What’s appropriate to use when staging for photography?

[Claire596]

Time-sensitive question: is it okay to use things for staging our home for professional photos if we don’t provide those things to guests?

Background:  Airbnb photographer is coming Sunday (in four days) to photograph our 1,000 sq foot unit.  We’re excited to get professional photos and have been giving a lot of thought into how best to stage the home. I’ve read it’s important to let guests see how they’ll use the space - for example, put your laptop out on the desk, have a book open on the sofa.  But is it okay to have things in the photos we don’t give to the guests?  For example, if I wanted to stage the kitchen by filling two wine glasses with wine and putting it on the countertop with a cheese tray, would that be okay even though I don’t provide wine and cheese (the wine glasses and tray that would be pictured are provided of course).  Or could I show off the full kitchen by having a meal in progress?  Is it okay to have fresh flowers in a vase for the photo shoot if we don’t provide these normally?

We’ve only been hosting for a year and have really enjoyed the community. Thank you in advance for your advice!

[Rachel0]

@Claire596  As far as I am concerned, the photos should not show any items that are not going to be provided for use by your guests.   Showing a laptop could be construed as misleading by an awkward guest and surely most people with an ounce of common sense could work out for themselves that a desk could be used as a work space.  I hope the photo session goes well for you.

[Alexandra316]

@Claire596 I generally use real estate photos as my guide. Typically, you wouldn't see meal-in-progress photos in a real estate listing, food on plates, etc. I would stick to photos of things you offer, otherwise it becomes potentially confusing for the guest. Many people just look at the photos without reading the listing, in my experience. Flowers are borderline: most people understand that they may not be offered every time, but personally I wouldn't include them in case someone was disappointed. I just generally go by the guideline that if it's likely possible for a photo to cause confusion or disappointment, I would leave it out.

[Kevin1322]

that seems very sensible advice.

*goes and checks own listing*

[Kelly149]

@Claire596  One of our photos showed a laptop to feature the size of the workspace & once I was working while waiting to meet a guest and during checkin they said “oh good! There is a laptop here.”

ummmm, nope. That photo caption now says BYOL. 

I try to err on the side of show the listing accurately to slightly less lovely than how they’ll actually find it. Better to pleasantly surprise than to disappoint. 

[Kevin1322]

My daughter in law was accepted to be an Airbnb photographer (photography is her day job).

Apparently the photographer also  has to make an inventory of stuff in the listing. Which is fair enough, I guess. But if you stage stuff (other than maybe flowers or a dinner half cooked) you might end up causing some confusion for guests on the dim or entitled sides of the normal human spectrum.

She declined the offer of work by the way due to the extra work with the inventory and other requiremets.

So I'm pretty sure you shouldn't put anything in the photo that isn't in the listing.

It's never a bad policy to under promise and over deliver....

[Emilia42]

@Claire596 

You want your photos to look nice but you also want to undersell your place. No one wants a guest that says/thinks "The place looked better in the photos." Imagine the guests delight if they entered to an unexpected bottle of wine and cheese plate. They will probably feel a little ping of disappoint if they saw the scene in the photographs but then realized they had to make their own.

[Mark116]

@Claire596   I would say flowers are okay, because you might sometimes have flowers, and from my experience guests never comment on the fresh flowers that we once always had and now we have only for guests staying more than 5 days, LOL.  I would not put a laptop for the reasons other have said, you will absolutely get a guest who thinks there is a laptop there, same for a cheese plate.  You can simply set the table with wine glasses, napkins, etc. and that will give a prospective guest the idea.  Good luck.  

[Claire596]

Thank you all so much - these are very helpful suggestions. I’ll pass on having the laptop and food in photos but will set the table and brew coffee (we provide coffee). Really appreciate it!