What Venues Can Learn from Virtual Real Estate Trends

The real estate sector has been increasingly leveraging virtual venue tours to improve both the buying and selling process, and it may inspire ways in which event venues can enhance their own business. 

Virtual products and services exploded across many industries as a result of the pandemic. Real estate, in particular, has successfully implemented virtual home tours, ranging from interactive floor plans to full-fledged 3D walkthroughs. Although these existed pre-2020, they have gained popularity over the past few years and are quickly becoming a normal part of the home-buying process. 

Evidently, Zillow recently found that 79% of Americans would like to view a 3D virtual venue tour when looking for a home, and another 79% would use a digital floor plan. Younger generations were even more likely to want to use these tools, which is relevant for venues to keep in mind, particularly as these generations continue to move into leadership roles and represent a growing percentage of decision-makers. 

As remote tours become more commonplace, there are many learnings that event venues can glean from real estate to better position their offerings and keep up with technology trends. 

What are 360 virtual property tours? 

As the name suggests, 360 virtual property tours are digitized house tours included with property listings that enable prospective homebuyers to view rooms in full 360-degree photos. This allows homebuyers to get a better sense of houses they’re interested in remotely before committing to visiting in person. 360-degree tours are a relatively basic version of virtual venue tours as the images typically load separately and don’t necessarily give a feel for the full layout of the house, unlike 3D tours. 

How does a 3D home tour differ from other virtual venue tours? 

3D home tours, such as the 3D Matterport Tour, differ from other virtual venue tours, like 360 tours, in that they allow for a full home walkthrough, enabling homebuyers to move from room to room in a 3D immersive environment. 360 virtual venue tours, on the other hand, are two-dimensional and don’t offer the same level of detail. Virtual property tours in 3D can be a great way for realtors to showcase a property in a realistic way without having to take the time to host an in-person tour. 

What are some best practices for implementing virtual venue tours? 

When creating virtual venue tours, it’s important to plan before you begin photographing or filming, especially if this is your first time shooting in 360 degrees or 3D. In most cases, the camera will need to be placed in the center of the room so it can capture all of the surroundings, but be sure to test it out to find which placements work best. 

In addition, although it’s relatively easy to film 3D real estate virtual venue tours, covering the entire square footage of a large venue can be more complicated and time-consuming. Working with a provider that offers 360 venue scanning will greatly simplify the process and ensure it’s done properly. 

Are virtual venue tours more cost-effective? 

Virtual venue tour prices can range from a few hundred to upwards of a thousand dollars depending on the equipment and software used to produce them, but they are certainly more cost-effective than in-person tours, especially at scale.  

When it comes to venue showings, virtual venue tours don’t require a guide to be present and to spend time walking prospective clients through the space. They are also more budget-friendly for planners, who may otherwise need to travel to tour the venue, which is a huge benefit at a time when many organizations are limiting their travel spending. 

How can virtual venue tours streamline your operations? 

Virtual venue tours can help streamline both real estate and venue operations by taking a large burden off the shoulders of realtors and salespeople, respectively. In a real estate scenario, real estate agents spend significantly less time showing homes and can devote that time to other parts of their job. The same is true for venue salespeople.  

Virtual venue tours also enable spaces — whether homes or venues — to be shown to more people than would otherwise have access to them. Instead of waiting to book an appointment during a limited timeframe, they can simply go online and get an initial feel for the space. 

How can virtual venue tours support the sales process? 

By offering virtual venue tours, sales teams can essentially skip the first step in the sales process since they will be interacting with warmer buyers right off the bat. Prospective clients will be able to get an initial sense of the floor plan and the available space through a 3D walkthrough, so those who reach out to get more information or schedule an in-person visit are already qualified leads that you can trust are interested. A recent study found that listings including a virtual venue tour sold up to 31% faster. 

What equipment is needed to deliver a virtual venue tour? 

Creating virtual venue tours requires certain specialized equipment that can adequately capture the space in three dimensions. This may include basic 360 photography tools that work with smartphone cameras to capture panoramas or more sophisticated venue scanning tools. You’ll also need software to upload the images to and stitch together the tour. 

What equipment is needed to go on a virtual venue tour? 

On the flip side, those wishing to view a virtual venue tour don’t necessarily need any specialized equipment. Most tours are designed to be viewed on any computer or mobile device with an internet connection. When traveling, this may require using hotspots.  

Some tours are also optimized for virtual reality, in which case a VR headset would be recommended for optimal viewing. 

How can venues use virtual venue tours to win more business? 

Virtual venue tours make a great addition to venue sales kits as they enhance the customer experience and help qualify leads for the sales team. Using tools like Matterport-based virtual venue tour platforms with Prismm, venues can make virtual venue tours widely available, helping to attract more potential clients from anywhere in the world who may not have otherwise planned a trip to visit. Virtual venue tours also help free up the sales team’s time, so they can focus less on the top of the funnel and more on closing inbound business.  

Prismm elevates virtual venue tours to a whole new level. Within its platform, venues can seamlessly plan events within a 3D tour and even host video conferences for virtual site inspections, collaborate with clients in real time and make changes to the event layout on the spot. This innovative technology can streamline the event planning process and ensure a seamless experience for all parties involved. 

If you’d like to learn more about how virtual venue tours can streamline your calls, site inspections, layout design, and sales process, book a demo now.