How to Take Better Photos for your Short-Term Rental Property

When Airbnb started, one of the first things that founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia did was to personally visit the homes of some of their early host homes in New York, and to take free professional photos of these properties. This was because Chesky and Gebbia realised that nobody wanted to book a listing that had unclear and poorly taken photos. Once they had updated the photos for various listings on Airbnb, guest bookings started rolling in.

Listing photos are a key deciding factor for guests when deciding on which Airbnb they want to book. Having a variety of high quality photos that show off the features and amenities of your home can often be the difference between getting consistent bookings. Below are a few tips on how to take better photos for your short-term rental property.

How to Have Great Vacation Rental Listing Photos:

• Have a clean and tidy home when you take pictures.
• Add some personal decorative touches.
• Include lots of photos to show off your home.
• Consider hiring a professional photographer to stand out from the crowd.

Make Sure Your Home Photos are Clean and Orderly

While this can seem obvious, there are a shocking amount of listing photos which feature dirty dishes in the kitchen sink or a cluttered and disorganised living room. Whether you’re orderly or messy in your personal life, it’s important to clean up your home when it’s time to take listing photos. Before taking any photos you should try and do a full clean of your home to avoid things looking dirty: sweep and mop the floors, wipe down tables and surfaces, and wash any linens or couch covers around the house.

When taking pictures of your kitchen be sure that there’s no food waste or crumbs anywhere in the picture, and wash or remove any dirty pots, pans, or dishes in the kitchen area as well. As for bedrooms, the beds should be made neatly and you should avoid having too much stuff scattered about the room. Leave some things out so the room doesn’t look too bare (alarm clock, tissue box, and a picture or two), but try to keep things fairly simple, so a guest can envision settling into the space.

Add Some Decorative Touches

Once you’ve made sure your home is clean and orderly for photos, take a moment to add a few decorative touches before snapping your pictures. Find a few things to make your home more welcoming, and to keep it from looking too empty or lifeless. Flowers are a great way to add some colour and a natural decorative touch to your home, and can be placed just about anywhere depending on what room you’re looking to decorate.

In your living room, make sure you’ve got your finest coffee-table books on display along with a few decorative personal belongings or photos. Even if you want your guests to feel at home, don’t feel like you need to remove all of your personal items, since having a couple out will give your listing a unique and homely touch. For your kitchen, including a fruit bowl and setting your dining table is often recommended, as it gives a more welcoming vibe compared to a completely bare kitchen table.

Use Lots of Photos to Show Off Your Home

While having lots of photos is still important for private room listings, it’s especially important if you’re listing your entire home for short-term rental. Make sure you’ve got pictures of both the inside and the outside of your home. While guests will be staying inside, having a few photos of the outside of your home will be appreciated by guests arriving and trying to identify your home for the first time. If you’ve got a back garden, deck, or patio, be sure to include a photo of it on a sunny day.

As for the inside of your home, try to have a picture of every room, with photos from multiple angles for bigger rooms. Make sure to also include pictures of any amenities or features of your home that you mention in your listing. If you talk about the luxurious indoor fireplace right by your 50 inch flatscreen TV, make sure you’ve got a picture to show guests what they could be enjoying during their stay.

Hire a Professional Photographer

Although hiring a professional to take Airbnb listing photos of your home might seem a bit excessive, when you consider the importance photos have on your potential bookings, it’s actually quite a smart investment. A professional photographer will find the best angles, lighting, and features of your home to highlight when taking pictures. When you calculate the potential revenue of consistent guests booking your home, hiring a professional photographer quickly pays for itself after your first couple of bookings.

It’s important to remember that your home’s photographs are what make the first impression on potential guests viewing your listing. Having a stand-out set of pictures will leave a far better impression on guests compared to having a couple of pictures hastily snapped from your cell phone camera. When you consider that few other homes will have professionally taken photos, hiring a professional photographer will quickly make your listing stand out above the rest.

Photography Tips for Pro Airbnb Listing Photos

If you’re not looking to hire a photographer and have a decent enough camera of your own, don’t be afraid to take your own listing photos. Many of Airbnb’s top listings have photos that were taken by the hosts themselves, and as long as you keep a few basic tips in mind your Airbnb listing photos will end up looking wonderful.

1. Make the most of your phone. Smartphone cameras have improved exponentially and can take some stunning shots. If you have an iPhone 11 or Samsung Galaxy S10, try snapping some photos since the quality will likely be fantastic. If you want your listing to really stand out from the rest, consider purchasing a dedicated camera optimized for real estate photos.
2. Use natural lighting to its fullest. Many professional interior photographers will turn off all interior lights when taking shots, and rely only on natural lighting since it creates a more natural feel and reduces unbalanced shadows. This will help give the space a natural feel.
3. Create depth in your photos. Place and use items like flowers and other decor to add an element of depth and help your photos pop. Play with furniture placement to show off the space and remove any distracting decorations for the perfect photo.
4. Mix up your photo styles to show off your home. Use a variety of wide angle shots along with tight shots of small elements or decor to show off why your home is unique. Don’t have every shot be the same as the last, and find the best angle and positioning for each room.
5. Give your photos a touch-up. Once you’ve taken all your photos, import them to a photo editing software to refine the contrast and other features. If you’re not well-versed in photo editing, consider using a service like Fiverr to find a specialist to do interior photo retouching and take your listing photos to the next level.

About Keycafe

Keycafe is a technology company modernizing business key management with a cloud-connected SmartBox and accompanying key management software.

In addition to a global Public Network of over 1000 locations for Airbnb users, Keycafe’s Enterprise Solution enables businesses in any industry to manage key access for staff and customers.