Matterport tours will help Vacasa owners

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Matterport and Vacasa will be traveling a lot together in the near future, as the vacation home company hired the digital twin creator in a multiyear contract to help market its global portfolio of vacation homes under management, Inman has learned.

A Nov. 30 press release said that Vacasa will leverage Matterport’s standard-setting property marketing platform “as an integral part of its home onboarding and guest service experiences for the tens of thousands of properties Vacasa manages.”

Owners of second homes, as well as full-time vacation home investors, use Vacasa to manage the use and maintenance of their homes, a model that varies from VRBO and Airbnb, whose primary revenue is derived from connecting short-term rental owners with tenants. Matterport will now become part of those management services.

“It’s one of the many benefits we provide to ensure their homes stand out from the rest,” said Vacasa’s Chief Operating Officer John Banczak. “Matterport tours ensure guests have a full picture of what they are booking and the vacation experience they’ll have in that home — whether that is simply understanding the layout of the home for family and friends to addressing if the home meets accessibility needs.”

Vacasa will use the technology to provide fully “walkable” tours and still photos for marketing property destinations in other online channels for new listings as they’re onboarded, as well as work with Vacasa to import legacy properties to the virtual space.

Matterport set the industry benchmark for web-based virtual property tours, which were at one time relegated to stitched panoramas or automated slide shows. The company’s offerings continue to evolve and now include the scanning of expansive industrial complexes and major construction projects, as well as a wide array of digital marketing services for the everyday real estate agent.

“Our work with Vacasa demonstrates our ability to deliver value throughout the property life cycle, from marketing to operations, and ultimately the customer experience — all made possible by the investments we’ve made in our digital twin platform for promoting and operating properties anywhere in the world,” said Jay Remley, Matterport’s Chief Revenue Office, in a statement.

Digital twins, as its reproductions are now called, are responsible in part for helping the industry sustain itself during the COVID era, as well as helping homebuying from a distance, or abroad, become significantly easier.

In September 2023, Matterport announced the beta launch of a property analytics offering designed to automate room labeling and space categorization for users to further shrink the process of completing a property rendering.

The inclusion of hard measurements in a proven marketing asset can make a real estate agent’s job easier, along with those in staging, home renovation, lending and inspections. Home shoppers can benefit from immediate access of data for furniture, moving needs and upgrade plans.

The new feature also identifies rooms, labeling them “kitchen,” “primary bedroom” or “dining room” in conjunction with their total area and dimensions. It also provides listing agents with Matterport Pro, an all-in-one listing marketing suite that includes its most well-known home-tour product with dollhouse view, 25 or more high-end still photos, a static 2D floor plan and a 10 to 15 second preview reel, all delivered within two business days.

Vacasa went public in December 2021 and has more than 44,000 homes under management, according to its website. It hosts more than three million guests each year.

Email Craig Rowe