How to Take Better Photos for your Hospitality Business with Tyann Marcink S7E16

Foreign. Welcome to the Boost Hospitality podcast. We are in season seven, episode 16. Yes, I have got Bruce Lee branded merchandise. We've got the Boostly rocket, we've got Bruce Lee on the sleeve and and on the back we have Book direct. They come in shirts, they come in hoods and we've also got as well other things up and coming. These at the moment are not for sale. Sometime in the future they will be Boostly Academy members. Keep an eye on the post because you may be getting them through the door for saying thank you for joining today we are going to be talking to Tian Masnik Now Tian, for anybody that has followed her on social media, you know that she does such amazing work. She's a Touch Day ambassador. She is a legend when it comes to all things photography and she is a host as well and she's got so many projects ongoing. Today we're going to talk about photography and we're going to show you and explain to you some of the key concepts that you need to be doing when taking pictures of your property. We also go through key questions that you should be asking a potential photographer who you're going to outsource the tasks to. Please make sure that you watch, please make sure you go check out her website. We finish with the quick fire questions and there are some really good answers on that. So please make sure you go tune into the end go and consume it. And if you need to get the show notes go to boostly.comco.uk podcast I just want to give a super quick shout out to our sponsors of the Booze Hospitality podcast. They've renewed for another season. Go to hostfully.com please do go and download and sign up to their free guidebook. You get one free guidebook and if you want to sign up to their premium, make sure you put Boostly2M in the promo code and you get two months free. We're also going to be launching a subscription super special competition. Yeah, I'm going to tell you more about that on the next episode. But we're going to give everybody a chance to win something pretty cool with the guys at Hostfolk. So please enjoy this episode. You're going to get so much value whether you are driving in the gym, walking the dog at home, making notes, changing the rooms. However you consume this podcast, please make sure that you rate, review and subscribe. But without further ado, please listen, learn and most importantly, implement these tips from Tyan on how to improve your photography.

Thank you Mark. I really appreciate it. Hi everybody, I'm Tyann Marsink and I started in the vacation rental or holiday rental industry way back in 2007. I was seven months pregnant with my third kid and we signed the contract to build our first vacation rental house and set that up while I had my 2 month old on my hip about that time, I had also realized that photos were the key because I was asking people to send me thousands of dollars in the mail by check to a property they've only looking at Pictures website 6 to 9 to 12 months in advance. Because we have larger homes and there are large families coming, you got to really book in advance. So you know it's really a scammer's dream come true when you think about that process. So I've quickly realized to get above the competition, I needed better photos. I had already started my own business as far as children's room decor, hand painted, hand assembled, ships out all over the world and I'd started teaching myself better product photos. So I just transferred that knowledge to my vacation rental. And my first vacation rental photography was obviously nowhere near where I am now because it's been 12 years. But back then I'm like yes, this is awesome. And thankfully my guests felt the same way too because they wrote those checks two, $3,000 at a time. Loved it. So that's where I started. My places are in Branson, Missouri. I live over by St. Louis, Missouri. Fast forward 12 years and we are wrapping up this next month. Our latest build which is a 10 bedroom house in Branson, Missouri. It'll sleep 32 people with a spiral chute slide off the deck down to the patio. And then I two years ago renovated a 1900s bank building into a vacation rental. That's four bedrooms and the little property next door that in the 1800s was the central Hotel. So I gutted it and it's a one bedroom house there on the Katy Trail, which is the longest Rails to Trails project in the United States and it goes through Missouri. It's pretty cool.

What a beautiful intro. So keep on going. I've been loving this and I am definitely going to backtrack to the massive property that you have. But keep on going because it all sounds amazing.

So back in 2013 I had decided, hey, I want to be the go to person for vacation rental, holiday rental photographer in the world. I just want to be the go to person. So I became more active on forums online. HomeAway had a forum at that time and I reached out to and said, hey, your next Homeaway summit, would you like somebody speak about Vacation rental photography. And they said, yeah, come on down. So that was my first event that I spoke at. And then I proceeded to be speaking at pretty much any major event between 2013 and now. And of course not every single one every year. But most of the Homeaway summits, I spoke at Verma in 2016 for the first time. I've now spoken there several times. Antonio Bartolotti had me on for Vacation Rental World Summit. I've done the Vacation Rental Women's Summit. And then last year I got the bed and breakfast associations here in the United States and have been speaking at those events as well.

Amazing. So there is one big takeaway that I've got from this is that you like to be busy.

If you go to my website, the first thing you're greeted with is abandoned. Boring.

