How to Prepare for a Hotel Photoshoot

Planning a photoshoot for a hotel requires more than just hiring a photographer to capture a few different angles of the hotel lobby and deluxe suites in your property. The pre-production process involves going through the property and figuring out certain amenities you want to highlight, what will invite future guests to stay at the hotel, utilizing props and brand materials, and sometimes featuring your staff at the forefront of your hotel.

While your photographer might have ideas on how to carry out the photoshoot and will do their best to highlight the property as much as possible, it’s important to understand your own brand as a hotel or resort business and stage each room as neatly as possible.

This blog post is meant to serve as a guide for hotel clients who are preparing to get ready for a photoshoot to use for their marketing. In this guide, I’ll discuss the following topics:

• Plan Appropriate/Least Busy Times for Each Room 

• Housekeeping

• Include Props for the Rooms 

• Set up Your Event/Meeting Space

Plan Least Busy Times for Certain Rooms

One of the biggest priorities of a hotel photoshoot is to avoid disturbing any guests that are already staying at the property. It’s important for the client to confirm with their team that certain rooms won’t be booked or used during production day.

For example, on a full-day production, I’ll confirm with the hotel the least busy time to shoot the hotel lobby in order to avoid disturbing guests checking in and out of the hotel.

During the pre-production hotel tour, the hotel client will select certain rooms that they want photographed and reserve those rooms for the day of the photoshoot just to be on the safe side.

Housekeeping for Hotel Photography

Some things can be retouched, but the process for all parties will be much smoother if the hotel ensures that everything is cleaned up as possible. Some things to keep in mind:

• Floors and mirrors should be thoroughly cleaned

• Make sure that beds are unwrinkled as much as possible

• Pillows are fluffed and oriented with equal spacing

• Towels are properly folded and there are an equal number of towels in each stack

Include Props for the Rooms

Consider what props/items that you want featured in your hotel that will add a pop of color to each room. You can include plants and greenery, paintings, books, or small decorative objects.

Be careful to not overload the room with props - too many props can start to look cluttered and take away from how spacious the room is.

Additionally, certain rooms might not need a lot of props if the space itself already has a powerful aesthetic to it. For example, in the Owner’s suite of Hilton’s Wayfarer DTLA hotel, the beautiful art behind the bed is the main focus of the room.

Set Up Your Event/Meeting Space

Your event space is a room that can feature a variety of decoration options. When setting up the props for this room, it’s important to ask:

What kind of meeting and events are going to be held here? 

For the Kins Hotel, the team staged three different setups for their Legacy Room. The client made sure to include small bouquets, chairs, and plates and silverware as a dining space.

Work With Hotel Photographer Brian Brown

In order to ensure a successful hotel photoshoot, it’s important for the hotel clients to prepare their property in advance as much as possible.

Los Angeles photographer Brian Brown works with hotel clients from the pre-production stages of the photoshoot until the final deliverables.

To learn more about his hotel and resort photography services and request a quote, feel free to reach out.

Book A Hotel Photoshoot

Feel free to explore some hotel photography behind-the-scenes blog posts:

Pacifica’s Marina del Rey Hotel

Hilton’s Wayfarer Downtown LA Hotel