Occupancy rates is one number that as a serviced accommodation provider it is easy to get obsessed about and lay awake at night worrying about.
Whether you own the property or are R2R’ing the property, your success is defined by your occupancy rates. Every day a property is empty, it is costing you money and wrecking your occupancy rates.
No matter where you are advertising, Airbnb, Booking.com or any of the other portals, great photos get more clicks!
Hopefully, you know you need photos when you are advertising your property, although, I still see adverts for properties without photographs.
With all the property training companies pushing serviced accommodation as the next gold rush for investors (it was HMOs a few years ago), it is no surprise that this sector is getting more competitive.
Property Photographs for Airbnb & Booking.com
On most of the portals you are competing against hotels that have dressed their professional photos to perfection. Badly lit photos of bare mattresses just don’t cut it.
Take a look at the two photos below. If you were looking for a holiday property on Airbnb or Booking.com, which one are you more likely to click on?
The photograph on the left is not too bad, I have seen a lot worse being used to advertise properties. However, let’s face it, you are more likely to click on the one on the right.
It is time to take action and get your occupancy rates to where they should be. Take the first step and refresh your adverts on Airbnb and Booking.com with some great photos.
If you have the skills and equipment, dress your properties and take the photographs yourself. If not, hire a pro. Let’s put it into perspective, for most of the serviced accommodation properties I photograph, just one extra night’s booking covers the cost of professional photos.
More Than Just Corner To Corner Shots
For serviced accommodation and I believe any property you need to do more than just show the property, you need to show the lifestyle as well.
Room shots are great for showing the property but you need to be selling more than just that. Take some lifestyle photos as well. Here are a few examples:
Further Help
If this article has provided more questions than answers for you. Please take a look at my property photography training at https://landlordphotography.co.uk/property-photography-training/
Or if you would rather leave it to a pro, book me at: https://landlordphotography.co.uk/