From the concert hall to the VR world: The Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra enters hotel rooms through VR Hotelo

Virtual i augmented reality (VR/XR) are increasingly entering the tourism and hotel sector, and one of the most interesting domestic examples is the cooperation between the Croatian VR platform VR Hotelo and the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. 

This is a project that pushes the boundaries of hotel offerings and brings a completely new dimension of cultural experience, one in which art is not only listened to, but also experienced in the digital space of a hotel room.

Namely, the Croatian Technology Platform VR Hotel i Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra have achieved a collaboration that represents a step forward in digital transformation hotel experience and introducing cultural content into virtual reality.

VR Hotelo is an XR solution intended for the hotel industry that, through virtual reality, allows users to experience interactive content: from movies and games to music, and consists of multiple modules: reception, rooms and AI concierge.  The system is based on a proprietary application that runs within a VR headset and enables playback of audio and video content with advanced user gaze tracking and synchronized visual effects in real time. 

As an example of its application, the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, in collaboration with VR Hotel, has enabled listening to two concerts from its 2025/2026 season, it is a classical concert from the Red Cycle that opened this year's season and a concert of epic film music Achilles' Song by the young composer Ozren Glaser.

"The collaboration with VR Hotel has opened up a new space for experiencing music, one that combines artistic interpretation and spatial technology. Achilles' Song in a VR environment becomes an experience that is not only heard, but also seen and felt, which is completely in line with the idea of ​​the composition.", the composer said Ozren Glaser.

In a VR environment, users activate the music with their gaze, and while listening, they can follow an interactive visualization that adapts to the rhythm and dynamics of the performance. This form of display allows for a new type of relaxation and sensory stimulation, especially in the hotel context where VR Hotelo acts as a tool for personalized stay and digital wellness.

"VR Hotelo is a platform designed for implementation in hotel systems, but its reach is much broader as it allows listening to and displaying any musical content, from classical to contemporary music. Our goal is to provide guests with the opportunity to enter a world through a VR headset where technology is used to create a sense of presence, relaxation and emotional connection with the content.”, he said Ante Fumić, director of VR Hotel.

Hotels create tailor-made experiences based on real data and guest preferences.

If we know that today it is imperative to collect a database and profile guests for the purpose of personalized communication, both in sales and marketing, and during the stay itself - it is clear that a completely new dimension of the hotel experience is opening up. 

Imagine that family X comes to the reception, and you know from their previous stay that they like cultural activities. Instead of just a generic approach, the staff can tell them: we have prepared a special, personalized experience for you waiting for you in the room.

This is exactly the direction in which the modern hotel industry, at least according to my personal predictions and long-term monitoring of global trends, will inevitably take. We would be “crazy” not to go down this path, because the industry will very soon have all the necessary resources: data, technology, modular spaces, AI systems and AI digital assistants that enable real-time adaptation. Realistically, they already have practically all the tools, it is just a matter of fine tuning. 

And in such an environment, a personalized approach will no longer be an added value, but the most valuable element of the entire hotel experience.

This opens up space for a completely new  term in the hotel industry - "personalized rooms", hotel rooms that are tailored to different types of guests and their interests. This is a new category that is not yet being talked about, but according to my prediction, it is precisely this category that will become one of the key topics of the global hotel industry in the future, thanks to modular rooms, new building materials, digitalization and AI.

Full personalization: from communication, to in-room content, to the hotel and destination experience - that's the direction that's coming. And not just as a technological trend, but as a new level of guest expectations who want the feeling that their stay is unique, meaningful, and tailored just for them.

The collaboration between VR Hotel and the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra is a perfect example of how cultural content, through smart technology, becomes a tool for personalization and added value that changes the definition of a hotel stay.

In addition to the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra's content, VR Hotel users can also listen to music by composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Richard Strauss, and it is planned that by the end of 2025, the platform will fully enable access to other genres and sources of musical content.

"The Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra is always looking for ways to make classical music accessible to a wider audience and new generations. Through this collaboration, our performance becomes part of an innovative system that brings the concert atmosphere to a hotel room, without time or space constraints," she stated Natalia Tutek, Advisor to the Director for Business Development of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra.

This excellent example of collaboration has added value: it shows that domestic technology companies can create innovations that compete with global trends, but also that culture, i.e. cultural institutions, can find new models of distribution and audience precisely through tourism. 

If at the end of the VR experience a QR code or any direct link to the local cultural scene or in this case (if we are talking about Zagreb and the surrounding area) to the current program of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra is provided and the guest is allowed to immediately book or buy a ticket for a real-life experience (which will always be invaluable, because VR is just a new tool and medium), then we have rounded off the entire process. 

The digital experience is becoming bridge to a living experience, thus opening up a completely new conversion channel between the virtual and real worlds.

If we look at the development of tourism through the prism of content, experience and identity, VR Hotelo and the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra set a high standard for the consumption of culture and local identity. Because culture, or rather the cultural and creative industry (CCI) in a broader sense, gives rhythm, identity and life to cities, and tourism in the form of a tourist destination is what provides added value. 

Culture and way of life are written into the fundamental DNA of every destination, primarily through the quality of life of the local community, but also through added value and a differentiated tourism product.

Such collaborations and projects show exactly that: that authenticity and modern technology are not mutually exclusive, but rather complement each other and create a new generation of cultural-technological experiences.

*** VR Hotelo, in addition to the music experience, enables viewing of film content and authored VR games, and integrates into existing hotel systems as a multimedia platform for entertainment, education and relaxation. This creates a unique digital environment that combines content, space and user interaction.

The Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, an orchestra with more than 150 years of tradition of top-notch musicianship, acts as a cultural symbol of Zagreb and Croatia and a promoter of musical art on the domestic and international scene. It offers its programs in the Red, Blue and Off cycles and regularly collaborates with leading music institutions and festivals.