Virtual Tours for Wedding and Event Venues: Booking More Viewings, and Fewer Wasted Ones

Every venue coordinator knows the show-round that was never going to book: the couple who wanted a barn and you are a hotel, the planner who needed 300 seated and you seat 120. A virtual tour lets enquirers answer those questions themselves, so the viewings you do host are the ones that convert. This article covers how venues use tours, which format suits, and what the evidence says.

What the research says about venues

Google's 2015 study used hotel and restaurant listings specifically: people shown a listing with a virtual tour were twice as likely to be interested in booking. Cornell University found 83% of guests who booked a hotel directly had searched the web first, visiting online travel sites an average of 12 times. And a TripAdvisor study found hotels with photos saw 138% more traveller engagement than those without. Guests and couples do their looking online; the venue that shows the most, wins the viewing.

Why Matterport suits venues

For an event space the questions are about layout: how many tables fit, where the bar is relative to the dance floor, where the ceremony room is in relation to the reception, whether the terrace connects. A Matterport tour answers them because the dollhouse view shows the whole building at once and the floor plan can be measured. Couples can walk from the ceremony room to the reception; a corporate planner can check the route from the lobby to the breakout rooms. We captured four event spaces at L'Oscar London, Hurley House Hotel and its Garden Pavilion and Wray's Barn at Whinstone View this way, and Curzon Cinemas used tours to sell private hire of its screens.

When a bespoke tour is better

If you want the tour to carry branding, sample table plans, supplier lists, packages and a call-to-action to book a viewing, a bespoke 360 tour gives you hotspots and custom navigation, and can include a drone 360 of the grounds for country venues. Many venues run a Matterport tour for layout and a bespoke tour for the sales story; see our comparison.

Dressing the space

Capture the room dressed for its best use: a wedding breakfast laid, the ceremony room set with chairs and flowers, the conference room in cabaret layout. If you host both, two scans of the same room in two layouts is often worth it. Lighting matters more than in any other sector; we shoot venues at the time of day the room looks best, and can return for evening scenes with the lighting scheme on. Our preparation checklist covers the details.

Using the tour

Embed it on the venue page and every enquiry reply; link it from wedding directories and your Google Business Profile; send it to planners before a site visit; and add it to proposals for corporate clients who are booking from another city. A Google Street View version reaches people searching Maps for venues near them.

Cost and timing

A Matterport tour of a venue takes one to two hours per space to scan and is usually live within 48 hours. Prices start from £350, with no travel charges anywhere in mainland UK; Matterport hosting carries a yearly fee which we quote up front. Our guide for hotels goes into more depth, or tell us about your venue for a clear price.