Technical Requirements: How to Upload 3D Tours to Real Estate Portals

The 3D tour has been created, the virtual viewing feels lifelike, and the rooms are presented in their best light. But now many real estate agents face the crucial question: How does this digital experience get onto Homegate, ImmoScout24, or their own website? Often, the perfect marketing strategy falls apart just before the finish line due to technical uncertainties or incorrectly placed links.

This article clears up the technical uncertainties. We explain the basic requirements, guide you step by step through the integration on the most important Swiss portals, and show you how to avoid the most common mistakes. Our focus is on practical application for the Swiss market—from Homegate and Flatfox to specialized real estate agent software. We show you that technology does not have to be an obstacle if you know the right steps.

The most important thing to understand in advance: a 3D tour is not a file upload, but a link to an externally hosted environment. Unlike property photos, which you upload directly to the portal as JPG or PNG files, a 3D tour behaves more like a YouTube video. The enormous amounts of data and the interactive controls are processed on specialized cloud servers and are merely “streamed” into the listing.

Link instead of file – why this matters

3D tours consist of complex code structures that cannot be represented in any common portal file format such as PDF or JPEG. That is why real estate portals work exclusively with URL links. Your tour provider hosts the data, and in the portal you simply place the signpost leading to that hosting location.

For you as a real estate agent, this means: you do not handle heavy data sets, but simply copy a web address. Publication on portals such as Homegate, ImmoScout24, Newhome, Flatfox, or iCasa is generally free of charge, provided the portal offers a corresponding field for virtual tours. As soon as the link is entered correctly, the portals recognize this automatically and mark your listing in the search results with a prominent 360° symbol.

What you receive from the tour provider

When we at Visualista complete a project, we provide you with two crucial tools:

1. The URL link: A direct web address (e.g. “https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=xxxxx”). You use this link for portals, send it by email, or integrate it into social media posts.
2. The iFrame embed code: A short piece of HTML code. You need this exclusively for embedding on your own company website, so that the tour is displayed directly within the page flow without the visitor having to leave your site.

In Switzerland, the portal landscape is diverse, but fortunately almost all major players support the integration of external tours. The decisive difference often lies only in the name of the input field.

Portal-specific features

ImmoScout24.ch deserves special mention. The 360° solution offered there is based on a cooperation with feelestate. While this can be a useful tool for quick, simple recordings directly via app, there are clear differences compared to professional solutions. With the app version, it is often not a true, smooth walkthrough, but rather a “jumping” from point to point, while the image quality usually falls short of Matterport standards.

For high-quality marketing that is intended to leave a lasting impression, we therefore continue to recommend integrating external professional links. A key advantage for you: with Visualista, you get everything from a single source and do not have to worry about the technical creation or quality assurance yourself.

Homegate.ch places great importance on the user experience. There, the link in the listing editor is positioned so that the tour appears prominently in the upper section of the exposé. This demonstrably increases the amount of time prospective buyers spend on the listing.

Integration is not rocket science. Depending on whether you create your listings manually or use software, there are different ways. (Instructions current as of February 2026).

Option A: Insert the tour link manually on Swiss portals

1. Copy the link: Go to your dashboard with the tour provider (e.g. Matterport Cloud or Ogulo). Click “Share” and copy the full URL.
2. Open the portal listing: Log in to Homegate or ImmoScout24 and open the editing view of your listing.
3. Find the field: Look for fields such as “Virtual tour,” “360° tour,” or “Viewing link.”
4. Paste & save: Paste the link. Make sure there are no spaces at the beginning or end.
5. Check: Open the listing preview. Does the 360° icon appear? Does the tour load correctly when clicked?

Option B: Integration via real estate agent software (CRM)

Most professional real estate agents in Switzerland use tools such as CASASOFT, onOffice, or Flowfact. This is the most efficient method:

• Store the tour link once in the corresponding field of your real estate software.
• When exporting to the portals, this link is automatically transferred to all connected platforms via the Open-Immo interface.
• Advantage: You save time and minimize sources of error when entering data manually on multiple portals at the same time.

Option C: Embed the tour on your own website

For your own website, use the iFrame embed code. This allows the tour to be integrated directly into the page (“embedding”).

