Hotel photos that sell rooms: what each booking site and Google ask for

This is OneHorizyn's own guide, written from each site's help pages. In their own words:

• Google says guests rely heavily on photos of rooms when deciding where to stay, and that photos of the outside help them recognise the hotel as they arrive.
• Booking.com says travellers want a clear and realistic picture of a property and its location, and that bathroom photos matter as much as rooms, because they often show how clean a place is.
• Tripadvisor says photos of the hotel itself help travellers more than photos taken from it, such as a view.
• Expedia says your photos should show the rooms, facilities and features you have, so travellers know what to expect when they book.
• Booking.com notes that families look for particular facilities, so show cots, high chairs, play areas and children's pools if you have them.

Booking.com asks for photos that set accurate expectations, and Google for photos that represent reality. True to life is the standard every site asks for.

• The outside: the entrance, and the building in its street. Google suggests one photo from each direction guests arrive from, and at different times of day.
• Reception and the lobby.
• Every room type: at least four photos each from different angles, plus the bathroom, the view, and any balcony or terrace.
• What is in the room: tea and coffee, the fridge, air conditioning, the safe, the desk; and in the bathroom, toiletries, bathrobes and the hairdryer.
• The restaurant and the breakfast spread, the pool, spa, gym and lounges.
• Meeting rooms and banquet halls, parking, the airport shuttle, luggage storage and laundry.
• Anything for families: cots, high chairs, a play area, a children's pool, safety gates.
• For Google, also your team: Google suggests at least three photos of the owners and staff, less formal than a brochure.

Booking.com's photo guide is the most detailed of them:

• Use a digital camera or a smartphone with a good camera.
• Shoot landscape only.
• At least 2,048 by 1,080 pixels, and preferably 4,000 by 3,000.
• Hold the camera 3 to 5 feet off the floor, and shoot from the corners of the room for depth.
• Keep the subject in the centre, and don't stand too close to it.
• For a 360° photo, use a shape twice as wide as it is tall, at least 1,280 by 900 pixels.

Before each room photo, Booking.com asks for:

• Curtains open so the view shows, and lamps and other lights on.
• Freshly made beds, tidy surfaces, spotless floors, and no laundry, wires or cables in sight.
• In the bathroom: lights on, clean mirrors, a spotless shower or bath, the shower curtain open, the toilet lid closed, and no tissues, toilet paper or bins in view.
• Anywhere: no road signs or parked cars in the frame, and no portraits or photos where people are the main subject.

• Watermarks, logos, borders and text laid over the photo, such as a web address or phone number: Booking.com, MakeMyTrip, Expedia and Tripadvisor.
• Collages and montages of several photos: Booking.com, Expedia and Tripadvisor.
• Heavy filters, strong contrast, over-saturation, too much HDR, or edits that change the scene: Booking.com, MakeMyTrip and Tripadvisor. Google asks for no significant alterations and no excessive filters or AI.
• Blurry, grainy, pixelated, dark or sideways photos: Booking.com, MakeMyTrip, Expedia and Tripadvisor. Google asks for photos in focus and well lit.
• Black and white or sepia: Booking.com and Expedia.
• Fisheye or extreme wide-angle lenses, and skewed or stretched photos: Booking.com.
• Duplicates and near duplicates: MakeMyTrip and Expedia.
• Close-ups, documents, certificates and posters: Expedia.
• Photos only of food: MakeMyTrip, which may accept food laid out in the restaurant or at the buffet.
• Anything with personal details, such as ID cards, bills or contracts: Booking.com.

• Booking.com: at least 10 photos, with at least four of each room or unit and one of its bathroom. The extranet takes JPEG or BMP files of at least 300 by 300 pixels, ideally 2,048 by 1,536, up to 1.3 MB each.
• MakeMyTrip and Goibibo: more than 30 photos of the property (the facade, reception, entrance, lobby and facilities) and more than 4 of each room; more than 40 and 5 for a 4 or 5 star hotel. At least 1,000 by 1,000 pixels, up to 10 MB each, 5 at a time.
• Agoda: at least one photo and a main photo, of the property and of each room type. At least 800 by 600 pixels, ideally 2,048 by 1,536, up to 4 MB each, as .jpg or .png, and 100 MB in one upload.
• Expedia: at least 6 unique photos, and four of each room type including the bathroom, one of the building in its surroundings, one of the entrance or reception and one of each main facility. JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF or SVG, landscape, at least 1,024 by 683 pixels and ideally 3,840 by 2,160 or more.
• Google Business Profile: JPG or PNG, between 10 KB and 5 MB, ideally 720 by 720 pixels and at least 250 by 250.
• Tripadvisor: up to 15 MB each for a hotel, as .gif, .jpg, .bmp or .png, in a landscape shape between square and 4:3.

