How to Make Your Vacation Rental Stand Out Fast

Have you ever heard the saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words?” While this may be true, in the vacation rental industry, we like to think a picture is worth a thousand guests staying in your rental!

Capturing beautiful photos of your vacation rental is crucial for attracting guests who are browsing properties online. If your property doesn’t stand out (in a good way), you will get fewer bookings than you would with excellent photography. If you’d like to impress potential guests with your property, follow these helpful vacation rental photography tips:

1. Clean Off All Surfaces

Before taking pictures of your rental, cleaning your home is imperative. After all, a dirty home is way more challenging to sell than a clean one—even if your vacation rental photography is top-notch!

Clean off all the surfaces, from the kitchen countertops to the toilet seat, change the bedsheets, fluff the pillows, and remove clutter or personal items, like family photos, from your home. You can also remove twigs, leaves, and debris from the outdoor area, clean the swimming pool, mow the lawn, and spruce up the patio. The small details make a big difference!

2. Utilize Good Lighting

One of the quickest (and easiest) ways to enhance your vacation rental photography is by using good lighting. Here are some lighting tips to ensure you can capture high-quality photos of your vacation rental home:

• Take photos of your vacation rental property during the day to take advantage of natural lighting.
• Turn on all the lights in your home when you take photos. As we mentioned above, you should also use as much natural light as possible and can also use professional lighting if needed. You can even get creative with other light sources, like fairy lights on your porch or in a bedroom.
• Shoot outdoor spaces during golden hour to emphasize the appeal of your rental with a soft, glowing appearance.
• Be mindful of white balance, try not to use flash, avoid direct sunlight when possible, and use a tripod if you can for great photos that look professional.

When you follow these lighting tips, you’ll already have the edge over the competition!

3. Capture the Best Angles

When taking vacation home pictures, it’s wise to take a few photos of the same room at different angles to find the perfect angle that captures the right “look and feel” to attract potential guests.

The key? Help your guests imagine what they’ll see on your property. Find angles that showcase most of what the room offers (amenities, furniture, etc.), but also think about the little details, like what you see when you walk into the primary bedroom or your point of view while cooking in the kitchen. Take several photos from unique angles, so you have plenty of images to choose from when your photo shoot is over.

4. Highlight Key Amenities

While pictures captured with a wide-angle lens are great, it’s also helpful to have some “close-up” photos that highlight amenities guests will love, like an espresso machine, a wine cooler, beer taps, a wood-burning fireplace, billiards table, bunk beds, or a jacuzzi bathtub.

Just think—your property may look nice in photos, but so do the other 1,000 properties online. However, suppose you have that “special” feature someone is looking for during their vacation. That may be the difference between them booking your house instead of another property!

5. Take Indoor & Outdoor Images

When taking photos of your vacation home, you’re likely already thinking about highlighting the interior features, right? While capturing images of your kitchen, living room, and main bedroom is important, remember that the outside of the home is just as crucial to the guest experience!

Your guests will want to know if you have a patio, balcony, backyard, or front porch, and if so, what amenities are included. Make sure you take great pictures of your swimming pool, hot tub, barbecue grill, fire pit, and other outdoor features, if applicable, to showcase on your listing. If you have a beautiful view from your front porch—take a photo of the view too!

6. Hire a Professional Photographer

Smartphone cameras can take good photos of your vacation rental. However, if you want the best photos of your entire space, it’s wise to hire a professional photographer.

Not only do professional photographers have an expert skillset, but they also have high-resolution cameras, optical zoom lenses, and editing software that can elevate your pictures to the next level.

Consider an Airbnb photographer (instead of a general photographer) when you hire someone to take pictures of your vacation home. These experts know how to highlight the best features of vacation rentals to create more interest from potential guests and, therefore, how to secure more bookings.

7. Keep Your Images Updated

Have you been in the vacation rental business for several years? If so, it’s important to note that you should keep your property’s professional photos up-to-date.

If you have excellent professional pictures of your vacation home and haven’t changed the furniture, style, or decor in years, you may not need to invest in new vacation rental photography often. However, generally speaking, vacation rental owners should plan to take new photos of their vacation rental properties every two years to give potential guests a better idea of what the space actually looks like.

8. Stage Your Rental Photos with THE STAGING COMPANY

Finally, one of the best ways to draw attention to your property is with professional staging services from THE STAGING COMPANY.

We make it easy to capture eye-catching photos of your vacation rental by styling your furniture, artwork, and amenities in a way that is appealing to future guests. When you work with us, you won’t have to worry about a “bad angle” throughout your entire home! Before taking professional photos to enhance your vacation rental listing in Florida or Texas, contact our team for a quote.