirement to wear 3D goggles while watching a 3D TV program, while you are comfortablly lounging at home in your shorts, T-shirt and slippers. Consumers hated doing that.

Now comes the Apple headset craze, requiring you to wear headsets?

I believe headsets like Vision Pro, Meta Quest 2 or Oculus will have a very limited impact on travel and hospitality, if at all.

The the future is not in headsets, but in giving your smartphone - a device you always carry with you anyway - augmented reality (AR) capabilities. Just point it at anything and the information layers magically appear on the screen.

For example, companies like GoSpooky have been able to achieve miracles with smartphone-based tech capabilities.

Max Starkov
Hospitality & Online Travel Tech Consultant & Strategist

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