Vacation Rental Photography: The Key to Boosting Your Bookings and Revenue
Vacation rental travelers are extremely visual, with most people making their decision based on the photos they see in the online listing. In the current vacation rental industry, snapshot and low quality real estate photographs aren’t good enough anymore. A high-quality photo shoot is your property’s most valuable marketing asset.
Standing Out in a Crowded Market
The brutal truth is that you don’t have the only beautiful property in your market. And exceptional photography is your best option for differentiating your property, and one of the least expensive options for building more value than your competitors. When you are listing a short-term vacation rental on either Airbnb or VRBO you want to make sure you are catching the reader’s attention. There are over 5.6 million active listings and 4 million hosts on Airbnb and over 2 million active listings on VRBO. This means you need to stand out from the crowd!
The Impact of Professional Imagery
A great quality shoot will drastically help booking conversion rates and create a boost in revenue potential. Professional photography shows your clients and customers what you do differently. On average, property owners with professional photos see significant improvements in their performance metrics:
| Metric | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Increase in Earnings | 40% |
| Jump in Bookings | 24% |
| Nightly Rate Increase | 26% |
| Inquiry Likelihood (20+ photos) | 83% |
DIY vs Investing in a Professional Airbnb Photographer
Professional Airbnb photographers can capture your short-term vacation rental in a way that a phone camera cannot. With phone cameras, there will be uneven details in brightness as well as shadows hiding the details you want to portray in your photos. A professional Airbnb photographer with a professional camera knows how to portray a property and all of its details. Photographers will photograph certain details to guide the viewer’s eyes to certain points around the home, accentuating your Airbnb or VRBO rental and its best features through color, contrasts, and angles.
Selling the Lifestyle and Attention to Detail
With vacation rental photography, the goal is to sell the lifestyle that the property offers to its renters. Potential visitors are looking for a retreat from everyday life, so painting a picture of a relaxing and happy space will draw people in. This means that furnishings and styling play a crucial role! Michele Coleman Photography and other professionals not only capture images of the space in general, but also detail shots that make all the difference. Renters want to see attention to detail.
Luxury Destinations and Architecture
Our latest photoshoot was on the Big Island of Hawaii for a company called Inspirato, a leading luxury hospitality company. The home we photographed is located in the heart of the Waikoloa Beach Resort on a beachfront setting called Kolea. As you enter the home you are immediately drawn to the view of the Pacific Ocean! You can certainly enjoy the pool and Jacuzzi or just a short walk from the home is the white sands of Anaehoʻomalu Beach. Whether it is a luxury hotel, resort, or a private home, a professional Airbnb photographer will showcase your rental property’s best features with spacious settings and bright, vibrant backgrounds.
Improving Your Search Position
Vrbo, Booking.com, Airbnb and all the rental platforms prefer to have professional photographs for vacation rentals on their sites. Travelers are 83% more likely to inquire about a booking on listings with 20+ photos, so having a full and well-rounded set of photos is essential. High-quality professional photos hold the audience’s attention longer than those taken by a phone camera. If your goal is to grow your Airbnb or VRBO rental listing, then this is your sign and why you should invest in a professional Airbnb photographer.