Booking.com, in the extranet:

1. 1Click Property, then select Photos, and click “Add photos”.
2. 2For one room's gallery, select the room or unit type, then “Add photos”, or drag photos from the main gallery into it.
3. 3To tag a photo, such as restaurant, select it, click “Options”, then “Edit or tag”, choose the tags and click “Finish”.
4. 4Drag photos into the order you want, or leave the Smart ordering toggle under Main gallery on and Booking.com orders them for you.

Changes can take up to 48 hours to show. The Pulse app does the same under More, then Property details, then Photos.

MakeMyTrip and Goibibo, in the InGo-MMT extranet:

1. 1Click the “Property” tab, then “Photos”, and click “Upload Photo”.
2. 2Choose a tag for each photo and write its description on the same screen. MakeMyTrip says the descriptions help with search engine optimisation, and that the right tags make your hotel likelier to appear when guests search for a feature.
3. 3For a room's photos, click the room's name, then “Upload Photo”.
4. 4Drag and drop photos to put the strongest first, such as the outside or the public spaces.
5. 5If a photo doesn't show, open the “Rejected” tab under Photos: the reason is under each photo.

Agoda, in Partner Portal:

1. 1Go to Property, then Photos, and click “Add photo” under Property photos, or under the room you want to update.
2. 2Tick the photos to tag, click “Tags”, choose the tag and click “Tag photo”. Each photo has one tag, which Agoda shows with it and uses to order your photos.

Changes usually show within a few hours. Agoda also shows photos you put on Booking.com and Priceline, and those are changed there, not in Partner Portal.

Expedia, in Partner Central:

1. 1Select Property details from the menu, then Photos, then “Add photos”.
2. 2Choose a photo from your files and select “Open”. If it shows a facility not yet on your listing, a pop-up appears: select “Yes” if it is accurate.
3. 3Choose a photo label, then select “Upload”.
4. 4To change photos later, choose “Select photos”, pick them, select “Replace”, “Delete” or “Edit”, and “Save”.

Expedia says photos appear within 72 hours, and show as pending until then.

Google Business Profile, on a computer, signed in to the account that manages your profile:

1. 1Open Google Search or Maps and search for your hotel's name and town.
2. 2Click “Photos”, then “Add photos”, and choose your photos. You can choose several at once.
3. 3To set the photo at the top of your profile, click “Photos”, then “Add a cover photo”, or “Change cover” to replace it.

Photos show only once your profile is verified, and can take 24 to 48 hours. Google checks each one: “Pending” photos aren't shown yet, “Not approved” ones broke a policy, and “Live” ones are on Search and Maps. If a guest posts a photo that breaks Google's rules, open your profile, select “Photos”, then “View all photos”, choose it, select “Report a problem”, give the reason and select “Submit”.

Tripadvisor, in the Management Center:

1. 1Click Photos & Videos in the menu.
2. 2In the All photos section, click “Add photos”.
3. 3Choose or drag in your photos, write a description of each, and click “Upload”.

Tripadvisor checks each photo, which can take up to 2 days (see the guide to Tripadvisor for hotel owners).

The first photo is the one guests see in search results, and each site lets you choose it:

• Booking.com: under Main gallery, drag your chosen photo to the Preferred main photo spot, or select it, click “Options” and “Set as preferred main photo”.
• MakeMyTrip and Goibibo: click the star above a photo to make it your Master Image, the first thing travellers see, and click “Yes”.
• Agoda: click the photo and choose “Set as main photo”. Each room type has its own main photo too.
• Google: your cover photo. Google says that if it is poor or other sources suggest a better one, a guest's photo may be shown first instead.
• Tripadvisor: ask for a photo to be your main photo; it can take up to 5 days, and a logo or business card can't be one.

• MakeMyTrip suggests refreshing your gallery at least once a quarter, with seasonal changes, new facilities and events.
• Booking.com lists up-to-date photos among the things to check before guests arrive, as part of raising your review score.
• Take down a photo of a room that no longer looks like that, the day it changes: on MakeMyTrip, click the bin on the photo and confirm; deleted photos can't be recovered.
• After a renovation, photograph again before guests post their own photos of the new rooms.

On your own website, Google's advice for images applies: give every photo alt text that says what it shows, name the files plainly, place each photo near the text about it, and keep files small so pages load quickly on a phone (see the guide on hotel SEO). MakeMyTrip can also show your Instagram posts and reels on your page through its Property Vibe feature, under the Property tab of the extranet.