Understanding photo requirements for your property

Good photography captures beautiful, well-lit, and realistic photos of your property. Your photos should show all the main rooms and features that will inspire travelers to book your property.

In this article:

Guidelines for photography

It’s important to keep photos property-related. Choose photos that show your property’s most relevant features to set accurate expectations for your guests. Find the image and editorial guidelines here.

To help you with your photo gallery, we’ve put together the following guidelines. For more tips, check out our step-by-step visual guide.

Taking photos of your property

Interior

Show off your property by taking photos from several angles. Take at least four photos of each room or unit and at least one photo of your bathroom and toilet.

Exterior 

When booking accommodations, travelers want to see a clear and realistic representation of a property and its location. That's why you should take photos of the exterior that show:

• The property’s entrance 
• The building's facade in relation to the street or its vicinity

Rooms or units

All photos should be consistently clear, bright, and flattering, so tidy up all rooms before taking any photos. Your rooms or units should have:

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

Also, take photos of any in-room amenities such as:

• Tea and coffee
• Refrigerators
• Air-conditioning units
• Glasses and mugs
• Minibar/snacks 
• In-room safe
• Desk and stationary

Bathrooms and toilets

Bathroom photos are just as important to travelers because they often reflect the general cleanliness of the property. Your bathrooms should have:

• Ambient lights turned on 
• Clean mirrors 
• Spotless shower/bathtub
• Shower curtains open
• No tissues, toilet paper, or bins visible
• Closed toilet seats

Also, take photos of any in-room amenities such as:

• Bathrobes
• Slippers 
• Hairdryers
• Toothbrush kits
• Complimentary toiletries

You can also take photos of unique features such as:

• Views from the property
• Balconies, patios, or terraces
• Interesting architectural or design features 
• Gardens
• Parking areas

Common facilities 

You can take photos of common or shared facilities that guests can access at your property, such as:

• Entrances – both interior and exterior
• Street views of the building and its surroundings
• The reception area
• Restaurants 
• Breakfast spreads
• Lounges
• Swimming pools
• Game rooms
• Spa, sauna, or massage facilities and services
• Fitness centers
• Nearby beaches
• Kitchen facilities
• Living areas

Additional amenities or services

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

• Meeting rooms or banquet halls
• Business centers or lobby computers
• Airport shuttle buses
• Parking areas
• Luggage storage
• Dry cleaning or laundry services
• Room service
• Tour or ticket desk with pamphlets

Condo hotels 

If you have a condo hotel, make sure you take photos of:

• All the unit types 
• The different rooms in each unit as well as the whole apartment
• Take at least 24 photos

Taking photos to attract families

Families look for specific facilities, amenities, and services in a stay. Take photos of the following if you have them:

• Kids club facilities
• Outdoor play areas
• Waterslides or waterparks
• Children’s swimming pools
• High chairs
• Cribs
• Kitchens or kitchenettes
• Excursions services (e.g. pamphlets in the lobby)
• Sports facilities
• Safety features like pool fences or stair gates
• Any other family-friendly facilities

Requirements for photography

Keep the following general and technical requirements in mind when taking photos of your property.

Shooting requirements

• Use a digital camera or smartphone with a good camera.
• Shoot landscape images (horizontal) only – these look best on our platform.
• Photos must have a high resolution – at least 2048 x 1080 pixels, but preferably 4000 x 3000 pixels.
• Take at least 10 photos.
• Take pictures from a height of 3 to 5 feet.
• Shoot from room corners to add perspective and depth to your images.
• If you’re using 360° photos, the image should have a 2:1 aspect ratio (width must be double its height) and a minimum of 1280 x 900 pixels.

Technical requirements

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

• Grainy or pixelated photos. 
• Blurry or tilt-shift photos.
• Over-processed photos.
• Photos with filters, strong contrast, over-saturations, or excessive HDR.
• Photo collages.
• Watermarks or illustrations in photos.
• Skewed, tilted, stretched, or distorted photos.
• Black-and-white photos.
• Extreme wide-angle or fisheye lens photos.

Composition

When it comes to composition, factors such as orientation, photo size, layout, and symmetry are crucial. Keep the following in mind:

• Make sure your subject (e.g. a person or amenity) is in the center of the photo whenever possible.
• You can crop photos on our platform to keep your subject centered.
• Don't get too close to the subject – leave enough space for the subject to fit in the middle of the frame.
• Remember that the image you see in your Extranet gallery is a pre-cropped photo.

Avoid taking pictures of road signs, parked cars, and make sure no recognizable people are visible.

To ensure your content respects our content guidelines and to avoid upload issues, refer to the Image and editorial guidelines section in our Content guidelines.