The metaverse now has its first hotel complex

19-08-23

LEVENverse, a hotel within a hotel. Leven is a hotel company that opened its first hotel in Manchester in November 2021. The 42-room hotel is located in a former red brick warehouse typical of Manchester buildings from the first half of the 20th century. The hotel has been designed down to the smallest detail to make guests' stay an experience.

Now, that experience is brought to the metaverse in the form of a second virtual hotel that complements the services of a real hotel where you can stay for between 230 euros and 520 euros a night. The virtual space, like the real one, has its limitations, which is why the LEVENverse hotel is spread over three virtual floors.

The resort has been built on a virtual plot of land at Fashion Estate in Decentraland, one of the largest virtual real estate marketplaces built on Ethereum blockchain. The virtual space has been designed by an architect and, among the usual hotel spaces, offers unique virtual experiences. For example, raffles and competitions are organised in the virtual hall, face-to-face physical activity and meditation sessions are complemented by guided sessions in the metaverse.

The hotel has limited space, so it uses the metaverse to create a wider cultural offer. These include the art gallery, which exhibits works by digital artists and creators who can sell their work in the form of NFTs.

The art gallery is envisioned as a real-world exhibition hall, showcasing a variety of local artists and exhibitions of cultural interest. The hotel chain is studying the implementation of a cryptocurrency payment system to be consistent with the virtual technology of its establishment.

By the end of 2021, the industry estimated that the metaverse had an investment potential of $800 billion. Since then, the metaverse has suffered several setbacks and even Meta, its main proponent, has thrown in the towel, acknowledging that it was a mistake.

This does not imply that the use of the metaverse is not useful as a complement to certain sectors, such as the hotel industry, where differentiation in experiences is constantly being sought. The Spanish hotel chain RIU Hotels & Resorts has also used the metaverse as an experience so that guests can virtually visit the centrally located RIU Plaza España hotel in Madrid and walk through some of the rooms before booking. However, this experience will never be able to emulate the real feeling of being on holiday.