The short-term rental market in the United States is projected to reach over $20 billion in revenue in 2026. In popular Carolina destinations like Cashiers and Highlands, Lake Keowee, and Charleston, that means dozens of similar-looking cabins, lakefront homes, and downtown condos are competing for the same guests on the same platforms every week.
When a traveler is scrolling through 40 mountain rentals on VRBO and every listing has the same wide-angle photos of a kitchen island and a deck view, the listing they stop on — the one they actually explore — is the one that lets them walk through the entire property before they book. That's what a Matterport 3D tour does. And the data behind it isn't subtle.
Vacasa — the largest professionally managed vacation rental company in North America, operating over 38,000 properties — rolled out Matterport 3D tours across nearly 90% of its portfolio and documented the results. Listings with 3D tours saw a 12% increase in booking conversion rate, a 14% increase in occupancy, and guests browsed those listings three times longer than listings with photos alone. Those aren't marginal improvements. For an owner whose property books at $300 per night, a 14% occupancy increase translates to roughly 25 additional booked nights per year.
This post is for vacation rental owners and property managers who want to understand exactly how a Matterport 3D tour increases bookings, reduces the problems that hurt reviews, and pays for itself within the first few weeks of going live.
Why Photos Aren't Enough Anymore
Vacation rental guests are making a high-trust decision based almost entirely on visual content. Unlike a hotel — where brand reputation and standardized rooms reduce the risk — a vacation rental is a unique property that the guest has never seen in person. They're committing hundreds or thousands of dollars to a stay based on a listing page, a handful of photos, and the hope that what they see is what they'll get.
Professional photography helps. Listings with professional photos receive roughly 2.5 times more clicks and can command a 26% higher nightly rate compared to owner-shot photos. But even the best photography has a fundamental limitation: photos show the rooms the photographer chose to feature, from the angles the photographer chose to shoot. They can't communicate how big the kitchen actually is, how the bedrooms relate to the living space, whether the bathroom is around the corner or down a long hallway, or how the property flows as a whole.
That's the gap a Matterport 3D tour fills. It's not a replacement for good photos — it's the next layer. Photos attract the click. The 3D tour converts the click into a booking, because the guest can answer every spatial question themselves before they commit.
What a 3D Tour Actually Shows a Vacation Rental Guest
A Matterport tour is an interactive, navigable 3D model of the entire property. The guest controls where they go, how long they stay in each room, and what they look at. It's not a video walkthrough someone else filmed — it's an experience the guest directs, at their own pace, on their own schedule. If you're unfamiliar with how the technology works, our complete guide to Matterport covers everything in detail.
For vacation rental guests specifically, three Matterport features drive the most booking impact.
The walkthrough itself. The guest moves through every room the way they would during an in-person tour. They can check the size of the primary bedroom, look inside the bathroom, explore the game room in the basement, see whether the kitchen has enough counter space for the family to cook together, and verify that the hot tub on the deck is real and not a stock photo. Every room, every hallway, every closet — nothing is hidden.
The Dollhouse view. This is Matterport's most distinctive feature. The Dollhouse view pulls back to show the entire property as a three-dimensional model that can be rotated and zoomed. For vacation rental guests, this instantly answers the layout question: Where are the bedrooms in relation to the living room? Is the kids' room next to the master or on a separate floor? How does the indoor space connect to the outdoor deck? This perspective is impossible to communicate with photos alone, and it's the feature that guests consistently say gave them confidence to book.
The measurement tool. Any viewer can measure distances between any two points in the tour — wall to wall, floor to ceiling, countertop depth. A guest wondering whether a pack-and-play will fit next to the bed in the second bedroom can check the dimensions from their couch. A group planning a family reunion can verify that the dining table seats twelve. This eliminates an entire category of pre-booking messages that otherwise flood your inbox.
The Review Problem That 3D Tours Prevent
Every vacation rental owner knows the sting of a review that says "the property didn't look like the photos." Sometimes the complaint is legitimate — wide-angle lenses and careful framing can make rooms appear larger than they are. Sometimes the guest simply imagined something different from what the photos showed. Either way, the result is the same: a lower rating that directly costs future bookings.
