What can you do to entice potential visitors to book if you can’t give them a walk-through tour? A virtual tour! Virtual tours are one of the technological breakthroughs that are making waves for owners of short-term rental properties. The world of technology has benefited the vacation rental sector in numerous ways.
But don’t just take our word for it! Statistics about the impacts of a virtual tour on your website show how effective they may be. The good news is that clients between the ages of 18 and 34 are 130% more likely to book a place if there is a virtual tour, which is wonderful news if your primary audience is in the Millennial and Gen-Z ranges.
The older generations are not the only ones who can benefit from the good news. Virtual tours are used by 50% of adult internet users in their research and decision-making, according to Digital in the Round. What if a virtual tour alone could convince at least half of the people who visit your website? A little virtual magic could significantly enhance your bookings.
What is the purpose of a virtual tour of a vacation home?
The figures are impressive, but what exactly does a virtual tour of a vacation property accomplish? Many business owners mistakenly believe that the only difference between images and a virtual tour is the extra work involved, but that would be negligent given all how a virtual tour may help your company. Simple, flat photographs lack several benefits that virtual tours do.
Allow visitors to enter your house using any device
The majority of visitors make their reservations using a mobile device, which might not provide the same comprehensive picture that a desktop view would. According to a recent report by Booking.com, 65% of international tourists made reservations on a mobile device. How does that affect your virtual tour, exactly? The urge to convert is a little bit greater while viewing a mobile user’s profile. The bounce rate for mobile users is higher, so you’ll need to attract their interest more quickly. The bounce rate is the percentage of people that visit your website for a brief period before leaving without looking around or taking any action. A virtual tour for your vacation rental website is a simple yet effective technique to attract visitors and turn them into visitors.
Additionally useful to tablet and desktop users. No matter the device, website visitors all spend 5 to 10 times longer on a page with a virtual tour than they would without one. The likelihood of them booking or purchasing add-ons increases significantly when they’ve put more thought into researching your resort.
Set objectives
Even for visitors who are already certain, they want to book a reservation, a virtual tour enables them to view the place as it is. Naturally, you’ll still want to set up your vacation home for the virtual tour, but with a 3D view of the area, there are no mistaking angles, lighting, or positioning. Allow visitors to experience your home in all its grandeur and flaws so they may prepare for their vacation with realistic expectations.
Guest satisfaction is more likely to result in rave reviews and repeat business when you meet or exceed expectations.
Give your website a polished appearance.
Old media and pixelated images simply won’t do. There is a tonne of other vacation rentals available; you must highlight what makes yours stand out. Your business will appear more professional when your website does.
Taking your home from an amateur to a professional level will be what brings in more guests and high income. Keep in mind that when guests schedule a stay with you, they are devoting both their vacation savings and their limited vacation time. Professionalism is similar to having faith in the value of your company, which you can readily demonstrate with a virtual tour.
How to build a website virtual tour
In the end, adding a virtual tour to your vacation rental website can only be beneficial for your company. It could appear nearly difficult to add such a feature to your page if you’re not extremely tech-savvy. Thankfully, virtual tours aren’t just for programmers and IT professionals. You may add this function to your vacation rental website with just a little digital literacy.
Get a 360-degree camera or smartphone.
First and foremost, you’ll need the technology necessary to design this kind of trip. A flip phone or outdated camera might not make it, although the majority of modern phones and cameras are capable of 360o imaging. You can record your excellent vacation rental video tour using an iPhone (models seven or newer) and some Android devices.
However, some business owners choose slightly more formal attire. While there are cameras made specifically for 3D tours, they cost at least $300.
Advice: Create your virtual tour on a smartphone first to evaluate whether the quality and clarity fit your criteria before rushing out to acquire the newest.
Take regular pictures of the entire house.
The process of creating your virtual tour might be a little more fragmented or done in stages if you are working from a smartphone. To avoid coming out as choppy and unprofessional, make sure everything is consistent throughout the tour.
Avoid hours when the lighting in your property varies dramatically when deciding when to shoot your virtual tour. Additionally, if you spread out your photography across several days, you run the danger of having different lighting due to cloudiness or shifting weather, which could impact your shots.
You don’t have to replace every bulb in your house to get the exact wattage and warmth, but you should make an effort to preserve as much uniformity as you can. It will be easier to maintain your virtual tour-looking uniform if you include some accessories and lighting when you are shooting.
To automatically create your virtual tour, use an app.
A third-party service or program will be immensely useful in guiding you through the process if you are a novice in technology and videography. Numerous iPhone and Android apps are available to assist you in creating your virtual tour from scratch.
Some applications provide on-screen instructions demonstrating where to position the camera, when to begin taking pictures, and how to combine them to complete your virtual tour. You can locate an application that meets your needs and skill set by searching for “virtual tours” or “3D tours” in the app store.
For those who are more technologically savvy, employing editing software will help correct any flaws or issues with lighting and color.
Include the coding on your vacation rental website.
It’s time to showcase the virtual tour once you have it! While creating the 3D tour of the holiday property was challenging, sharing it merely required a few clicks. You can copy and paste the embeddable code that most applications provide into your website if you’re using one.
Takeaways
A virtual tour could be the solution if you’ve been wanting to upgrade your website but needed to figure out how. Before they even enter your property, virtual tours give visitors a firsthand look inside, helping them to form expectations for their stay and resulting in a better guest experience and higher ratings. Your home and company as a whole will appear more professional on the internet.
It’s now simpler than ever to include interactive elements on your website, like a virtual tour. Your short-term rental business will reach professional levels with a virtual tour and an eye-catching website created using Lodgable’s website builder. Get ready to adore your new vacation rental website by signing up for Lodgable for free.Â
