How Often Should You Update Your Virtual Tour?
A tour is only as good as its accuracy. Here's when it's time to reshoot.
Service and Format Guides · 5 August 2026 · 3 min read
Written by the Biztour team - Google Trusted Photographers since 2013.
There's no fixed expiry date on a virtual tour, unlike a domain or a subscription, it doesn't stop working on its own. The real trigger for updating one is simpler: does it still show the space a visitor will actually walk into? Once the answer's no, the tour is doing more harm than good.
Richer Sounds is the clearest real example we can point to. Nearly two years after we shot all 53 of their stores, they commissioned a second campaign specifically to reshoot the locations that had since been refurbished.
- Update after any refurbishment, refit or significant layout change
- A rebrand (new signage, new colour scheme) is worth a reshoot even without a layout change
- A tour that's several years old with no changes at all is usually still fine
- An inaccurate tour actively undermines the trust the format is meant to build
The Richer Sounds pattern
When we shot Richer Sounds' full 53-store estate, the goal was consistency: every store represented to the same standard. Two years later, once some stores had been refurbished, an outdated tour would have shown customers a store that no longer existed, undermining the exact trust the original campaign was built to earn. The second campaign reshot only the changed stores, keeping the rest as they were.
That's the honest logic for any business: update what's changed, leave what hasn't.
What actually triggers an update
A layout change, a refit, new fixtures, a different floor plan, is the clearest trigger, because it means the tour is showing a space that no longer exists. A rebrand, new signage, new colours, a new logo, is worth a reshoot too, even if the walls haven't moved, because the mismatch between your current branding and an old tour reads as neglect.
What doesn't need a reshoot: minor stock changes, a different chair, a seasonal display, anything a visitor would expect to look slightly different on any given day regardless.
What an outdated tour actually costs you
An inaccurate tour doesn't just look dated, it actively works against the reason you got one in the first place: removing uncertainty before someone visits. A customer who arrives expecting the space they saw in the tour and finds something different has had that trust undercut right at the moment it mattered most.
Questions people ask
Is there a hosting cost difference for an updated tour?
No, hosting stays the same £60 a year on enhanced and Matterport tours regardless of how many times you've reshot. A reshoot is priced the same as the original shoot, based on scene count.
Do we need to reshoot the whole space, or just the changed area?
Just the changed area in most cases, provided the rest of the tour still connects sensibly. We'll advise at the quote stage whether a partial reshoot makes sense for your specific layout.
What if we run multiple locations and only some have changed?
That's exactly the Richer Sounds pattern: only the refurbished locations were reshot in the second campaign. Our national and international campaigns service is built for managing exactly this kind of partial rollout.
What retail clients book
The services your kind of space actually books. Combining them in one visit costs less than separate shoots.
Also on the menu: Matterport Virtual Tours · Property Virtual Tours · Bespoke Virtual Tours · National and International Campaigns · Google Street View Mapping · Interior Photography · Exterior Photography · Property Photography · Event Photography · Industrial Photography · Drone and Aerial Photography · Lifestyle Photography · Video Production — all shootable in the same visit.
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