Margreet Papamichael speaks in Richard Otten's latest Leisure podcast. This focuses, among other things, on the development of accommodations at amusement parks. What can existing hotels learn from these new concepts?
Although Margreet Papamichael has a background in leisure accommodation, in recent years she has primarily worked as an advisor for major developments in theme parks and destinations. In this, she sees an interesting development: “The offering of hotels and other forms of leisure accommodation is clearly creating a divide in the theme park market. Parks with accommodation provide a total experience. In fact, the guest no longer needs to leave the premises. Offering accommodation fits into a growth strategy, because the reach of these types of parks is slowly but surely expanding. This also translates into higher visitor numbers.”
Topics covered:
How does a hotel at an amusement park differ from regular hotels?
“The accommodations at attractions not only offer much nicer hotel rooms. They also know much better how to enter into a relationship with the guest. Their offer does not stop at offering a room with breakfast, but follows the entire path of a fun day out.”
What is the profile of the Dutch recreational sector compared to abroad?
Papamichael works primarily on international projects and has been back in the Netherlands for a year. This allows her to look at the Dutch recreation sector from a certain distance: “ We are not known for our innovative concepts. Dutch companies prefer to wait and see if something works well abroad. We are, however, known for very high quality. The Dutch are demanding, and that is reflected in the offerings.”
Location Based Entertainment
Location is an important element in making your product unique. After all, it cannot be copied . Offering unique and authentic experiences creates significant added value for your company. It has to be real – and authentic! Because consumers are becoming increasingly adept at spotting what is fake.
The development of visual techniques and immersive experiences
In it, Margreet shares her vision on the role of Virtual Reality (VR): “ I see little added value for VR at attraction locations. The headset causes you to lose the connection with your group. VR does offer great new opportunities to convey an experience. But I mainly see applications in the home setting, with which you can, for example, stimulate anticipation and look back afterwards. In that case, VR is used as a tool to encourage repeat visits.”
Also listen to the experience Margreet had with the immersive experience of the ' Secret Cinema ' in London. “I hope that such a concept comes to the Netherlands as well.”
Thanks to:
The guest of this episode: Margreet Papamichael , from Clear Associates (also Vice President of TEA Europe and Middle East )
The creator of the podcast: Richard Otten from Blogs4Travel and Team Animation
Listen to the podcast via: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0x4CQSs13TKgiIMEwLROj8?si=eQn3cOZARHqvTXKpUrAzjA
or below: