When you decided to enter the STR (Short Term Rental) market, you knew the first thing people would look at is the photos. But you’ve likely spent a fair chunk of your budget on the fitout, the look and feel, making sure the place has something that sets it apart. So how much did you invest in the photos, which are literally the thing that shows all that hard work?
If you’re like most hosts, you started off with your phone. That’s maybe good enough to start. But just because modern phones take good pictures doesn’t mean they take the right pictures, or frame and expose them in a way that tells guests what they need to know, or makes them choose you over the next listing. Your price matters, and so do your inclusions, your location and your amenities. But chances are the listing that wins the short list has better photos.
Why do I know this? When hosts walk me through their place, pointing out the things they’re proud of and have worked hard to add, I compare that to their existing photos. Those photos rarely showcase any of it in a way that gives a guest an emotional reason to choose them.
As a freelance photographer contracted to Airbnb’s professional photography program, I’ve shot homes for listings right across the Central Coast, Newcastle and the Hunter. Only every now and then do I find a property whose old photos were great and simply needed a refresh. Most still have their original iPhone photos: never shot straight, rarely from the right angle, and very often either too dark or too zoomed in. In short, it’s not selling anything
Central Coast Airbnb Loft
Guests decide in about three seconds
Here’s the uncomfortable part of hosting. A guest planning a weekend away isn’t reading your description. They’re thumbing through forty properties on a phone, on the lounge, half watching something else. Your cover photo gets about three seconds to make them stop, and nothing else gets a chance until it does. Not your reviews, not your price, not the fact that you’ve thought about everything from the coffee to the beach towels. The photo is the whole first pitch.
Airbnb’s own published data reports that hosts who used its photography program saw, on average, 21% higher earnings and 19% more bookings over the following year. I don’t quote that to impress anyone with statistics. I quote it because behind it sits a much simpler feeling: the quiet frustration of watching a place you love sit empty on a long weekend, and not knowing why.
Usually it isn’t the property. It’s that nobody stopped scrolling.
Central Coast Airbnb Cottage
Why a local sees things a stranger doesn’t
Photographing accommodation isn’t just about owning a wide lens or a fancy camera. It’s about knowing what makes someone stop, look, look more, and decide they’ve found the place to book.
Being local gives me that. I know which way the light falls on a Terrigal deck in the afternoon, and that a winemaker’s cottage in the Hunter looks like a completely different property at golden hour. I know a Port Stephens guest is scanning for the water glimpse while a Newcastle guest is scanning for the cafés and eateries. I know that if the pool photo is shot at the wrong time of day it reads as cold, and cold pools don’t get booked in November. A shot list built around your property, rather than a standard brief, is the difference between photos that document a house and photos that make someone imagine their weekend in it.
It also has to be honest. When the photos are true to the place, guests arrive and it matches what they saw, and that’s the review you want. Over-sold images might win the click, but they set up a small disappointment at the front door, and disappointment writes reviews too.
The files are yours to use, and that changes things
When you book me directly, the photos belong to you. Full resolution, licensed to you, forever. Place them on Airbnb, Booking.com, Stayz, your own commission-free booking page, your Google Business Profile (if the property is allowed on GBP), your socials, print. You choose where they go.
Photos from a platform’s own service are made for that platform, in that platform’s house style. I’d urge you to read the terms and conditions on how you can use them. I’m not knocking it, after all I freelance for them too, but do your own due diligence. When I shoot directly for you, I don’t put restrictions on where the images go. That stops being abstract the day you decide to take direct bookings, add a second property, or move away from a channel taking a cut you’re tired of paying. You’re not renting your own front door back from anyone.
I can also shoot 360° virtual tours, sometimes in the same visit if time permits. Photos get the initial click, but a tour lets a guest walk the place room to room before they commit, and that’s what quietly kills the hesitation on a larger booking.
Central Coast Airbnb Apartment
Get it shot before the season, not during it
Spring and summer booking plans are being made right now by people sitting at their desks imagining somewhere better to be. Staging your property properly for a shoot is also much harder when you’d rather be booking guests in and earning income, so the time to do it is before you’re squeezing it into the only gap you’ve got. And if your listing is still carrying the photos you took the week you launched, that’s what guests are deciding on. Not the place you’ve built since.
A listing set can start as low as $300 plus GST for a small space, and I’ll confirm a firm price once I know what’s involved. I’m based on the Central Coast and travel to Sydney, Newcastle, Port Stephens and the Hunter. If you manage more than one property, ask about multi-location rates, and ask about my disability access discounts.
Let’s get your place earning the click it deserves.
Marc Charette
Commercial Photographer, Virtual Tours, Local SEO
Work Pics 360
Serving the Central Coast, Newcastle, Hunter Valley, Sydney (Australia)
0424 357 118 marc@workpics.com
