Airbnb Photography Checklist for Cottage Owners

A rental listing is judged twice. Once in the search results, on a single cover image, and once inside the listing, where photographs are used to check whether the description is true. Those two jobs need different pictures, and most cottage listings only do the first one well.

The cover image

This is the only photograph most people will ever see. On a waterfront property it should show the water and the building in the same frame. On a cabin without water it should be the exterior in its setting, with enough surroundings to communicate where the guest will be.

• Horizontal, because every platform crops to landscape in search results.
• Shot in good light rather than at midday, when the light is flat and the water is white.
• No vehicles, no bins, no hose, no clutter on the deck.
• If aerial coverage is available, an elevated frame showing the house, the lot and the shoreline together is usually the strongest cover image a cottage listing can have.

The shot list

Sleeping

• Every bedroom, wide enough to show the bed size and the room around it.
• Every additional sleeping space you count in the guest number: the loft, the pull-out, the bunkie.
• A detail frame of made beds with the linen you actually provide.

Bathrooms and kitchen

• Every bathroom, including the outdoor shower and the outhouse if there is one. Guests want to know, and hiding it produces bad reviews rather than more bookings.
• The kitchen wide, plus one detail frame showing the counter space and the appliances.
• The coffee setup. It sounds trivial and it is one of the most looked-at images in a rental listing.
• Anything unusual guests should know about: a propane range, a wood stove, a water system with its own instructions.

Living and eating

• The main living area from two angles, so the size is readable.
• The dining table set, showing how many it seats.
• The view from inside, framed through the window, which is what guests are paying for.
• The wood stove or fireplace, lit if the season suits.

Outside and water

• The dock, empty and tidy, plus one frame with a canoe or chairs on it.
• The shoreline and the entry to the water, honestly. Sandy, rocky and weedy entries all suit different guests, and photographing it accurately filters out the wrong bookings.
• The fire pit, ideally at dusk.
• The deck or patio with the seating set.
• The hot tub or sauna, clean and uncovered.
• The parking area and the approach, so guests arriving after dark know what to expect.

Amenities you have claimed

Go through your amenity list line by line and make sure there is an image for each one that matters: the barbecue, the kayaks, the games, the workspace and the wifi router location, the laundry, the parking, the accessibility features. A listing where every claim is visible converts better than one with more pictures of the same living room.

Preparing the cottage

Prepare it the way you would for a guest arriving, then go one step further. The full room-by-room list in how to prepare a Bancroft property for real estate photography applies here too, with a few differences.

• Remove your own belongings entirely. Personal photographs, medication, food in the fridge, boots at the door.
• Set the table and make up the beds as if a guest were arriving that afternoon.
• Put out the towels you actually provide, matching and folded.
• Stow life jackets, coil the hose, tidy the woodpile and hide the bins.
• Get the vehicles out of every frame, including the boat trailer.
• Turn on every light and open every blind.

Lifestyle frames, and how to use them honestly

A few images with people in them help a listing considerably: a mug on the dock rail, chairs pulled toward the fire, a paddle leaning against the boathouse. Keep them true to the property. A staged frame of a family on a beach that is not your beach will produce a complaint at check-in.

Seasons

Most cottage listings only have summer photographs, which leaves the rest of the year unsold. If the cottage rents in more than one season, photograph it in more than one season and label the images by season in the caption. Autumn colour, snow on the dock and a lit wood stove sell winter bookings that a July gallery never will.

Files and ordering

• Horizontal images for the platforms, and a set of verticals for social and for a direct booking site.
• High resolution originals kept separately, so you are not stuck with a compressed platform copy later.
• Order the gallery as a walk through the property: arrive, come inside, look at the view, then bedrooms, then bathrooms, then outside and the water.
• Caption anything that needs explaining, including the things that are genuinely awkward. Honest captions reduce cancellations.

Airbnb, cottage rental and short-term rental photography around Bancroft is covered on the lifestyle photography page. To book, contact us with the location and how many bedrooms the property sleeps.