Want to trade in the azure blue Caribbean waters outside your window for Pirates of the Caribbean on the Wii? Prefer Woody Allen’s Manhattan to the sights and sounds of the real Manhattan? Find it easier to explore the Rocky Mountains on Google Earth than lacing up hiking boots?
The Ritz-Carlton, Naples apparently has just the thing for those who want to get away from it all… without really getting away from it all. The company’s new “virtual user experience” (or Vue) in Naples, Florida gives hotel guests access to all the digital comforts of home during their stay in “the crown jewel of Southwest Florida.”
That includes 40-inch Samsung LCDs with access to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii, personal 19-inch flat-screen televisions with connected DVD players, iPod docking stations, Mac stations, and the main attraction: a 63-inch LCD mated with a Blu-ray player, remote touch pad, and Bang and Olufsen surround sound system.
Vue even includes a conspicuous green color scheme that looks like it could be ripped right out of Microsoft’s E3 booth.
The Ritz-Carlton claims its staffed by “experienced gamers,” but you can push away any thoughts of hosting late-night fragfests fueled by room service nachos and Mountain Dew: it’s open from 3 pm to 9 pm daily, for guests only.