The Value Of Interior Design Photography For Your Listing.

This is the moment they’ve been waiting for.

A mix between excitement and concern was the emotions that Beila and Shen were experiencing as they uploaded their new photos to AirBnB.

Would the investment they did work, or would it have been a total waste?

All they knew is that they had to do something. Something to move the needle and get more bookings; otherwise, they would find themselves underwater on their short-term rental.

The night came when he heard it.

A ding rang out on his phone from AirBnB. It was a booking! But was it a coincidence?

“Not likely,” Shen thought after he received more notifications later in the week. Their calendar was starting to fill up, and they were finally becoming profitable!

Turns out that the new photos they added to their listing were attracting more people to book with them.

But is this typical?

In most cases, yes. The quality of your photos is an extension of the quality of your property.

At least, that’s what most guests are going to perceive, especially at a glance.

If your photos are blurry, poorly lit, or not very well composed, then travelers are going to wonder what other corners you may have cut with your property.

And with a swipe of the finger, they are on to your competitors’ listing within seconds (that’s where that giant sucking sound is coming from).

So it makes sense that guests will find hosts that use professional photography more trustworthy, particularly when it comes to having a consistent experience.

What does this mean for your bottom line? Let’s take a look at some numbers.

AirBnB’s numbers.

They claim professional photography can increase your occupancy by up to 24% so that some quick math would tell us:

Additional Yearly Revenue Due To Professional Photography

So what would the impact look like?

Wow! If you could make an $8,493 return on an $800-1,000 investment, please sign me up!

Granted, this is all based on local market conditions, but let’s not forget that these are improvements and investments we are making with our properties to increase the perceived value and revenue potential.

Tax deductible.

And according to AXA, an insurance company in the UK, professional photography can increase the perceived value of Real Estate by as much as 21%, which is similar to AirBnB’s claim that hosts who use such photography usually are able to raise their nightly rates by just as much.

So if you want your bank account to burst at the seams, then upgrading your listing photos is the bare minimum you should be doing.

But just because you hire someone with a camera doesn’t mean you will get the best results.

Covid Update: Travel has been restricted all over the world, as you have probably seen for yourself. However, lots of different areas still have people traveling for work, and some hosts have experienced minimal impact. Guess who’s getting booked up first? That’s right, listings with better photos.

Cheap Photographers Cost You Time

Now let’s take a look at the impact a cheap photographer can have on your listing.

“I have a listing that needs help,” a customer said. “My photos were done by a professional, but I don’t like how they turned out. And I can’t get my money back.”

“What happened?!” I replied, thinking that the client might have high expectations.

It turns out it was just a case of the photographer rushing from listing to listing because cheap photographers can’t afford to take their time to ensure the property is presented in its best light.

This seems to be typical of a lot of freelancers. They tend to earn a measly rate and knock off as many properties from their list as fast as possible to earn a decent income.

In this particular case, our client had hired such a photographer.

They came in, snapped some shots in under an hour, and didn’t give much consideration to how their work would help this host.

“This should be an easy job,” I said. “But it will take a few hours.”

Below is a before and after shot of one of the photos that we improved for our client’s listing.

I’d be disappointed if my listing photos also looked like that “before” photo.

This was a colossal waste of both time AND money for our client. Because now you have to schedule another photographer to come out, and we aren’t cheap.