How To Get The Most From A Professional Photography Shoot At Your Hotel

Posted on Apr 3rd 2018 in Hotel Marketing

In an industry that’s all about creating aspirational experiences, images sell better than words ever can.

Investing time and resources to ensure your website features carefully selected, high quality photos of your hotel will pay dividends when it comes to grabbing your guests’ attention, capturing their imagination and driving online bookings.

To ensure your website photography showcases your hotel at its very best, we recommend booking a professional photographer for the day. When you do, here are some tips on how to make the most of your shoot.

Provide A Creative Brief

To make sure you get what you want from the shoot, it’s important that you and your photographer are on the same page before any photography takes place. This means providing as many insights as possible into your property, your brand, your target audience and what you hope to achieve with the shoot. The clearer and more detailed your brief, the better – and your photographer will thank you for it.

Create A Shot List

Eliminate any confusion by creating a shot list, outlining every room and facility you want photographed. It’s important to include a good mix of room shots, exterior building and garden shots, facility shots and lifestyle shots that help capture the experience of staying at your resort or hotel. Don’t forget, many of these images can be used across social media as well as your website.

Consider Hiring Models

Including people in your photos can really help bring your hotel to life and strike the right chord with the right audience - whether it’s a lounge bar buzzing with millennials, or a pool with a smiling family. If your budget is small you might consider using friends or staff that already work for your business in your pictures, but professional models who are accustomed to being in front of the camera are well worth the investment, with rates generally starting from $300 a day.

Get Your Rooms Ready

It’s important to get photos of at least one room of every variety of accommodation you offer to use on your website and booking engine as well as the OTA’s. When choosing which rooms to shoot, go for those which offer the most natural light, and if possible, those with the best views.

Keep your brand consistent by styling all your rooms the same way, and take care to remove unnecessary, everyday clutter such as hairdryers or bins. On the other hand, if your rooms include complimentary branded toiletries or specialty candles, including these within your images can help create an enticing image of life at your hotel.

Tell Your Hotel’s Story

Good digital marketing is about visual storytelling. To tell your hotel’s story with photography, you need to look beyond your guestrooms, to your hotel’s gym, restaurant, reception, pool and common areas – all of which should be included in your shot list. It’s not simply about showing what’s available; it’s about showing what your guests can experience on their stay. What about an image of a tempting looking cocktail from your lounge bar or a delicious looking plate of food set out on your rooftop terrace restaurant at sunset? You might also consider including images of local landmarks and attractions or the nearby beach to give guests a sense of location and get them itching to book.

Have you invested in professional photography services for your hotel’s website? Is it something you would consider doing in the future? Let us know in the comments below!