A 3D tour dramatically reduces this problem. When a guest has walked through every room in a navigable 3D model before booking, they arrive with accurate expectations. The living room is the size they expected. The kitchen has the layout they explored. The view from the master bedroom is exactly what they saw in the tour. There's no gap between what was advertised and what was delivered — because the tour shows the property as it actually is, from every angle, with no selective framing.
Vacasa reported that properties with 3D tours experienced measurably fewer guest complaints related to property accuracy. For owners who understand that their star rating is their most valuable long-term asset, this alone can justify the cost of a scan.
How Guests Actually Use 3D Tours When Choosing a Rental
Understanding how guests use the tour in their decision-making process helps you see why the conversion numbers are so strong.
First pass: elimination. A guest with a shortlist of 8–10 properties uses photos to do a quick scan. Properties that look promising get a closer look. If yours has a 3D tour, the guest clicks in and starts walking through. Within two minutes, they know whether the property works for their group. If it does, it stays on the shortlist. If it doesn't, they've saved themselves — and you — the back-and-forth of messages that would have ended in a pass anyway.
Second pass: comparison. The guest is now choosing between their top 2–3 options. This is where the 3D tour creates separation. They can walk through your property again, check specific details, and show the tour to their travel partners. The other listings on their shortlist have photos that the guest is now trying to remember. Your listing has an experience they can revisit as many times as they want. That accessibility advantage is often what tips the final decision.
Third pass: sharing. Vacation rentals are frequently booked by groups — families, friend trips, wedding parties, corporate retreats. The person researching properties needs buy-in from others in the group. Texting a Matterport link is dramatically more effective than texting a photo gallery link. Each person in the group can walk through the property independently, at their own pace, and form their own opinion. This shortens the group decision cycle from days to hours.
Where to Use Your 3D Tour
A Matterport tour isn't a single-platform asset. Once you have it, you can deploy it everywhere your property appears online.
VRBO. VRBO supports Matterport 3D tours directly through a native integration. Properties with a published 3D tour receive a "360 Virtual Tour" badge in search results and a dedicated tour button in the photo gallery. This badge is visible before a guest even clicks into your listing, which improves click-through rate and signals that your property offers a premium browsing experience. For owners prioritizing one platform, this is the highest-impact placement.
Direct booking websites. If you operate your own booking site — built on Lodgify, OwnerRez, or any platform that supports iframes — you can embed the full interactive Matterport tour directly on your property page. This gives you complete control over how the tour is displayed, with no platform restrictions on external links or interactive features. For owners building a direct booking channel to reduce platform fees, the 3D tour is one of the strongest tools for making your own website feel as trustworthy as a major platform listing.
Furnished Finder and mid-term rental platforms. Furnished Finder, popular with traveling nurses and other mid-term renters, supports photo galleries and tour links. Mid-term renters are committing to 30, 60, or 90-day stays — a much larger financial commitment than a weekend booking. They're especially motivated to explore a property thoroughly before signing, which makes the 3D tour even more impactful for this audience.
Google Business Profile. If your rental property has a Google Business listing, add the Matterport tour link and aerial photos. This improves local search visibility and gives prospective guests another entry point to discover your property outside of the major booking platforms.
Social media. The Matterport tour link works on any device with no app download required. Share it on Instagram, Facebook, or in vacation-planning groups. For properties with visually striking features — mountain views from the deck, a game room, a luxury kitchen — the tour link generates genuine engagement that a static photo post can't match.
Guest inquiry responses. When a prospective guest messages you with questions about the layout, room sizes, or amenities, reply with the Matterport link. It answers their questions more completely than any typed response could, and it moves them from "asking about" the property to "experiencing" it — which accelerates the booking decision.
Preparation: Getting the Best Scan for a Vacation Rental
A vacation rental scan is different from a real estate listing scan in one important way: the property needs to look the way a guest will experience it at check-in, not the way it looks during a cleaning turnover.
