How to Airbnb: taking the pictures
OK, so you’ve picked out some comforters and consumables for your guest that might be a tad above the expectations your pictures set. That’s great, but now you have to take those pictures — and the pictures are everything.
Let me say that again, because I’m not sure it was clear enough:
THE PICTURES. ARE. EVERYTHING.
You can have the best apartment in Manhattan on the one hundredth floor of some luxury apartment building, but if you do not take incredible pictures, people will not book. Simple as that. Guess how 90 percent of your potential guests choose the place they want to stay? Yup. It’s the pictures in the listing. Like it or not, people essentially choose where they’ll stay from the pictures. The few that read your description are just looking for red flags. As long as you have a bathroom and a bed and aren’t going to be living next to them, you’ll pass their cursory read-through.
Therefore, I highly recommend hiring a photographer, even if they cost $100 an hour. The better the pictures are, the more money you will make, so the upfront investment in a photographer is absolutely critical.
You might be thinking, “Hey! I have a good photography camera. I can take pictures and save a few hundred dollars!” I thought the same thing. And in a comparison of places I took a picture of and one I hired a photographer for, the professionally photographed one made twice as much profit, $3,000 more over three months.
“But how?” you might be wondering. Well, a photographer isn’t just taking pictures. They are setting a scene. You let them know the expectations for the place or let them decide the expectation for the place themselves. This means they make sure the bed looks immaculate. They use a wider lens to give more depth to the room. They take five or ten of the same shots at different exposures and composite them together to make sure everything is perfectly lit. It takes a great photographer an hour or two just to take the pictures in a one-bedroom apartment, not to mention the three to five hours of editing after that.
After the shoot, the photographer will go home and spend the night compiling those different shots together, playing with the light and illuminating even the darkest shadows until the photos are flawless and your home shines invitingly for all to see. And people are looking and booking; you’re getting a lot of bookings and need to raise your rates to stem the tide of interest and messages.
Now, imagine all that versus little old you with your “photography camera” — but who are we kidding? You’ll probably just use your phone. You take a couple of pictures, maybe make sure the bed is made but otherwise not mess with the space too much. Your pictures will look all right. A little grainy and dark, but OK.
Great, you took some pictures on your own and saved a few bucks and your place is getting booked! But little do you know that you are only getting booked at little more than half of what you could have been making . . . if you’re even getting many bookings at all.
Do you see the difference? In one scenario, it’s you taking pictures of a place to sell it. In the other scenario, it’s someone with years of experience who knows how to arrange the space, furniture, and lighting, tweaking it and setting it up just right to maximize your bookings. Sorry to belabor this point, but it’s really, really important. I know when I was starting out I didn’t want to spend any more money than I had to.
Airbnb knows how vital photos are to the point they will actually pay a photographer to take pictures of your space for you. I was able to get this service for my first Airbnb; for later ones, I had to hire my own photographer. Again, 100% worth it.
Now, after your photographer sends you the pictures (or, if you got an Airbnb photographer, after they upload the photos to your listing), you still have the whole rest of the profile to figure out.
You already know who your target audience is, so talk to them! What is the number-one thing you want them to know? Do you have an awesome location? Do you have a spectacular view? Whatever it is that makes your place amazing, put that as the listing title: “Spectacular View in Heart of Manhattan,” “Superb Location: Center of Ann Arbor,” or “Cozy Suite, One Block from UofM” (a title targeted toward student guests).
The point of the title is to give the viewer context for your place. Why does it apply to them? Your pictures sell them on staying at your place, and your title tells them information your pictures can’t. Speak to your audience and what they want. In my case, all three of my types of guests — students, parents, and businesspeople — needed proximity to something in downtown Ann Arbor. My title was “Great Location Heart of Ann Arbor.” Pretty basic, but it told them what they needed to know: that the place was smack-dab in the center of downtown.
Also, remember where you’re potential guests will see this title. They will see your cover picture and title on the search screen. What can you put in your title underneath your cover picture that will pique their interest even further? Private speakeasy in central NYC Apartment? Studio next to Convention center? Another thing to note is the length of your title’s hook. Airbnb tends to cut off titles around 28 characters in the search results. Your title can be longer, but if the unique part is not in the first 28 characters it won’t help people click into your listing. Be sure to check where the cut off is when you’re setting up your listing since Airbnb is always tweaking the search results screen.
After the title, you have the description. Keep in mind that after photos, people are looking at less and less of the listing’s content. For many people, the description is the last piece of content they’ll see before looking at your reviews and deciding whether to book or not.
So what should you put in the description? Like the title of your listing, you want to add all the things that make your place great. I typically start with outside the house. Are there any great restaurants nearby or fun things to do? What makes your location great? Then, a couple of lines into the description, I typically shift the focus to the inside of the listing. What amenities does it have that make it particularly nice? Do you have a nice big screen and a couch to curl up on and watch movies? Or maybe an expansive desk and blazing Wi-Fi for getting work done? It really depends on your audience what inside amenities you think will resonate with them.
Like every part of this process, it will change and evolve based on feedback. Fill out the listing description, picture, titles, and everything with what you think your future guests are looking for. After you start getting feedback about what guests loved or didn’t love about your place, you can accentuate the good in your listing. Lots of guests loved your artwork? Mention it in your listing and even take a close-up picture of the artwork. Like I said earlier, people love tchotchkes; they love to feel like they are peering into someone’s life when they stay in someone else’s home.
In the next section, I’ll get into what to put after the description and all that detailed stuff that will help reduce the repeated questions people ask you.
Summary
- Do not skimp on the photography. It is the single most important part of your listing and the only thing most of your potential guests will look at when deciding to book.
- Your listing title should speak to the facet of your place that guests care about the most whether that be location or something unique about your place.
- Your description should add color to your location and interior amenities.
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