Yes.

And my joke has always been I hate cleaning my house so much that I'd rather start a business than clean my house.

There you go.

You know, I have two LLCs, you know, and then several DBAs doing business as under each one one of those. And then thankfully I finally got to the point I'm like, okay, I'm paying someone else to clean my personal house. You know, more sanity.

Well, this is the thing. And it really does liaise in nicely to past podcast episodes that we've done about taking yourself out of the business. And that is one of the things that we definitely focused on was again, when it comes to your business and making sure that you are not doing all of the things is outsourcing the tasks that you don't need to be doing. And that is definitely one of them. So, yeah, nice little curtail into that. So let's just. Quickly, quickly, before we get into this topic, I want to talk about the 10 bedroom property sleeps 32. But the thing that really stood out to me was you've got the slide from the top floor out onto the decking. Explain that please. And the thinking behind that.

Okay, so everybody's got to have their thing. Their drawing. Yes, their thing. And I'm not the only person in my family who does vacation rentals. So if you were to look at vacation rentals, you will. In Branson, you're gonna find my parents, my brother, my other brother and my cousin. And what do you know, we're all direct competitors. So we send guests to, but we're still competitors. So in looking at our newest build, it's actually on the same street that my parents built a house and my brother built a house. So if you need 30 bedrooms in Branson we got you covered. We're good right there. One street. So my brother and my dad, they decided to spend their money on arcade games. And they've got several arcade games. It looks cool and everything, but I looked at it as, you know what that money in my budget, I don't want to put it to something that's going to require maintenance and, you know, time. And only maybe one or two people can play at a time when you get a huge three generation family reunion together. So I thought, what would be super, super cool? Well, there's a vacation rental in Big Bear, California that I've seen the back of their photos, back of their house, they had two of these spiral chute slides off their deck. And I'm like, one day I'm gonna have a house like that. So when this, when we started this 10 bedroom, like that's what I want. I want a big spiral chute slide. It's like 12ft deck down to the patio and then you can get up off the floor and get in the hot tub.

That's amazing. Amazing. And just imagine doing the photo shoot for that one. You'll, you'll have a lot of fun, A lot, a lot of fun doing that. O so let's go on to the topic of today, which is how to take better pictures. Now I do recommend during this podcast, after this podcast, please, please, please go and check out Tian's website because you can pick up so many good tips on there. But what we're going to focus on today is all about photography. Now there are people watching this that it's going to fall, you're going to fall under two categories. Number one, you have got the budget or the resources to hire a professional photographer to come and take your pictures. Or you may fall under the other category where you haven't got the budget. You spent a lot of money doing all of the other things. So you're going to have to look at making that, making the most of it yourself with the equipment that you have. And so what we're hopefully going to do today in this podcast, in this interview is work out how you can still get the benefits and what the sort of questions you should be asking, what are the things that you should be doing? Doesn't matter on what scale you are. Doesn't matter on what? On budget. So we really want to be helping everybody that tunes into this because it's an important one because as we're going to uncover during this episode, that the best way of making that first impression, the best way of really standing out is going to be your photography, specifically when you're going to be listing on these listing sites, because you haven't got the ability to write the most amazing copy, you haven't got the ability to do all the things. One thing you do got the ability of to have amazing pictures. So let's go on with the first question and we worked on this episode together and I sent over the question so we've got a chance to really delve into some topics. But what I just want to go over first then, please, is what's the biggest mistake in the past sort of 13 years of you doing this? What's the biggest mistake that you see other short stay accommodation owners make when taking, taking photos of their properties?

All right, so the biggest, biggest mistake is composition and the angle that people are taking them. The big thing is your photos are conveying subconscious type of messages to your guests. And one of the big things is how straight your walls are. Have you ever thought about walls are security. And when your walls are straight and firm, people can feel more secure. If you're taking a photo and it's angled like this, I mean, I'm not talking about starting at the top and looking down. I'm talking about cockeyed sideways. If it's sideways, then they're getting a crick in their neck as they're trying to figure out what it looks like and they don't feel secure. They can't trust you so much. Because if you're not taking care and making sure your photo's straight, then how much care are you going to take about them? Really need to think about what those messages are you're saying with your photos. So the first one is making sure your photos are straight. So up and down to not cockeyed. And then later on we'll get to whether you're looking down from up or up to down or straight. Straight on that way. Don't tilt your photos. But the other big thing too is light. A lot of people will go in and be like, okay, we're done. I got the beds made, everything's ready to go. I want photos. Oh, yeah. Kind of got dark outside. Oh, well, no big deal. Let's take photos anyway. You know, some people can pull that off, but generally, no, no, no. Worst time to take photos. Absolutely. The best time to take photos is at lunchtime when you're hungry, when it's noon, when this sun is at the very peak, it's at the height, it's bright outside, it's great. And you Open up windows and let n. And so important you don't want those windows closed. And the artificial lighting, it just. Sorry, it looks hokey. Get the natural light in there.

