When the Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School (BMIHMS) at Torrens University Australia was established over thirty years ago, the simulated hotel learning environment at the Leura campus led the way in innovative teaching. Innovative thinking and industry leading pedagogy has always been in our blood. It’s why BMIHMS continues to produce world-class graduates and is leading the way in top quality education as the no.1 hotel management school in Australia and Asia Pacific.
Now in the digital age, BMIHMS is once again proving to be ahead of the pack; this time with the 2022 launch of their innovative Virtual Reality (VR) training hotel, taking educating the next generation of hotel leaders to a new frontier.
Available this year to bachelor-level students, the virtual training hotel can be accessed in a VR form using goggles to interact in life-like environments, or via an Extended Reality (XR) desktop version. Like the on-campus simulated hotel environment, the new VR hotel takes fully immersive, experience-based learning into the virtual space. Now, even students completing studies online can benefit from a fully immersive learning experience.
The VR hotel provides training through the completion of tasks and activities as you wander around the virtual hotel space. Students have to serve digital guests, inspect rooms, and make key decisions for the running of each department, just as they would in a regular hotel management role.
This new platform is an innovative learning experience that supports emotional intelligence development through scenario-based learning, responding to different situations and testing knowledge. The technology presents solutions for teaching and practicing soft-skills, such as empathy, listening and problem solving — skills that are in high demand from hotel employers today.
The exciting virtual hotel is a significant first step into VR learning spaces, and there will be more on the horizon. BMIHMS is leveraging this technology as a professional development tool for hotel industry employees.
For more information contact BMIHMS Industry Consultant Gareth Mayo via Gareth.Mayo@torrens.edu.au and Vanessa Falzon via Vanessa.Falzon@torrens.edu.au.