Photographing your Holiday home

A conversation with an Airbnb owner this week went something like this.

Me. So your local to me so we can spend some time getting these pictures right, if the suns not in the right position I can pop back when it is . We can work round any guests you have and do a bit of staging so everything looks great. Images  will be carefully edited so as to get the best out of your property.

Person. Ok that sounds good.

Me. How many images would you be thinking of.

Person. About 20

Me. Ok that’s fine so I would be thinking between half a day but less than a day.

Person.  Ah I’ve been told this would only take an hour. How much would this cost?

Me. I could do this for you for £x (this was a small hotel so price was adjusted to suit)

Person. Ah its just I’ve been told it will only cost £75 and will only take an hour and I’m very busy.

Can you feel the disconnect establishing itself between me and my potential client.

So this is the bit that annoys me, why do people running such businesses not understand that good photography is one of their main selling tools.  If I’m booking accommodation once I have established the location and the number of beds. two things sell the place to me,  the pictures and the reviews. I looked at this particular offering and from what they were charging a couple of extra bookings in the year would have settled my bill.

Rant over!!

So here is the other extreme.

Whilst travelling in Grenada I had the opportunity to do some work on a beautiful property.

Person. Yes why don’t you stay a few days then you can see the property at different times and understand what it’s all about.

Me. You don’t know how much I love you. ( I didn’t actually say that but it’s what I was thinking)

It’s all about attitude find a photographer who is passionate about what they do regardless of the size of job and work with them to produce something that will market your business for years.

Here are a few of the Grenada pics.

If you're going to photograph your property a few things to consider

Develop a relationship with a good property photographer

Allocate a sensible budget and time to the project.

Choose right time of year for external pics.

Coordinate with cleaners and gardeners.

Do a bit of gently staging.

Use distant and close up images.

Show the surrounding environment.

Get as many different images as possible to feed your social media.