Expert hotel lifestyle photographers, Christian Giannelli and Beth Campbell, recently joined us on The Inner Circle for an exclusive interview to help our members understand how the right photos can substantially improve your bottom line. If you are considering listing your inn for sale, you’ll need a collection of photos to appeal to both the new buyer as well as strategic photos which can help bolster your revenue to ultimately show greater profitability on your P&L sheet.
Make Sure You’re Highlighting Your Revenue Generators
Christian suggests you take inventory of what you currently have on hand to determine what’s missing. Have you recently completed a room renovation and have nothing to show for it? Did you add retail items to your inn but don’t have photos for them on your website for simple, online ordering? You’ll realize immediate revenue increases with newly photographed rooms! You’ll also want to prioritize photos for any upsell items like romance and pet packages, or meeting and event spaces. According to Beth, photographing any of these potential revenue generators you may have overlooked can help move the needle toward your ideal selling price for your inn.
Selling The Lifestyle and The Business
Of course, you may want to sell your inn more immediately. If that is the case, Beth strongly recommends realistic photos of any owner’s quarters you have on site. A new buyer is not just buying your business – they are buying a new life! With this in mind, understanding that showcasing where the owners will be living and how they will be spending their time is paramount. You’ll want the buyer to see photos of working kitchens, laundry facilities, closets, storage, basements, outbuildings, garages, parking, etc as they need to clearly understand the scope, size, setting, and architectural style of the property.
Showcase The Property and Future Opportunities
Another benefit to prioritizing a photo shoot if you are considering selling is to set yourself apart from other properties for sale. Your photo shoot should focus on capturing the big picture so the buyer gains a greater understanding of the size, setting, layout and major features of the property. They will want to see the square footage of the rooms, the quality, and condition of the bones of the property as well as the overall sense of space and light. In so doing, you allow the buyer to dream about what they would do with the property if it belonged to them. You could even photograph a space you had hoped to monetize as a wedding venue but never had the time to implement. Help the new buyer realize the untapped revenue potential of the property with professional hospitality photography and set yourself apart from the competition.
Selling Your Hotel’s Location with Drone Photography
Christian also suggests adding drone photography to your next scheduled photo shoot. He uses it frequently as it is vital to capturing scope. You can easily see the proximity to downtown, to the ocean, to the lake, to the nearest neighbor, etc. In addition to drone photography, the team at White Stone Brokers leverages the Matterport 360° photography while visiting properties during our Market Assessment and Valuation visit. We believe it is key to selling a potential buyer on your property by allowing them to visually walk through your property.
Join The Inner Circle to See The Full Interview
Allocating a sufficient investment toward a professional hotel photography shoot is some of the most important money you can spend in marketing a bed and breakfast, hotel, inn or wedding venue. Join our free platform, The Inner Circle, to watch the full interview for more hotel photography tips, as well as access to a library of curated content for prospective buyers or sellers of boutique lodging properties. Register Now and become part of our circle!
Disclaimer: The particular properties shown in the photos may not be for sale at this time. Photos are for example purposes only.