I like that composition and lighting. And I think those are two. Two very key things. Now if anybody wants to go and find out more about those topics and a bit more in depth. Have you got anywhere online that you've sort of spoke about this a little bit more that you can maybe reference people to go afterwards?

I do, absolutely. If you go to my website, tianmarsink.com you go to ebook. There's a free ebook. And then there's a step one ebook. And then there's an ebook totally geared towards someone with a professional camera. And then there's also my press page, which has all kinds of articles that I've written over the last seven years published on different blogs and websites and things like that. And then if you really want to get into it, I've got a video course as well that just literally follows me on a photo shoot.

That's amazing. So this is something like what we really want to uncover during this episode is that we want to want to say, listen, even if you feel like you haven't got a big budget to hire a photographer, this is. There's still ways that you can make your photos pop really, really stand up. Because it is so important. And we're gonna go on to why it's important with the next question. So when you have got your pictures. So let's just fast forward a little bit and we are gonna go backwards and forwards in this interview. But you've got your pictures and they're ready to go and you're ready to upload them to your website, but most importantly the listing websites. So when you're on the listing website, I always say that the first six pictures are the key ones because those are the first six that are going to not only attract the guest in, but make them stick around for longer so they can find out more about you, your reviews, et cetera. So when you're personally laying out your first five, six pictures for your properties, how do you go about it? How do you sort of structure it? Do you do exterior, interior? Do you like to take people on a journey around, like your property? How do you sort of lay out those first six pictures and what sort of advice can you pass on to other hosts that are tuning in?

So my first photo is always the hero photo, is the photo that if you don't nail it, they're not even going to Click and see the rest. You can just forget about it. So that one could be an exterior, it could be an interior, it could be a pool. I had my community pool, swimming pool as my first photo for the longest time for one of my houses. It's whatever it is that will get people to click and want to learn more. So whatever shows that little tiny window into your property and speaks to your target guest. So, for instance, if you're a romantic cabin, you know, in the woods type thing, don't be showing kids toys as your first photo. Not gonna happen. You're not gonna get your guests that you want. So definitely, you know, use that first photo for your hero photo. After that, I like to do a walkthrough of the house. And the reason I do that is because as a traveler, I don't like to click on something and then hop around like, okay, here's the living room. Oh, here's a bedroom. Okay, now we're outside, and now we're in the kitchen. And yeah, they might be your favorite, the best five photos of the house. But it confuses me as a traveler, like, where am I at spatially within this house? I like the logic and the order. So what I'll have my clients do is I'll line them up according to walking through the house, and I'll do a large room photo, so a nice wide photo. And then I'll do a detail photo, so you're helping to zoom in on a detail that you really want to stand out. And then the wide photos, I make sure you can see the next room from that photo. So you feel like you know exactly where you're going in the house. And you know, and you can feel the spatial layout. Because if you end up with a dead end, you're like, where? Where? Where am I in this house again? So take them through the house and then outside to the exterior. If you got an amazing exterior, you might start with the exterior, one or two at the most, but bring them directly into the house.

I like that laying out the story. And I like how you call it the hero shop. I call it the. The usp, like the unique selling picture, but it's exactly the same thing, just different terminology. You really want to make sure that first one is the one that is going to speak to your target audience. And again, I think so many people, and you can just do a real simple search. Now, if you were to do one in Branston, I guarantee you'll be doing a search and seeing your family, but everybody else that is going to be doing searches. You can run a search where you're located, doesn't matter where you are, or whatever platform, Airbnb bookings, HomeAway, or any of the more localized listings, such as. And I will guarantee there'll be at least one on that first scroll on the site that the person has just not got their first image correct. And you can always spot it a mile off. So you've got to really take care. And bearing in mind, every time you add new pictures to, say, booking.com it doesn't keep the first five that you've got there. It just pushes them straight to the front. So if you just randomly upload some new pictures, then they're going to have that as that first picture. You've got to take care and make sure that you structure it out because like you're saying, you don't want to confuse your guest. And as soon as you confuse your potential guest, then they're going to click out. And when they click out, they don't come back. So make sure that you take your time, make sure you get your first six. And I like that how you just guide them through the property. And like a little tip for me is make full use of your captions because your captions will just add the little sprinkling to the goodness of the picture. So that caption could be. And don't just put bedroom one. You know, like guide them through, tell them what they are looking at because it will really help them. Just stick around a little bit more. Okay. So when it comes to the different types of hosts that we've got that are tuning into this, we said it's going to fall down on two categories. So the first one will be where you're going to do it yourself, which we've got some perfect little tips on there. The second one is where you've got the budget to hire a photographer. So what I really want to delve into here is when we've got a host that is speaking to maybe a couple of photographers in their area, what are some of the key questions that they should be asking to make sure that they're getting the right person for the job?

