Millennium Hotels and Resorts opened its M Social metaverse hotel on Decentraland to become the first-ever hospitality group to do so, the company announced on Thursday.
Decentraland’s Genesis Plaza will host the digital lodge, which aims to communicate M Social’s branding as well as promote the development of a virtual community on the platform.
Visitors to M Social Decentraland can meet at the hotel’s lobby, where they are greeted by an avatar assistant, and users arriving at the top of Decentraland can potentially win prizes at physical hotels.
The announcement comes as the franchise plans to discuss future collaborations over the next few months, as well as launch several contests on the M Social Decentraland platform, namely for holidays such as New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and others, the company said in a statement.
Kwek Leng Beng, Executive Chairman of Millennium and Copthorne Hotels Ltd, said that the M Social metaverse was “about being different” and “one of a kind.”
He continued, stating,
“As we look towards the future, we need to look past the traditional model of hospitality and engage our guests through new immersive experiences. We hope to redefine hospitality through M Social Decentraland by creating online adventures that integrate with real life events”
According to Saurabh Prakash, Group Senior Vice-President for Commercial, the hospitality industry was “rapidly-evolving” and his firm has begun “embracing different technologies to engage customers and enhance guest experiences.”
He explained further, adding,
“The metaverse is one such avenue that presents a myriad of opportunities for us to create unique social connections with our guests. M Social Decentraland will enable us to reach out to new and existing customers in both the physical and virtual world with online connection to offline engagement”
Launched in Singapore in 2016, M Social has moved to the Metaverse along with numerous other hospitality firms. The major brand currently has hotels based in New York, Singapore, Auckland, and Paris, among others, and has stated it plans to expand to more locations as well as outreach targets.
Genesis Plaza. PHOTO: Decentraland
M Social’s efforts come just months after Marriot Bonvoy, one of the world’s top hospitality firms, launched an NFT art project with three artists to promote global tourism in December last year.
MGM Resorts also employed virtual reality (VR) solutions to tackle onboarding targets for new hires, which feature immersive trainers to prepare for difficult customers and resolve key hospitality issues.
UAE-based DAMAC Properties also revealed plans to develop its own Metaverse platform on The Sandbox, complete with NFTs and virtual land, for some of the most luxurious hotels in the industry.
