What photos do I need for my hotel?

Welcome

To get guests to book your hotel, you first need to grab their attention with an attractive property page.

Your photos play a key role in this process. In this guide, we’ll explain how to take stunning pictures that’ll make your hotel irresistible to bookers.

For more tips, check out our step-by-step visual guide.

Why take photos?

Good property photography can capture beautiful, well-lit and realistic photos of your hotel.

Your photos should show all room types and facilities – along with specific details – that will captivate and inspire travellers. That’s why we recommend that you display a minimum of 24 photos of your hotel.

To be effectively displayed on different digital platforms, your photos need to be of consistently high quality and high resolution.

Your photography should:

• Take travellers on a visual journey through your hotel
• Reflect the ambiance and energy of your property
• Emphasise the culture and history of your place

Show the kind of experience travellers can expect during their stay

What to photograph

Be sure to photograph all room types – Single, Double/Twin, Triple rooms, Suite – available at your hotel.

Take a minimum of 4 photos for each room type and at least 1 photo of the bathroom/toilet found in each.

Twin Room

Double Room

Suite

If you have an aparthotel, make sure that you:

• Photograph all apartment types – One-Bedroom, Two-Bedroom, Studio, Penthouse – available at your property.
• Photograph the different rooms in each apartment as well as the whole apartment (overall layout).
• Take a minimum of 24 photos of your property.

With larger, multi-bedroom apartments, you don’t need to take photos of every bedroom.

One-Bedroom Apartment

Whole apartment

Studio

Taking room photos

Corner Shot 1

Corner Shot 2

Unique Room Feature To show off their best features, take photos of each room type from a variety of different angles:

• View from one corner, showcasing the whole room
• View from a different corner
• Unique room features/facilities

Unique room features could include:

• Views
• Balcony, patio or terrace
• Kitchen, dining or seating areas
• Tea and coffee facilities
• Interesting and unique decorative details

You should take photos of anything special that sets your hotel apart from others.

Room Presentation

Your photos should present your hotel realistically and highlight its best features.

All photos must be consistently clear, bright and flattering, so prepare and tidy your rooms before taking any photos.

Your rooms should have:

• Curtains open so views are visible
• Ambient lighting and lamps turned on
• Freshly made beds
• Tidy surfaces
• Spotless carpets and flooring
• No laundry showing
• No wires and cables visible

Take photos of any in-room amenities, such as:

• Tea and coffee facilities
• Fridge
• Air-conditioning unit
• Glasses/mugs
• Minibar/snacks
• In-room safe
• Desk/stationery

Taking bathroom photos

Shot 1

Shot 2

Unique Room Feature

Bathroom photos are also important to travellers, as they often reflect the cleanliness of the hotel in general.

Your bathrooms should have:

• Ambient lights turned on
• Clean mirrors
• Spotless shower/bathtub
• Shower curtains open
• Toilet lid closed
• No tissues, toilet paper or bins in shot

Take photos of any in-room amenities, such as:

• Bathrobe
• Slippers
• Hairdryer
• Toothbrush kit
• Complimentary toiletries

Photos of facilities

Take photos of all common facilities that guests have access to at your hotel, such as:

• Entrance picture (both interior and exterior)
• Building picture (street with building, surroundings)
• Lobby/reception
• Restaurant/places to eat
• Breakfast (food)
• Lounge/bar
• Swimming pool
• Game room;
• Spa/Wellness/Sauna/Massage
• Fitness center/gym
• Beach
• Kitchen facilities
• Living areas

Photos of extra amenities

You should also take photos of additional amenities or services that are available to guests, such as:

• Meeting rooms or banquet halls
• Business centre or lobby computer (monitors turned off)
• Family-friendly options like play areas or children’s menus
• Airport shuttle buses
• Parking garages
• Newspapers
• Luggage storage
• Dry cleaning/laundry service
• Room service
• Tour/ticket desk with pamphlets (if separate from reception)

Your location

When booking accommodation, travellers expect to see a clear and realistic representation of your hotel and its location.

Guests need to know exactly what the property looks like on arrival, so you should take photos of the exterior that show:

• The hotel entrance

• The building’s facade in the context of the street

Try to avoid including road signs, parked cars and passers-by in your photos.

Shooting Requirements

• Use a digital camera.
• Shoot mainly landscape (horizontal) images – these look best on Booking.com.
• Photos must have a high resolution: at least 2048 x 1080 pixels but preferably 4000 x 3000 pixels (the maximum uploadable file size for a single photo is 19MB).
• Take a minimum of 24 photos in total.
• Take pictures from a height of 100-160cm (3-5ft). This maintains consistency across images and feels neutral from the viewer’s perspective.
• Keep the focal length between 24 – 35mm.
• Shoot from room corners to add perspective and depth to your images.
• Try to capture as much of each space as possible in your photos. Try not to crop out furniture or other details that would be important to the guest.
• Use a tripod to avoid camera shake.

Technical requirements

The maximum uploadable file size for a single photo is 19MB.

To ensure your hotel photos are displayed optimally to potential guests, it’s best to avoid uploading:

• Grainy or pixelated photos
• Blurry or tilt-shift photos
• Over-processed photos
• Filters, strong contrast, over-saturations or excessive HDR
• Photo collages
• Watermarks or illustrations in photos
• Skewed, tilted, stretched or distorted photos

Things to avoid

✘ Photos of guests, models or property owners

✘ Photos displaying nudity

✘ Photos of logos, branding, awards or contact details

✘ Reflections of people in mirrors and windows

✘ Photos with TVs turned on

✘ Photos showing technology that may date (telephones, alarm clocks, etc.)

✘ Extreme, wide-angle or fisheye lense photos

✘ Photos taken from overly high- or low angles

✘ Overly dark (underexposed) or bright (overexposed) photos

✘ Black-and-white photos

Once you've taken photos of everything you need, find out how to add them to your property page.