So the key questions one, can I see your portfolio? And you want to look at that portfolio. Very well. And look at it. I mean, have they actually done a holiday rental or vacation rental? Because there is a difference between real estate of pictures and newborn pictures and holiday rentals pictures or wedding pictures. You know, a lot of people can make a perfectly exposed image, but what you want is someone who can sell an experience and sell time at your property. You want somebody to be able to create an image that can sell the fact that somebody wants to hand you money because they can imagine themselves in your space money or even a year before they even arrive. Now, a real real estate photographer, their goal is to get somebody in the door and then hand the money over. Your goal is different. You have got to be able to have photos that get people to hand you the money before they get there. Very important. So look at that portfolio. You want to look at it and ask them, you know, have you, how much experience have you had? Can I see an entire property shoot? Okay, because they're going to show you their best, their favorite photos. And it could be one or two from a property, but you want to look at the entire property property and make sure that they get the flow of each one. You want to make sure you have plenty of wide shots, but not too wide. You don't want to go fish angle or really oversell the space of the property. That's not good either. But really look at that and then look further at the photos. How detailed are they? Did they make sure the bed was straight, that the curtains weren't awkward, that the pillows were fluff, that the artwork is not, you know, at cockeyed a little bit? You want to make sure that all the details are in place. Because if they've just completely ignored the details, that's not good either. Because when we walk into a room and our eyes will look over a lot of stuff, you don't see much in a room at all. But if you take a moment, even take your phone and take a photo of a space and then look at it closer, you'll notice how many small details pop out. Like, oh, I've got a lot of clutter on my kitchen counter. Why do I have 10 small appliances? Well, I want to show all of them off. But you know what, it looks cluttered. Remove the small appliances. You know, it's not necessary to do that. So those are my two biggest things is look at their portfolio, then look again at the details and make sure that those details are in place. And then the second thing ask them is, do you, the photographer, take care of little details before you shoot, or do I have to go take care of those and make sure everything's perfect and you just walk in, shoot and walk out. That's another big thing. So for like my clients, I make sure I do all of that for them. I touch practically everything in a room before I even shoot. Shoot. So, you know, it does take me a little bit longer than normal, but the care and simply knowing how to make a bed is huge.

Yes, definitely. And again, you notice and you spot it straight off when pictures have been taken. And the little things, the cluttering one is such a massive one. And it's something that I've noticed is that again, just because you've got these amazing appliances doesn't mean that all of your guests are going to use all of them. You know, there could be an instance where they won't even look at the kitchen. They'll just be coming in and they'll be going to eat out every night. You know, I think as. As hosts, we've come under the assumption that once somebody arrives to stay with us, whether it's for a few days or for a few weeks, is that once they arrive, they're going to stay there all the time. They're going to be using the slides all the time, jumping in the hot tubs, they're going to be in all the beds. But in realistic, they're only going to spend about 20% of their vacation of a work trip at your property, 80% of the time, they're going to be out, out and about. So again, don't make it over cluttered. Don't try and do all of the things because there's a high chance that they don't even need. Yeah.

There's two small appliances that I do highly suggest that you make sure you get pictures of. So whether it's leaving it on the counter in the wide angle or coming in directly just to show those two, and that's one, the teakettle. Two, the coffee maker. You've got to get those in there, otherwise you're going to get so many questions. And you'll still get questions. Do you have this? But those two things are so important to the vast majority of the world. One or the other, not necessarily both, but one or the other is very important.

