You have just created your own rental property: a beautiful space, carefully decorated and equipped with everything needed to make your guests feel warm and welcome. You have invested in it and are now ready to enter the short-term rental market. Your goal is to offer the best possible hospitality and build a profitable business.
And now it’s time to share it with your potential guests!
It all starts with the right promotion on social media, on different platforms, and anywhere someone might be looking for a place to stay. And within this whole world of accommodation options, competition is high — your property needs to stand out from the rest!
For a guest to get to know your property and, of course, choose it, it is important to have a clear and complete picture of the space. How can you achieve this? With plenty of beautiful photographs! Why are good photographs so important? Let’s talk numbers:
Up to 20% increase in earnings:
Hosts with professional photography may earn more than other hosts in their area.
Up to 20% more bookings:
Photos are one of the top 3 reasons guests choose to make a booking
Source: Airbnb
Before you are tempted to photograph your property with your phone, or even hire a photographer without specialised experience, let’s take a look at why this could do your property a disservice, by highlighting some of the most common mistakes.
Dark and Blurry Photographs
You certainly don’t want the rooms of your apartment or hotel to look gloomy. Dark photographs make a space look anything but welcoming and discourage someone from imagining themselves spending their holidays there. Photographs showing a dark and blurry room (whether because they are out of focus or simply of poor quality) don’t showcase the space. On the contrary, they make it feel uninviting. The result? The potential guest will simply move on to the next listing.
Crooked / Distorted Photographs
New mobile phone technology makes it possible to capture a much wider view of a space. This, along with the excessive use of wide-angle lenses by non-specialised photographers, can lead to mistakes in the way the space is represented.A wide-angle lens combined with shooting from the wrong angle can create a distorted image, making the room look crooked and often much larger than it actually is. As a result, the potential guest gets a misleading impression of the space.It is not uncommon for a disappointed guest to leave a negative review after finding a room that is much smaller than it appeared in the listing.
Incorrect Post-Production
Photography doesn’t stop when you press the shutter. It continues with the editing process, which is a very important part of the final result. If the editing is not handled properly, it can lead to images that look aesthetically poor or, even worse, present a misleading version of the space. When the editing is done by someone who knows their way around professional image-processing software, the results can be excellent, without creating a false representation. The result should be a “clean” image of the space, presented at its best and with the right aesthetic approach.
All of the above can be avoided by entrusting your photoshoot to a photographer specialising in architectural and hospitality photography.
A professional photographer has both the equipment and the knowledge needed to present your property in the right way and to the highest standard. With specialised equipment, they can create the right lighting conditions to bring out the strengths and aesthetic qualities of the space. With the appropriate photographic lenses and careful post-production, they can capture the room accurately and completely, without creating a misleading impression.
A professional property photographer will also convey through their images the atmosphere and experience that guests can expect to enjoy. A strong set of professional photographs will encourage someone searching for accommodation to spend more time on your listing and, ultimately, to imagine themselves staying in your property.
Investing in professional photography is not a luxury. It is essential to promoting your business. It reflects the respect you have for your property and, even more importantly, for your guests and for the revenue they can bring to your business.
Ask yourself: If you don’t invest in your own property, why should a guest?