Technology

Posted on January 4, 2019 by staff

AR convinces travel giant to move Manchester base

Technology

Augmented reality was used to entice a leading travel company to move its base in the heart of Manchester.

Key Travel, which recently announced a merger with Raptim Humanitarian Travel, is moving into the newly refurbished ninth floor of Bruntwood’s landmark St James’ building on Oxford Road.

The merged company, the world’s largest travel management company exclusively focused on the academic, humanitarian and faith sectors, has more than 500 employees in ten countries and sales of over £350 million.

It also has UK offices in London, Newcastle, Liverpool and Edinburgh.

Bruntwood harnessed projection mapping and AR to showcase the ninth-floor suite, creating a bespoke app to provide potential customers with an immersive viewing experience. BusinessCloud visited the building last year to see the AR app in action.

“Following our work to regenerate the suite, we harnessed technology in the form of an AR experience to animate the space and show its potential to viewers, but there’s nothing quite like seeing a company move into a new suite and bring it to life by putting their own stamp on the space,” said Adam Selka, senior asset manager at Bruntwood Works.

“The ninth floor at St James’ is a unique space in the city, offering a spacious, dynamic open plan environment in a beautiful period property complete with outstanding contemporary features, facilities and amenities.

“St James’ also offers customers excellent connectivity, and great access to a vibrant community of the most innovative and exciting organisations in the region.”

John O Sullivan, managing director for Key Travel in the UK, said: “Although we continue to grow our company globally, our Manchester office has always been and will continue to be the heart of our operations.

“The move to St. James’ will reinforce our presence in the city whilst perfectly accommodating our objectives for future growth and providing a great working environment for our people.

“We are truly looking forward to becoming part of the history of this great building.”

Founded in 1980, Key Travel works with over 1,900 clients in 54 countries worldwide. It offers a range of travel support services for its clients including visa applications and passport renewals, risk management, rail, and hotel booking and management services.