Stage it as a check-in, not a photoshoot. Make beds with fresh linens. Set out clean towels. Arrange the kitchen neatly — a clean coffee bar, a few cookbooks on the counter, fruit in a bowl. If you offer welcome amenities like a stocked bookshelf, a game room, or a s'mores kit by the fire pit, make sure they're visible and inviting. The tour should show a guest what they'll walk into, not a sterile blank space.
Open every space you want guests to see. The Matterport camera captures everything in its path. That means closets, laundry rooms, and garages are included if the doors are open. If a space is part of the guest experience, make sure it's accessible and presentable. If it's not (a locked owner's closet, a utility room), keep the door closed and it won't appear in the tour.
Turn on all lights and open blinds. Good lighting makes every room in the tour look better. The Matterport camera handles a wide range of indoor lighting conditions, but a well-lit space always scans better than a dim one.
Think about outdoor spaces. The Matterport camera captures semi-enclosed and shaded outdoor areas well — covered porches, screened porches, shaded patios, and carports all scan great. Open-air spaces like uncovered decks and pool areas work best on overcast days or during shaded hours. For mountain and lakefront rentals where outdoor living is a major selling point, make sure these areas are staged — furniture out, hot tub uncovered, fire pit ready.
Our full scan preparation guide covers every detail room by room. For the scanning process itself, our step-by-step booking guide walks you through what to expect on scan day.
Seasonal Timing: When to Scan
If your peak booking season is summer, schedule the scan for late spring or early summer when the landscaping is lush and the outdoor spaces look their most inviting. If your property's biggest draw is fall foliage — as it is for many mountain rentals in Cashiers, Highlands, and the Asheville area — consider scanning in mid-October when color is at peak.
The interior of the tour will remain accurate year-round regardless of when you scan. It's the exterior and any outdoor spaces where seasonal timing matters most. One scan at the right time of year gives you a marketing asset that works across every platform, every season, for years.
If your property undergoes a significant interior update — new furniture, a kitchen renovation, a major remodel — rescan after the changes are in place. Minor updates like new throw pillows or bedding typically don't warrant a new scan.
The ROI for Vacation Rental Owners
The math on a Matterport tour for a vacation rental is among the simplest in any marketing investment.
A Matterport 3D tour through Southeast 3D Tours is priced at $0.14 per square foot with a $225 minimum. A typical 2,000 square foot mountain cabin or lakefront home is $280. A 3,500 square foot luxury rental is $490. The tour is delivered within 24–48 hours and includes 12 months of hosting, a shareable link, an embed code, Dollhouse and Floor Plan views, and the built-in measurement tool.
Now run the numbers against your property. If your rental books at $300 per night and the 3D tour increases your occupancy by even 10% — conservative relative to Vacasa's documented 14% — that's approximately 18 additional booked nights per year on a property that was previously occupied 180 nights. That's $5,400 in incremental revenue from a one-time investment of $280 to $490.
The tour pays for itself after one to two additional booked nights. Everything after that is return.
Factor in the rate premium. Properties with professional visual content — photography and 3D tours — consistently command higher nightly rates than comparable properties with owner-shot photos. If professional content allows you to charge $340 per night instead of $300 — a $40 increase — across 180 booked nights, that's $7,200 in additional annual revenue.
And unlike a seasonal promotion or a temporary rate discount, the 3D tour doesn't expire. The asset works for your listing every day, on every platform, for years. Most owners rescan only when significant interior changes are made — meaning the effective annual cost drops further with each year the tour remains active.
What About Airbnb?
Airbnb does not currently support external Matterport tour links in listings. The platform has its own proprietary virtual tour tools, but they are not compatible with Matterport's technology. For this reason, we focus our vacation rental strategy on VRBO, direct booking websites, and other platforms that fully support Matterport embeds and links.
If you list on both VRBO and Airbnb, the 3D tour will still work on VRBO, your direct booking site, social media, and any other channel — it simply won't appear inside the Airbnb listing itself. For owners whose primary platform is VRBO or who are building a direct booking channel, this limitation doesn't affect the core value of the tour.
