Beyond Reality: Examining the Opportunities and Challenges of Cross-Border Integration between Metaverse and Hospitality Industries

ABSTRACT The study explores the opportunities and challenges that the cross-border integration of “Metaverse + hotel” brings to visitors and the hospitality industry. The study analyses the engagement differences between Metaverse hotels and traditional online/offline strategies regarding engagement immersion, community interaction, personalization, environmental perception, and participation. Metaverse hotel brings the impact of realistic environmental simulation, personalized service, customer engagement, and consumer follow-up feedback. Further, it brings to the hospitality industry the impact of enhancing organizational performance, co-creating value for stakeholders, influencing customer relationship management, and changing how managers communicate. Finally, Metaverse technology raises challenges of security issues, technical barriers, high costs, and uncertain user needs.