COLLEGE PARK, MD—As a result of COVID-19 and the restrictions on travel and gathering, The Hotel at the University of Maryland, a luxury hotel and conference center adjacent to the University of Maryland (UMD), and its managing company Southern Management Corporation, have launched digital solutions to provide clients with tools to virtually experience and interact with its properties and event spaces.
“Our goal is to provide clients with the opportunity to begin planning now, even if they are unable to be on site,” said Jeff Brainard, VP of sales and marketing at Southern Management Corporation. “We must be ready to respond to the needs of the market as soon as it recovers and, in the meantime, interactive video technology can help us overcome some of the challenges that have surfaced as a result of the pandemic.”
One of the services being utilized, Realync, is a platform that allows for live interactive video tours of sites. These live video tours will allow meeting and event planners from around the world to take guided, customized site tours of The Hotel without boarding a plane or stepping onto the property. At the conclusion of the tour, the recorded video is automatically emailed to the client, where it can be saved and forwarded to other key decision-makers. Additionally, The Hotel has partnered with multiple video-conferencing companies to complement in-house capabilities by connecting groups of any size from anywhere around the globe.
“These new virtual opportunities will be key in helping our teams drive toward building a strong future. We want to provide our team and clients with hope and show that we are working with them to bring business back to our properties as quickly as possible,” said Brainard. “There are actions we can take today to shape our future, provide for our team members, and help our industry recover—the future is what we make of it, and we know there are very bright days ahead.”