A 3D virtual tour shows a commercial office as it actually is. Not a curated version of it. Not a wide-angle photograph that makes 400 square feet look like 800. The whole space, every corner included.
The problem with photography
Property photography is, by design, selective. A photographer chooses the angle, the lens, the frame. Wide-angle lenses distort proportions and flatten depth. An awkward dead-end corridor, a low ceiling near the perimeter, a column that cuts directly across the natural desk run: none of these need to appear in the final edit.
A 3D virtual tour cannot do this. The Matterport camera captures the full space at every scan position. Nothing gets left out. Awkward corners, wasted circulation space, the floor plate exactly as a tenant's team would occupy it: it is all in the tour.
What that means for the tenant
Signing a commercial lease is a significant financial commitment. A tenant doing that wants to know their decision is based on the real space, not the property's best angle. A 3D tour gives them exactly that. They can walk the full floor plate, scrutinise how the layout would work for their team, and check how the space divides between open-plan and enclosed rooms. Without anyone watching, at their own pace.
Matterport's measurement tool lets them go further. Click any two points in the tour and you get an accurate distance. Tenants use it to plan desk runs, check whether existing furniture fits, and confirm practical details that would otherwise only become clear on site. By the time they actually visit, they have already made up their mind.
The out-of-town tenant
A tenant looking at office space in Leeds from London or Manchester is not going to travel to rule something out. They will look at the photography, make a rough call, and move on. A 3D tour changes that calculation. They can spend 15 minutes walking the floor plate, checking the layout, and measuring what they need to measure. When they do travel, the fundamentals are already settled.
Getting on the shortlist
Commercial tenants are rarely looking at one property. They are comparing several at once, often across multiple agents, and the ones that give them the most information early get considered more seriously. A 3D tour gives the viewer everything they need to put your space at the top of that list before they have visited anywhere.
That matters more now than it did five years ago. The volume of available office space has increased, and tenants have more choice. A listing with a virtual tour stands apart not just because it looks better, but because it does more of the tenant's research for them. The easier you make it to evaluate your space, the more likely it is to stay on the list long enough to become a serious contender.
What the numbers say
According to Matterport's research, listings with a virtual tour generate 49% more qualified leads, 95% more phone enquiries, and 40% more clicks. More enquiries and better quality ones. That combination is what actually moves a letting forward.