Multi-Property Owners and Property Managers
If you manage multiple vacation rental properties, Matterport tours create operational efficiencies beyond the per-listing marketing impact.
Standardized visual quality across your portfolio. Every property in your portfolio gets the same level of visual presentation — consistent quality, consistent technology, consistent guest experience. This is especially valuable for property managers who oversee properties for multiple owners and need to maintain a professional brand standard across all listings.
Reduced inquiry volume across properties. When every listing has a 3D tour, the total volume of pre-booking questions drops because guests can answer most spatial and layout questions themselves. For a manager handling 10 or 20 properties, the time savings on guest communications compound quickly.
Portfolio-level scheduling. We can scan multiple properties in a single trip, which reduces travel time and gets your entire portfolio updated efficiently. For property managers in the Cashiers-Highlands or Lake Keowee markets managing clusters of nearby rentals, this is the most cost-effective approach. Contact us to discuss volume pricing for multi-property portfolios.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I add the Matterport tour to my VRBO listing?
Yes. VRBO supports Matterport tours through a direct integration. Your listing will receive a "360 Virtual Tour" badge in search results and a dedicated tour button in the photo gallery. The tour plays directly inside VRBO — guests don't leave the platform to view it.
How long does the scan take?
Most vacation rental properties take 60–90 minutes. Larger homes (3,500+ square feet) or properties with extensive outdoor spaces may take up to two hours. The scan can be scheduled between guest turnovers — we just need the property to be vacant and guest-ready. Full details are in our step-by-step booking guide.
Does the tour work on phones and tablets?
Yes. Matterport tours work on any modern smartphone, tablet, or computer — no app download or login required. The guest clicks a link and starts exploring immediately. This is important because the majority of vacation rental browsing happens on mobile devices.
How long does the tour stay active?
Hosting is included for 12 months. After that, you can renew hosting or transfer the tour to your own Matterport account at no additional charge. Most owners renew annually — the cost is minimal relative to the booking revenue the tour generates. Full hosting details are on the pricing page.
Can you scan outdoor areas like decks, patios, and pool areas?
Yes. The Matterport camera captures semi-enclosed and shaded outdoor spaces well — covered porches, screened porches, patios under shade, carports, and similar areas can be incorporated into the tour. Direct sunlight is a limitation, so open decks and pool areas are best captured on overcast days or during shaded hours.
What if I change the furniture or decor?
Minor changes like new throw pillows, updated linens, or rearranged accessories typically don't warrant a new scan. If you do a major furniture overhaul, kitchen renovation, or significant remodel, a rescan is worth it to keep the tour accurate. You can rescan at any time at the standard per-square-foot rate.
Can you add aerial drone photography to the scan booking?
Yes. James Richardson is FAA Part 107 certified for commercial drone operations through Carolina Aerials, LLC. Aerial photography can be added to any Matterport scan booking — a combination that's especially effective for mountain, lakefront, and waterfront rentals where the setting and views are primary selling points. Call 864.351.4255 to discuss a combined package.
Do you serve vacation rental markets outside of Greenville?
Yes. Our primary vacation rental markets are Cashiers and Highlands, NC, Lake Keowee, SC, Asheville and Brevard, NC, and Charleston, SC — all active short-term rental markets in the Carolinas. We also cover the broader Upstate SC and can accommodate properties in adjacent markets on a project basis.
The Bottom Line
A vacation rental listing with a Matterport 3D tour converts more browsers into bookers, reduces the complaints that damage reviews, and pays for itself within the first one to two additional booked nights. The data from the largest vacation rental operator in North America confirms what owners in the Carolina mountains, lakes, and coast are seeing firsthand: 3D tours are the highest-ROI marketing investment a rental owner can make.
If your listing is competing with 40 other properties in the same market and the same price range, the question isn't whether you can afford a 3D tour. It's whether you can afford to be the listing without one.
Ready to scan your rental property? Book a scan or reach out at james@southeast3dtours.com / 864.351.4255. Full pricing and details are on the pricing page, or visit our vacation rental service page for an overview of what's included.