Free Professional photo shoot

[Ming420]

Hi dear hosts, I got an offer of a free professional photo shoot. Did anyone get one too? I asked ABNB Support and they said it is totally free without any charge.  I am not required to use or retain the Images on my listing, and allow to remove or rearrange the Images at any time. Only I can't use them on other commercial promotion other than ABNB which I don't and won't anyway. Apart from that, did it have any cons? Thank you for your time and help.

[Huma0 · Accepted solution]

@Ming420 

I assume that profile photo is not the one you are using on your Airbnb hosting account!

Yes, I had a couple of free photoshoots when I listed my rooms on Airbnb. It was as you describe (unless something has changed since then). There were no problems for me. Both sessions were fine, the photographers nice, and the photos definitely helped my bookings.

The only con I can think of is that they do use a wide angle lens, which is no problem, but in my opinion it's a bit too wide as some areas of some photos look distorted and guests might think you are being misleading about the size of the room.

It's a one time offer though so make sure your listing is prepared, cleaned and styled to the best of your ability. I had long term lodgers still staying in the rooms when mine were taken, so I couldn't style them exactly how I wanted, and a large hallway with office area was not included because I was redecorating it at the time. In hindsight, it might have been better if I had waited until the rooms were vacant.

[Mark116]

@Huma0  The free photo thing must have cost Airbnb a ton of money, since at one time they offered it, I thought, 1x per year, then it was 1x per 3 years and now it is 1 time only.  That was the best 'benefit' they ever offered to hosts.  We've never been able to get our photos, whether using phone cameras or digital cameras to be as good as the ones the photographer took.

[Huma0]

@Mark116 

Ah, okay, I had no idea that it used to be 1 x a year and then 3 x a year. Wow, I would have loved that as I'm always updating and changing stuff around at my house. I would certainly love to have photos of bathrooms I've added and new photos of at least one of the bedrooms because the bed in there is totally different (have put photos of the new bed up too, but my photos don't do it justice).

I have no idea what it was when I had the sessions (2016), as I didn't really think about it at the time. I had assumed though that it was a one time thing, because the photographer told me that you got one per listing. I actually only had two shoots for my three listings, but that was fine. 

I only found out when they introduced a free photoshoot as a Superhost bonus. I was delighted. I would much rather have that than the $100 dollar travel voucher. At first, I was told I was eligible, but when I tried to book, was told, no, it was only for new hosts. That obviously made no sense as you only get the reward after having maintained the status for a year. I think what they meant to say was it was only for hosts who hadn't had a shoot before. Anyway, they scrapped the whole thing, probably because it created a lot of confusion. 

I actually thought that Airbnb had stopped doing free photoshoots altogether, but you could book one and pay for it, based on comments I'd seen on the CC. I did look into that, but couldn't find anywhere on dashboard/menu where that came up as an option. 

I wonder if anyone knows about that?

To be honest, I would rather pay a photographer directly, including for usage, so that I could use the photos elsewhere, not just on Airbnb.

[Gillian166]

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To be honest, I would rather pay a photographer directly, including for usage, so that I could use the photos elsewhere, not just on Airbnb.

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@Huma0  +1 and of course you can instruct the photographer to shoot how you'd prefer, ie. tone down the wide angle stuff!  

I registered years ago to be a photographer for ABB and never heard back  

[Huma0]

@Gillian166 

I wish I had made a note of the photographers' contact details. I would happily pay them direct but, like you say, give them a bit more direction, especially since I have been told by others that they got paid as little as 50 Euros sometimes (well, that is what one of them told a host), which is outrageous.

[Gillian166]

@Huma0  yes, I'm sure that's roughly what they pay according to what my friend told me, maybe it was $75 per shoot here, it was appallingly low but she was doing roughly 4 per day and was getting free accomm.... she treated it like a holiday. 

[Huma0]

@Gillian166 

Ah, okay. Well I doubt very much the photographers who came here got free accommodation. They were London based so no need...

[Ming420]

Nowadays phone does take quite good photos in my opinion too. Just need to find the right angel with the right light. 

[Gillian166]

@Ming420  in some situations, sure. but balancing window light is not something phones can handle at this time, nor can they cope well in low light, which is pretty much every interior when it comes to tiny camera sensors. 

What is true is that vast majority of people are pretty forgiving and don't even notice bad photos. I see a lot of people who say "great photos!" to hosts who have sub par images with all sorts of issues (usually crooked and perspective issues, mixed  lighting, blown highlights and out of focus), so the standards of everyday people is much lower than a pro. I find this in my own work too, as regular clients are far less picky about perfection than other places I work for, eg, magazine editors. 

[Gillian166]

@Mark116  I know someone who did shoots for ABB, and they didn't pay very well at all, but they did pay for her accomm to go to various places which worked out great for her and she and her hubby treated it like a vacation. 

[Ming420]

No, the account is not my hosting account, and I don't know what happened when I signed in, it just created a new one for me even though I didn't fill in any information.  

Yes, you have a very good point here about the wide angle lens and later editing for enlarging the size and brightening the place more than it really is.  I don't want magnifying or exaggerated effect for any misleading,  just exactly what the place is. Since it said I can keep or remove them, I might give a try. Thank you so much for your time and help. 

[Bryan442]

I’m glad to find a recent discussion and share my grief. I decided to persue the free photography opportunity. I got an email from AirBNB afterwards telling me to schedule with the photographer. I responded with some questions for them. I searched their email online only to discover  this photographer is hundreds of miles from me. Not only that the person has not responded to me ever.

I contacted AirBNB for their support. AirBNB reached out unpromptedly by phoning me at 12 and 1am which infuriated me. I was no mood to talk the first time and sent them to VM but after being woke up again answered the phone the second time right at the time they hung up seconds after me saying hello..!  Now it’s going on ten days ago since with an escalated team who is also unresponsive. I am getting nowhere. 

[Spencer28]

Yes, I received the same offer you did. I had an AirBnB Plus listing and they have discontinued this service. They offered me the free photography as a compensation. While I really had no need for it, I did ultimately avail myself of it only to receive a set of the worst photos I’ve ever had taken that do absolutely nothing to add to the appeal of my unit.  In fact, they detract from it. By far worst of all, AirBnB ended up deducting $229 despite their promise of a free service. I have been after them for two weeks now trying to get this money back. Still nothing.  This company is really trying my patience. I’ve been with them since their inception and every year it just gets worse and worse. It’s getting to the point where it’s almost untenable.