By the Unity Stays directors, Marcus Chong & Gadir Al-Khatib · Last updated 12 August 2026
In short: Photograph a short let by preparing the property first — beds made, surfaces cleared, every light on, blinds open — then shoot in booking order: strongest room first, a logical walk-through, every bedroom, kitchen, bathrooms mid-set. Include the awkward features honestly, hire a professional for any property run commercially, and check the results on a phone, where bookings are made.
Preparation matters more than the camera
Most disappointing listing photographs are not badly taken. They are photographs of an unprepared property.
Before anyone shoots: the property fully finished and furnished, beds made with clean pressed linen, every surface cleared, bins hidden, cables tidied, nothing personal in shot, toilet seats down, and every light in the property switched on.
Then open every blind and curtain. Natural light is the single largest difference between a listing that looks generous and one that looks cramped, and it is free.
What to shoot, and in what order
Order is a conversion decision, not an aesthetic one. The first three images decide whether anyone reads the description.
- Lead with the strongest room — usually the living space, occasionally the main bedroom
- Then a logical walk through the property, as a guest would move through it
- Every bedroom, showing the actual bed size
- The kitchen, including the worktop and the appliances a guest will use
- Bathrooms — mid-set, never first
- The workspace, if there is one. It is the filter work travellers use
- Outside space, parking and the entrance — practical, and reassuring for an arrival
- End on something distinctive — a view, a garden, a feature
The honest ones matter too
Photograph the awkward things: the stairs, the shared entrance, the small second bedroom, the shower over the bath.
It feels counterproductive and it is not. A guest who books knowing exactly what they are getting arrives satisfied; one who is surprised writes the review. Every omission you make becomes a line in the reviews and a reason for the next reader to hesitate.
It also filters. The guests who would have been disappointed book elsewhere, which is precisely what you want.
When to hire a professional
For any property you intend to run commercially, essentially always. It is one of the few costs in this business where the return is direct and measurable in click-through.
A good property photographer brings wide-angle glass that does not distort, lighting that fills a room without flattening it, and — more valuable than either — an eye for staging. They will move a lamp, turn a chair and open a door, and the property will be worth more per night for it.
Professional photography and staging on the day are part of our onboarding for exactly this reason, and the sequence is deliberate: compliance, then furnishing, then photography, then listing. Photographing a half-finished property wastes the shoot.
Keep them current
Photographs of furniture you replaced, a wall colour you changed, or a garden in a season the property no longer resembles all quietly reduce trust when a guest arrives.
Reshoot after any significant change, and consider a second set in a different season for properties where the outside space is part of the appeal.
And check how they look on a phone. That is where nearly every booking decision is actually made.