Which Photos Should Go on Your Vacation Rental Website?
A photograph of the sunset might get someone to open your site. A photograph of the second bedroom might settle the booking. Guests use pictures to work out where they’ll sleep, what they can cook, and whether their parents will manage the steps. Give them a set that helps them do all three.
Pick a homepage photo that shows the stay
For a cabin in the woods, a wide shot with the cabin and the trees may tell the story in one picture. For an apartment, the living room or balcony might do a better job than the front of the building. Choose an image of something guests actually get when they book. If the best view is from a trail a mile away, save it for the local guide and say where it was taken.
Check the photo on your phone before you commit. A wide image can lose both sides on a narrow screen. If the cabin sits in the far corner of the picture, try a shot with the cabin closer to the middle. For the LodgeWP Hero Banner, we recommend a landscape image at 1920 × 1080 pixels. The center of the image is what guests see on phones. See the LodgeWP Hero Banner guide.
Show where guests will sleep, cook, and wash
Open your gallery with a clear photo of the place they’re booking. Follow it with the main living space and the rooms that will matter to most guests. Photograph each bedroom and label it if the beds differ. A family deciding who sleeps where should be able to tell that one room has a queen bed and the other has two singles.
Then show the kitchen, dining table, and bathroom. Back up enough to show the room in context. If the kitchen has a small hob and a fridge under the counter, let the picture show that. A straight shot in daylight usually tells a guest more than a dramatic wide angle that makes the room feel bigger. See Airbnb’s advice on photographing a rental.
With LodgeWP, the first photo in an accommodation gallery is the large one at the top of the property page. Choose it with that in mind. If you rent several places, check that the featured photo and gallery on each page show the correct rental, especially when rooms or cottages look similar. See how LodgeWP displays accommodation photos.
Take the pictures guests usually ask you for
Walk from the place guests park to the front door and photograph anything they might want to see. That could be a narrow gate, a gravel path, the steps up to the entrance, or the distance from the car to the cottage. Take a wide shot of the garden so guests can see how it joins the house. If you mention a fenced garden, show the gate and the type of fence.
Think about the way people use the rental. A parent may want to see the loft ladder. A guest with limited mobility may want to see the shower threshold and the route from parking to the entrance. Include photos and give measurements in the text when they help someone judge whether the space suits them. See Airbnb’s guide to photographing accessibility features.
Put the photos in an order that helps guests
Put the photos that explain the layout near the front. After that, add a few that show what makes the stay special. A table set for six helps a group see that they can eat together. A close photo of a coffee cup can wait if the gallery still needs a picture of the bathroom. If the pool is shared or only opens in summer, say so in the caption or on the property page.
Keep a copy of your original files and upload versions sized for the website. Preview the crops on a phone and see how the gallery loads over mobile data. Add short alt text to photos that convey useful information. “Two single beds under the loft window” is enough if that’s what the image shows. Use a visible caption when everyone needs the detail, such as which room the photo shows. See the W3C guide to image descriptions.
Before you put the camera away, make sure you have a wide photo for the homepage, one clear picture of every room guests use, and photos of the entrance and parking. If you’ve mentioned a terrace, pool, garden, or view on the page, get a photo of that too.
