Following its introduction of The Park VR System at IAAPA Europe Expo, The Park Playground has announced that the first customer for its new turnkey VR facility solution is Europe’s leading premium holiday village operator, Center Parcs.
Center Parcs will open the new co-branded VR offering to guests on Oct 23, in Park Hochsauerland, Winterberg, Germany, with an intention to further extend the Park VR System in additional parks. During their one-hour experience, players can choose to help a museum professor trapped in ancient Egypt in Mask of the Pharaoh, travel through space in Mission Planet X or escape a haunted house as quietly as possible in Don’t Scream.
All the experiences use mobile headsets so players are untethered – something which The Park Playground is known for across all its operated or franchised locations – and will be available in multiple languages including German, English and French to cater for the families and groups that visit Center Parcs from all over Europe.
The VR facility, which gives guests the chance to transport themselves to other worlds, takes up less than 100m² of space in the village’s entertainment complex. This new entertainment option for guests – which will be installed in the space in just three weeks – enables Centre Parcs to benefit from the highest revenue return per m² in the location-based VR market.
This high earning potential is made possible by the minimal resources needed to staff and operate The Park VR System facility, its relatively low investment requirements, and its throughput of 16 guests per hour. This means Center Parcs will be able to generate much more of a return than was previously possible with the space, which was housed by two squash courts.
“We designed The Park VR System as a solution to fulfil customer demands for more immersive entertainment in the easiest and most cost-effective way possible,” commented Peter Vindevogel, CEO at The Park Playground. “We couldn’t be more excited that the first leisure operator to recognise the huge benefits that the system can bring them is one that we share a lot of values with. Center Parcs is an incredibly well-renowned, premium brand and we’re thrilled that The Park Playground gets to be a part of creating memorable vacations for their guests.”
Ruud Rerink, product director, Center Parcs Europe, added: “At Center Parcs we are constantly looking at new and unique experiences to further enrich our guest experience. With the introduction of this brand new, family-friendly virtual reality experience we are happy to introduce a new experience in Park Hochsauerland that lets guests experience the unlimited world of VR, while inside our unique, natural parks. Partnering with The Park gives us the confidence that we have a high-end, constantly evolving offer.”
Other features of The Park VR System include full on-site training for Center Parcs’ staff, continual online training to keep staff up to date on new features and KPI tracking with their key account management team. The team at Center Parcs will also benefit from 7-days a week technical support and an easy-to-use ticketing system for ordering spare parts and reporting repairs if needed.
