# Listing photos: what sells a holiday flat and what the platforms do not allow

> Natural light, tidy, landscape, the terrace first and not a single collage. How many photos, in what order and why a €150 professional shoot is the best investment in the listing.
>
> Topic: Booking, Airbnb and others · Reviewed: 2026-09-22 · URL: https://mipisoturistico.app/en/guides/listing-photos-what-sells-a-holiday-flat-and-what-platforms-do-not-allow
> Published by Mi Piso Turístico (Torremolinos Gestión Vacacional), a holiday-rental management company on the Costa del Sol.

**Short answer:** photos are the first thing the guest sees and what decides whether they keep reading. You need **between 20 and 35 landscape photos, in natural light, with the flat tidy and no personal items**, starting with the best one (terrace, views, living room) and covering every room, the building and the surroundings. Platforms **do not allow collages, text, logos or watermarks** on photos, and penalise those that do not match reality. A professional shoot costs €120-250 and raises bookings more than anything else you do to the listing.

## The order matters

1. **The main photo**: the one that sells most. On the Costa del Sol, the terrace with the sea, the bright living room or the pool. Never the façade or the bathroom.
2. Living room from two angles.
3. Bedrooms, each one, with the bed made with white linen.
4. Kitchen, with the worktop clear.
5. Bathrooms, with the lid down and towels folded.
6. Terrace and views.
7. Common areas: pool, garden, entrance hall.
8. Surroundings: the beach at its real distance, the street, a map.

## What shows and what does not

- **Yes**: daylight, blinds up, lights on, windows open if there are views, plants, a set table, pool towels.
- **No**: cables, bins, cleaning products, family photos, clothes, the television on, pets, people, the owner's car.
- **Never**: extreme wide angle that makes a studio look like a loft. The guest arrives, sees it is not like that, and says so in the review.

## What do the platforms forbid?

- **Collages** of several photos in one.
- **Text, logos, watermarks** or phone numbers over the image.
- Photos of **other flats** or stock images ("Torremolinos beach" taken from the internet).
- Photos with **third-party rights**.
- On Booking, they must also have a minimum size (2,048 pixels wide is recommended) and landscape proportion.

Those that break the rules are rejected or the listing loses quality; those that mislead are paid for in reviews and claims.

## Professional or with a phone?

A current phone, with daylight and a tripod, takes decent photos if you know what to look for. A property photographer (€120-250 for a flat) takes photos that sell: framing, straight verticals, balanced light between interior and window. As the listing will be up for years, it is the investment with the best return in the whole process. Managers usually include it.

## How often are they renewed?

When something changes (furniture, paint, a new air-conditioning unit) and, in any case, every three or four years. And a seasonal photo (Christmas, summer) in position 2 or 3 refreshes the listing without redoing it.

## And photos for your own website?

The same ones, in high resolution, with descriptive file names ("terrace-sea-views-torremolinos.jpg") and alt text: that is what makes Google Images and AI systems understand them. We explain it in [The listing texts](/guias/textos-del-anuncio).

## Sources

- [Booking.com Partner Hub: photo requirements and tips (in Spanish)](https://partner.booking.com/es/ayuda)
- [Airbnb: tips and rules for listing photos](https://www.airbnb.com/resources/hosting-homes)