How much does a Matterport virtual tour cost for your business

Someone thinking of booking a room at your B&B looks at the photos, then searches for more on Google, then comes back to your website with one doubt: how big that room really is. Someone who wants a new kitchen looks at your showroom online and decides whether it is worth getting in the car.

A virtual tour answers these doubts before the customer arrives: it lets them into your business from a link and lets them walk between the rooms as if they were there. How much a Matterport virtual tour costs comes down to two things only: how big the space is and for how many months you want it to stay online.

What does your business get from a virtual tour?

The tour opens from a link, in the browser, even on a phone, with nothing to install. Whoever opens it moves from one room to another, looks around, sees the floor plan and grasps the proportions: how big a room is, what you can see from the window.

You put the link on your website or in your listings, or embed it in a page. In a showroom, the couple choosing a kitchen wanders among the displays in the evening, unhurried, and arrives the next day already knowing where to go. In a hotel or B&B, the guest who books has already seen the room and the way from reception to the breakfast room.

If your business is open to the public, such as a showroom or a hotel, the tour’s images can also be published on Google Street View, at no extra cost. Ordinary photos for the website and social media can also be taken from the tour.

Matterport states, in one of its own studies, that property listings sold up to 31% faster and at up to a 9% higher price with the 3D tour. Vacasa, which manages holiday homes, measured about 12% more bookings on listings with the tour. These are their figures and I report them as such: nobody can guarantee you the same result.

How much does a Matterport virtual tour cost?

The price of a Matterport virtual tour depends mainly on the square metres to be covered. The bigger the space and the more rooms there are, the more 360° shots are needed to cover it all. The other item is the monthly cost of keeping the tour online.

A real example: the Kuadra Cucine showroom in Modugno, near Bari, is 505 square metres. The tour is online and you can open it and walk around inside from your phone.

To these two things are added the location of the business and anything extra you want, such as interior photos or drone footage, so the quote is tailor-made and you won’t find figures here. I can tell you that a tour I make costs less than many people imagine.

Why is there a monthly cost, and how long does the tour stay online?

After the shoot the tour stays visible for as long as someone keeps it online, and that is what the monthly cost is for: the link has to work every time a customer opens it, from your website or from a listing. I usually quote it for at least six months, with the option to renew, and some of my tours have been online for several years.

How long does it take to make a virtual tour?

The shoot depends on the square metres and the number of rooms: the 505 square metres of Kuadra Cucine took about two and a half hours. What to prepare on the day of the shoot and who needs a virtual tour you will find in the guide to 360° virtual tours for businesses.

Can a virtual tour be updated when something changes?

A tour can be updated when a room changes. The showroom changes its displays, the B&B redoes a room, and the tour has to show what the customer will really find. Otherwise the visitor looks for the kitchen they saw on the phone and finds a different one in its place.

What should you ask before commissioning a virtual tour?

Ask which square metres the quote is based on and whether it covers all the rooms you want to show. Ask for how many months the tour stays online, what each additional month costs and what happens when it expires. Check whether the link can be embedded in a page of your website and, if your business is open to the public, whether the images go on Google Street View. Ask how the tour is updated when a room changes and whether you also receive ordinary photos to use on the website.

Then open on your phone the tours already made by whoever is preparing your quote and walk through the rooms as a customer of yours would, in the evening, from the sofa. See whether you stop at a window to look at what is outside.

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Written byGiulio Palumbo SchiavonePhotographer and director. ENAC-certified drone operator and Google-certified photographer. I work across Italy and abroad for architecture studios, construction firms, hotels and companies.About →