Probably realizing that the No. 1 cause of its hotels failing to extract every penny of potential revenue stems from guests’ irritating tendency to leave their hotel rooms, Marriott is taking steps to fix that. Digital Spy reports the hotel chain is testing a new feature called VRoom Service that allows guests to take a virtual-reality tour of exotic locations around the world, in the form of immersive ”postcards” that can be viewed via a Gear VR headset. And, much like postcards themselves, you’ll probably enjoy looking at them once, then let the Gear VR headset fall behind the desk, where it’ll be discovered years later by robots scanning Earth’s surface for more humans to enslave and put to work in the moon farms.
Unlike recent plans by Oculus VR or the new virtual reality film festival, this VR experience will be available solely through the magical experience of a staying in a Marriott hotel suite. Currently, there are only three VR postcards available: one in the mountains of Chile, one from a Chinese street market, and one that places you squarely in the midst of a rural Rwandan village, the last surely being one of history’s most relaxing and tourist-appealing sites. But Marriott isn’t trusting just anyone with its first round of VRoom Service—no, it’s reserving these initial flights of state-fair-level wonderment for guests staying in its London Park Lane and New York Marquis locations. So for now, you’ll probably have to continue using your dumb legs like a sap, exerting physical effort and copious time if you want to seek out beautiful and exotic locales. Or, you could just continue watching the National Geographic Channel. That is also an option.