This was published 12 years ago
Hello, room service? I'd like virtual sex and dream control
By Oliver Smith
Contacting home .. a new report predicts that hotels of the future will offer virtual love-making.Credit: Getty Images
Virtual love making, dream management, and high-tech contact lenses that allow guests to check their emails will all feature in the hotel rooms of the future, according to a new report.
The budget hotel chain Travelodge has published a study into how technology could change hotel accommodation by 2030.
It hired the engineer and futurologist Ian Pearson to produce the report, entitled The Future of Sleep.
Mr Pearson claimed that technology will monitor guests energy levels, health and mood to ensure they get a better night's sleep, while medical conditions could also be diagnosed.
He said that dreams could eventually be controlled, in a similar manner to the film Inception, and we would one day be able to study or learn new languages in our sleep.
“Video, audio, smells and tactile experiences produced using our bed or bed linen will play a key role in helping to make our dreams feel real,” said the report.
“We will be able to replay our favourite dream from a menu just like choosing a movie. Also, we will be able to link into dreams with our partner or family and friends and enjoy a shared dream experience."
Remote virtual love making would allow individuals to “connect with their partner” while away from home, although lenses could be worn to adjust how their partner looks.
“This will enable people to change the image of their partner on a regular basis, and only they will be aware as their lover will not be able to tell what they are looking at,” the report added.
Mr Pearson said that augmented reality – the integration of digital information with the user's own environment – would allow any surface in a hotel room to display television programmes, photographs or paintings.
“The study was taken with an engineering-based approach,” Mr Pearson told London's Telegraph. “I went through all the different things commonly found in a hotel room and worked out how they might change, taking into account how soon certain technologies are likely to become economically viable.”
He added that many of the features described in the report would not be expensive, and could realistically appear in a budget hotel.
The Telegraph, London
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