I can't wait for more Google photo spheres when shopping for hotels and vacation rentals

I'm loving the high resolution 360 degree photo spheres that Best Western and Radisson are deploying on Google search, hotel finder, and maps.  Although this media still carries a hotelier's slant, the interactive richness gives viewers a much more spatial sense of hotel interiors over static photos.

Since I started working in hotels in 2006, I've always had this dream of taking photos of the interior space and external views of every hotel room in the world, and then organizing them so anyone could search through them to find the perfect room.  Clearly this was just a little itty-bitty dream . . .

A few sites like TripAdvisor or FlyerTalk let users search for and post individual room photos and views.  But finding high resolution photos of individual rooms on these sites is like rummaging through a junkyard for discarded computers with Bitcoins.

Then along came Room 77, a travel meta search site that aimed to create a search and review site aimed solely on individual hotel rooms.  They claimed to showcase the view of each guestroom from hundreds of hotels around the world.  My initial excitement for this site quickly wore off when I saw photo after photo of grainy low resolution approximations calculated using Google Earth.

Room 77's grainy room views, but super helpful floorplans

Just for kicks and giggles, I started my own Blogger site where I would share panoramic room views from the hotel rooms I would stay in.  Definitely not scalable, but just a pet hobby of mine to satisfy a guilty pleasure.

But if there's any company that can pull off my itty-bitty dream of organizing photo spheres of all the world's hotel rooms and panoramics of their views, it's most definitely Google.  And that's why I'm looking forward to more independent and chain hotels following the lead of Best Western's 2,200 North American properties and adding interior photo spheres to Google search.  This would be great for hotels that have unique spaces including wedding venues, fitness centers, and spas.  It would be a first of its kind for hotel shoppers who want the perfect room in that perfect hotel.  But this super rich content could potentially be the defining advantage Google hotel finder has over other travel meta search sites and OTAs to win hotel search volume and CPC spend.

Google and Room77 shouldn't have all the fun though.  HotelTonight is already leading the way in crowd sourcing mobile photos from individual rooms.  And I have no doubt that photo spheres and corresponding floor plans would improve the shopping experience on Airbnb listings above and beyond the positive impact their professional photography program has already made on average nightly rates and conversion . . . especially for larger, upscale, or uniquely designed one-of-a-kind spaces.

Seriously, could you imagine 360 degree tours (and floor plans) of all these ridiculously quirky Top 40 Airbnb picks?!?