aving great pictures of your rentals and activities on your website and booking platform is essential. When people see quality images that display your offerings, it will be one of the reasons they choose to book with you over the competition. Understanding this when showcasing your rental business on your website, social media and booking page is important to help increase your sales.
Why Quality Images Are Important to Your Rental and Activity Business
As a Rental or Tour Operator, showing great images on your website could be the reason why a customer chooses to book with you. Great pictures are your opportunity to display what potential customers will experience. Images are powerful in this sense as they can often stir up a memory or good feeling in customers and create more excitement for the experience.
Not only that, when your pictures are taken with care, it will show a great deal of professionalism. People are choosing to spend their time and money with you, and displaying quality pictures during the booking process will give them the confidence that they are making the best choice.
What Makes a Great Picture
According to SLR Lounge, "every image needs to have a purpose. The image should tell a story or capture a unique moment in a meaningful way." This could be a single image or a series of images. Inspirational photos of your service in action, such as a group of boaters enjoying a day on the lake in your boat, a family enjoying time at the RV campground, or a sunset boat cruise. These types of images will show the potential renter what they will be getting, and likely invoke a good feeling about their upcoming experience when they choose to book.
How to Take a Great Photo
Get a Camera: Yes, you can hire a professional photographer to take images of your rentals and activities, but that can be costly and time consuming. Better yet, invest in a quality camera (or borrow one!) that would more cost effective or even use your mobile device. The current iPhones and Android phones offer great cameras that take high quality images.
Accessories Help: You may want to buy optional accessories such as a tripod or additional lenses to assist with your photos. A tripod will help you keep the camera or phone stable, allowing for the best shots. And using different lenses will help with unique perspectives.
Snap Away: Take lots of photos! Cameras can easily take several photos quickly. Taking many photos will ensure you get the best images that you are looking for.
We're sharing 5 tips below to help you that will help you take the best photos. Paired with a great description of your offerings, and this will definitely level you above the competition.
Tip #1 Follow the Rule of Thirds. A photographic composition concept, called the Rule of Thirds, states that an image should be broken down into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, so you have 9 parts, like a grid. Utilizing the grid to place the subject along one of the lines will increase the visual appeal and create a more balanced photo. Note: If using your phone to take images, you can enable the Grid from the phone Settings.
Tip #2 Make Sure You Have Good Lighting. Light in photography is one of the most important elements, without it there is no picture. Natural light is the best for high quality photos. The best natural lighting occurs in the morning or before sunset, often called the ‘golden hour’. This is always a great option to capture the image that invokes a pleasant response.
Tip #3 Create a Focal Point with Negative Space. Your equipment can be your focal point, such as a jet ski, pontoon boat or RV. When setting up the shot, embrace the negative space around the image. Negative space is simply the area around the subject, usually a large expanse of water or open sky that can make the focal point more interesting.
#4 Take Candids. Candids are a great way to show your offerings in action. Folks enjoying themselves is always a great selling point for your rentals or activities. Candids can show a customer what their experience will be like. When taking candids, take as many photos as possible. This will almost certainly guarantee you will find that gem image or two to highlight on your site.
#5 Take Images from Interesting Angles or Perspectives. Keep moving around when taking photos to capture different angles and views of the rental or scene. Photos taken from interesting angles tend to make the image more memorable as it will create an illusion of depth or height to the subject. It’s a great way to offer the potential renter a view that they won’t see elsewhere.
When you have a great booking system, like Booking Central, you'll be able to add all your awesome photos quickly to the platform, and your customers will enjoy scrolling through your images when choosing which activity to book.
BookingCental offers the most flexible and easy to use booking platform on the market. We have over 20 years of experience partnering with rental and activity operators to provide a booking and mangement system along with tips and tools to support your business. Reach out to learn more.