A standard code for Matterport looks something like this:

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=xxxxx" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Important tip for your website: Use a “responsive wrapper” (CSS) so that the tour is not cut off on smartphones, but automatically adapts to the screen size. In modern systems such as WordPress, simply inserting the URL is often enough, because these systems automatically recognize Matterport links as interactive windows (oEmbed).

In order for your potential buyers to experience the tour smoothly, a few technical parameters must be right.

Browser & device compatibility

Modern 3D tours are based on WebGL. This is a technology that allows the browser to render complex 3D graphics without additional plug-ins.

• Desktop: All current versions of Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge support WebGL perfectly.
• Mobile: The tours run smoothly on iPhones (Safari) and Android devices (Chrome). On Android, make sure that both the operating system and the browser are up to date.
• VR headsets: Matterport tours can be launched directly in VR mode in the browser—ideal for innovative viewings in the real estate office.

System requirements for 3D showcases
A stable internet connection is required for display. The tour loads step by step (“streaming”), so the first rooms are visible immediately while the rest loads in the background.

Hosting & performance

Since the tour is hosted on the providers’ cloud servers, your own web server is not burdened. This guarantees fast loading times, regardless of how many visitors access your website at the same time. At Visualista, we make sure that tours are created efficiently (maximum 200 scan points) in order to guarantee top performance even on mobile data connections.

Avoid these classic pitfalls to ensure smooth marketing:

1. Embed code instead of link: Many people copy the entire <iframe> code into the portal field. However, the portals expect only the pure URL (https://…).
2. Tour in draft mode: If the tour is still set to “Private” with the provider, prospective buyers will only see an error message. If you want maximum discretion, password protection is technically possible, but in practice it is rarely used. Experienced real estate agents usually prefer to send the link only after a personal pre-screening to verified interested parties.
3. Expired hosting: 3D tours require active hosting. If a subscription expires, the tour disappears from the listing. Visualista advantage: with us, hosting for a defined period (e.g. 6 months or longer) is already included, so you do not have to worry about anything.
4. Lack of mobile optimization: Older tour systems are often not optimized for touch operation. Rely on modern standards such as Matterport.
5. Manual changes vs. CRM sync: If you enter the link manually in the portal, but your real estate software does not know this link, it may be deleted again during the next automatic synchronization. Always maintain your data primarily in your CRM system.

In Switzerland, several providers have established themselves, all of which work reliably with the major portals from a technical standpoint:

• Matterport: The global market leader and technical frontrunner. It offers the best “dollhouse view” and works flawlessly on all Swiss portals. Although Matterport is more expensive to provide, at Visualista we rely exclusively on this standard in order to guarantee the best quality for our customers.
• Ogulo: Widely used in German-speaking countries, it offers simple interfaces to CRM systems such as onOffice.
• CASATOUR / Feelestate: A provider with close integration to CASASOFT. Ideal for real estate agents looking for an integrated Swiss solution.

Do I have to pay extra for publication on real estate portals?

No. Integrating a tour link is included in the listing price on most Swiss portals such as Homegate or ImmoScout24. Costs arise only with the provider for the creation and hosting of the tour data.

What format must my tour have?

There is no universal file format for uploading. Portals work exclusively with URL links to externally hosted content. The link is provided to you by your service provider (e.g. Visualista).

Does a Matterport tour work on Homegate?

Yes, absolutely. Homegate is fully optimized for Matterport links. Simply insert the URL in the editor in the corresponding field for virtual tours.

How long does my tour stay online?

That depends on your hosting package. With Visualista, hosting is included from 6 months onward. After that, it can be extended flexibly for as long as the property is being marketed.

Can I publish one tour on several portals at the same time?

Yes. The same link can be shared an unlimited number of times—on portals, in newsletters, on social media, and on your website.

The technical integration of a 3D tour on Swiss portals is far less complicated than it may seem at first glance. The key secret lies in understanding that you are simply sharing a link instead of uploading a file. If you store this link correctly in your CRM or directly in the portal, the technology takes care of the rest for you.

At Visualista, we see ourselves not just as photographers, but as your partner for your entire visual presentation. We take the technical complexity off your hands: we provide fully hosted, portal-optimized links and embed codes that work perfectly on every device – see for yourself in our sample projects. This allows you to focus on what you do best: selling real estate successfully.