Last weekend, reports from MGM Resorts Intl revealed the hospitality firm was adopting virtual reality (VR) hardware to facilitate immersive onboarding processes for job seekers.
To combat recent staff shortages, the firm turned to VR to improve the onboarding experience for potential MGM Resort workers and to attract new hires, MGM will reveal its onboarding solution at employment centres and career fairs ahead of its January 2021 release date.
The VR process includes immersive learning modules such as dealing with difficult customers, where the training scenarios help inform potential hires of their required responsibilities when performing their duties at MGM locations.
Laura Lee, Chief HR Officer at MGM Resorts, told Business Insider that “it can be very difficult just to verbally explain the types of positions or show a video.”
Lee said MGM’s innovative approach would allow job seekers can just “throw a headset on and really experience the job,” adding she believed MGM’s VR training processes could also reduce staff turnover.
An MGM Resorts annual report in 2020 revealed the hospitality firm faced staff reductions due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.
Because of this, many MGM Resort locations such as casinos and hotels were hit with understaffing, although recent reports have shown the Nevada-based firm reinstated a majority of its staff.
VR for Hospitality
The news from MGM Resorts comes as more and more hospitality firms invest in VR solutions to boost customer-facing and onboarding processes.
Last year, Hilton Hotels partnered with Meta, formerly Facebook, and SweetRush to integrate Oculus for Business tools across its global locations.
More recently in May, the World Economic Forum released a report stating that extended reality (XR) solutions could boost the embattled tourism industry via immersive and interactive experiences.
Last November, the annual Tourism Innovation Summit (TIS) took place in Seville, Spain, which explored the benefits of tapping XR in hospitality and tourism amid the current COVID-19 environment.
At the event, the Touristech Startup Fest, an accelerator event, saw a panel of judges select four out of 400 tourism tech startups to showcase at the TIS. The event also acted as a outreach hub to help foster a community of technology startups with an official TIS online atlas.
