Chapter 13

The Airbnb Photographer Service

Showcasing vacation properties can be done best when taking advantage of the Airbnb Photographer Service.

For those that are in the vacation rental business, they’ll already know how important the photos that will be used to showcase their property are. Airbnb recognizes the importance of good photography for the property and offers a dedicated photographic service.

Owners that are using the Airbnb website know that they must take the time to upload good looking pictures. Sometimes they will take the photos themselves to advertise their space, while others will hire photographers to do this for them.

It is very important for an owner to be able to support their property description with accurate photos that represent the property well. It doesn’t mean that an owner has to hire a professional to take the photos that they need for their listings. While there are photographers that do specialize in this, there may be other alternatives that people can use to get the photos that they need.

Disclaimer: Lodgify is an Airbnb Preferred Software Partner. This guide, including any claims or statements within, is solely from Lodgify and is not endorsed by, directly affiliated with, authorized, or sponsored by Airbnb in any way.


If you’re a Lodgify customer and want to connect via API with Airbnb, please get in touch with our customer support team. For more information: Connect Lodgify to Airbnb

What is the Airbnb Photographer Service?

For owners who want to list their property on the site, they will need to have at least one good photo to add to their Airbnb advert. However, it is highly recommended that more than one photo be used to see multiple viewpoints. Airbnb knows that this can be a challenge for some. To help with this, they will try and arrange a photographer service to come and do a photo shoot for eligible hosts. Though there is no guarantee regarding the photos. Also, this service may not be available to everyone. It is contingent on there being a photographer in the specified area that has the time available to take the pictures.

If this is something that you are interested in, you will need to check the list of available photographers. This list is created by Airbnb based on the address of the property.

How Much Does It Cost?

The cost of Airbnb’s professional photography service varies based on your property’s size and geographic location. You won’t need to pay anything upfront since the cost of your photoshoot will be deducted from your next rental payout. If the amount of your next payout is less than the cost of the shooting, the remaining amount will be subtracted from your future payouts until it fully paid. If for any reason, you decide to cancel before the shoot, you won’t have to pay anything. In any case, you will receive no charge until the photos are live on your property’s listing.

Time Factor

After completing the shooting, the photographer will edit your photos and send them to Airbnb editor’s team, that will make sure they comply with the website guidelines. As stated by Airbnb, the whole process normally takes around 2 weeks, when you will have the pictures ready for use. That doesn’t mean that you can’t go ahead and list your property while waiting. You may even want to take some pictures of your own and use these in the meantime.

Airbnb offers some great information to assist you in your own property rental photo taking. You can easily take your own photos by just choosing a nice bright sunny day to take them. You want your images to depict the natural light of your property rental as this is appealing for guests.

No matter what you decide on, do keep in mind that the visual aspect of creating your ad is very important. This is where you get the chance to really showcase your rental property and you want it to be exceptionally well presented.

As a first-time host on Airbnb, you may want to check out some of the existing property listings to see how the pictures are being used. This will help you with creating your own. You will see that some are presented better than others. If you really want to make the best use of Airbnb, then taking the time to implement good photography measures will help you do this. Guests really do want to see an as-accurate-as-possible version of what they may be getting if they decide to book your property. The more that you can show them about the property, the better it is. At the same time, the photos must be of high quality, otherwise, it detracts away from what the property may have to offer.

The good thing is that once you have taken the time to create good photos for your Airbnb listing, you only have to do this once. If you have several property listings, you will need distinct photos for each of them.

Tips to Help You with Airbnb Photos

The most important task you have to do on Airbnb is to create your listing, and you certainly need good photos to go along with this. The old cliché “a picture is worth a thousand words” really holds true in the vacation rental business. The photos that you put on your property listing are usually the first thing that will catch any potential guest’s eye.

Of course, the price you are asking for the rental is also important. But it is the photos that really depict what guests can expect for the money they will be paying. It doesn’t matter whether it is a room, apartment, house or any other type of rental, it must show well in your photographs.

When Taking Your Photos

It may be that you don’t want to hire a professional photographer to take the rental accommodation photos for you, which is fine. But, if you are going to do this yourself, then there are few things you will want to keep in mind.

How Many Photos

While you don’t want to go overboard with the number of photos you are going to place on your listing, you do want to have more than one. Depending on the property, you may want to have at least one of each of the rooms that guests will be using. An outdoor image is also great, but make sure the property has good curb appeal.

You really want to capitalize on the best features of your rental property so you can use them as a selling feature when enticing people to book. The kitchen is always of great importance. If there is plenty of space for the kids both indoors and outdoors, this may be an additional feature that you want to capture in your photos.

Equipment

You don’t need expensive or high-powered camera equipment to produce a good photo that will work well on the Airbnb platform. If you have a quality cell phone that allows you to take reasonably good photos, then this is all you will need.

Avoid the Major Image Mistakes

One of the biggest mistakes that many hosts make when obtaining an image is the size. They figure because they only have a limited size on the Airbnb dashboard to use then the pictures must be small. The proper approach is to take photos no smaller than 1024×683 pixels. The resolution will be much better and you can always downsize them with some simple software if needed.

Also, avoid the mistake of taking the photos in the vertical mode. They don’t fit into the space as nicely as photos in the landscape format do. Landscape format allows the viewers to achieve a better sense of what the property has to offer and its space.

Prepare the Rental Space

Before taking any photos of your rental property, you’ll want to stage it properly. This begins with first making sure it is clean, and that it has been de-cluttered and tidied.

Proper Lighting

Something else to keep in mind is that any image that is taken during the natural light of day will showcase much better on Airbnb. It also indicates to the guest that there is plenty of natural light for the rental, which most guests will find appealing.

On the website itself, there is a lot of useful information about Airbnb photos that produce good results for hosts. Take the time to check this out. Also, if you visit the Blog, you may find additional hints that will help you.

Uploading and Positioning

As a host, once you have gathered all of your photos your next task is to upload them to the listings you are creating on the Airbnb site. It is not hard to upload the p but do take the time to put them in the proper sequence so they create a nice flow and present well.