How will Apple’s new Vision Pro AR/VR headset impact hospitality?

On February 2, 2024 Apple started selling its Vision Pro in the U.S. The device price starts at $3,499 with 256GB of storage. There have been over 200,000 pre-orders for the Apple Vision Pro since its unveiling in June of 2023.

No doubt, the Apple Vision Pro is a revolutionary spatial computer that seamlessly blends digital content with the physical world, while allowing users to stay present and connected to others. This is, indd, the most innovative Apple product since the iPhone.

The breakthrough design of Vision Pro features an ultra-high-resolution display system that packs 23 million pixels across two displays, and custom Apple silicon in a unique dual-chip design to ensure every experience feels like it’s taking place in front of the user’s eyes in real time.

The question is, what impact will this new headset have on travel and hospitality in particular?

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 headset will be revolutionary for gamers, elite Apple fans and the military. Will it have a big impact on 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 12 years ago. In 2012, 3D television shipments totaled 41.45 million units, compared with 24.14M in 2011 and 2.26M in 2010. By 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? Requirement to wear a device - in this case 3D goggles - while watching 3D TV programs when you are comfortably lounging at home in your shorts, T-shirt and slippers. Consumers hated doing that.

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

I believe, outside of a dedicated but limited in size audience, headsets like Vision Pro, Meta Quest Pro, Sony VR2 or the upcoming in 2024 Google AR/VR Headset are and will have a limited impact on travel and hospitality.

I see some potential uses of headsets in travel planning or as a paid auxiliary service at the property (Ex. Apple Vision Pro Studio, etc.). I am sure in the future there will be other clever applications for this and other headsets, but none of them will be earth shuttering.

In my view, augmented reality (AR) will have a much bigger impact on travel and hospitality by enabling AI tour/sightseeing guides, virtual museum and art gallery narrators, and myriad other applications. But the future for mass adoption of augmented reality is not in headsets, but in giving your smartphone - a device you always carry with you anyway - augmented reality 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 AR tech capabilities.