On a Thursday afternoon at Hilton’s headquarters in McLean, Virginia, several team members are in a conference room, excitedly awaiting their turn. They are huddled around two colleagues, each wearing an Oculus headset, clutching controllers and participating in a fully immersive and surprisingly engaging competition. The objective: Set up as many room service trays as possible within two minutes.
“Our goal was to make our corporate team members virtually sweat,” says Blaire Bhojwani, Hilton’s Senior Director of learning innovation. “We want them to understand the physicality and complexity of hotel operations so they can better feel what it’s like to be in the shoes of a room service attendant.”