Well, again, that's where you can use your captions. If you don't have it in the picture, you can. Then you can back it up in the captions and then make sure that you use the image. So when you're ticking off the amenities, make sure you go through them. And I always recommend this. Update your amenities on a month by month basis because the listing sites, they add new ones all of the time. So make sure you're on top of that. And it'll eradicate any constant questions. But fantastic. I love that. All right, so as we uncovered through this interview, you are doing so much in the world of short term rental. Not just photography, but everything else that you do. You go to a lot of events, you chat to a lot of hospitality owners, you've got all of the things yourself and the properties going on yourself. What would be in 2017 and in this new decade, what is the one change that you would like to see in the short term rental market from all of the things that you're currently doing and from all of the things that you're seeing?

So I would like to see all the different parts of the industry working together more. So whether that's a short term rental bed and breakfast, a boutique hotel, even the big hotel, we're all in hospitality, we're all providing a space for travelers. It's just each of us is focused on a different segment of travelers, but we're all providing hospitality. So I would love to see all the different parts of hospitality industry come together and really create something special for travelers and moving forward, I mean, just in, because I started in the bed and breakfast industry last year and talking to all the innkeepers in the US and getting to know them more and it's just amazing learning from them and then be able to tell them about the short term rental industry and helping them to learn more about us and realizing how not we're same in some places, but so different in other places and different parts that we really can merge together and work together next to each other.

I love, I love that. And there's just two little things to add onto it. Everybody that's watching this, please go in and check out have you got? Have you got is exactly what you're talking about. Started by Deb Laby, who's going to be a future podcast guest. It's the one thing that I have noticed so much that when again, imagine in the heat of the summer, you're so busy, you get a call, you get an inquiry and they say, have you got availability for visa days? Most often than not, you're so busy, you just say no, and that's it, end of the conversation. And what they're going to do, Ben, is they're going to stop that and go elsewhere. But if you can direct them to have you got. And that is where other hosts are recommending each other and just sharing availability. So you can say no. But there's this channel where all the hosts are working together. Doesn't matter whether it's rentals, B and B hotels, and they've got their availability on there. Go and check it, check it out and it's a nice little alternative. And again, it's all a big community working together. So please do go and check that one. And the second thing that you're saying there about the bed and breakfast world, in the short term rental world, merging together and working together, that's 100%. And there's so many skills that you can take from each other and cross match and just basically put into practice. It's crazy. Like when in my other career I was a soccer coach, did all the badges, did the soccer coach and came to America and did soccer coaching, but as we were doing our training, we were able to pick up tactics and drills and skills from watching rugby sessions because even though it's a totally different sport, you can still pick up certain tactic tips and movements that you can put into practice in your own business or sport. And that's exactly the same with bed and breakfast, is exactly the same with short term rental, it's exactly the same with serviced accommodations. There's things that all of these guys do really well, but there's skills that they can pick up with each other. So I 100% agree. Collaborate, don't compete, collaborate. Because at the end of the day, if you all work together, then it's just going to help benefit the guest and then at the end of the day it'll help benefit you. Brilliant. Thank you. So what I love to do at the end of these podcasts, we have some quick fire questions. So again, I have prepped Tian by sending them to her. Before this, before this recording started, we've got about five or six questions that we're going to go through. So what we're going to do is we're going to uncover a little bit more about yourself and hopefully be able to pick up some tactics and tips that other people can then go and check out afterwards. So we will add all of these to the show notes. So if you miss them, if you're driving, you're in the gym, walking the dog, changing the beds, doing all of the things, doing the grocery shop, you will be able to go onto the show notes after@boostly.co.uk podcast to check these out. So first and foremost, first question, what's your favorite business book that you have read in the past year?

Well, it's not necessarily considered a business book, but I've applied it to my businesses, the Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman and I've given some presentations on it as well.

Amazing. Okay, so I'll combine these two questions. What is your favorite podcast and or YouTube channel at the moment. What's the one podcast or YouTube channel that you're going to get help and advice or just to check out on latest news?

So I don't have a favorite podcast one because I've got so many friends who have podcasts so I listen to all of them. I'm also going to be starting a podcast as well, so be on the lookout for that. That's all I can say about that. And the favorite YouTube channel would be the Holderness Family.

Okay. How are you spelling that? Sorry.

It's H, O, L, D E R N E, S S. And they make song parodies and music videos according to family life. And I connect with almost every single one of them. Those.

Okay, we'll be definitely checking that out afterwards. Okay. Favorite purchase that you have made under a hundred dollars in the past year?

That would be my teal Eddie Bauer storm Down coat.

Okay, nice. Like it? I guess in Missouri you will be needing this from time to time.

Yeah, definitely need it. But I spot it right before we went off to Isle of Skye in Scotland to elope last year.

Nice, nice, nice. Okay. So yeah, definitely need it there as well. What is the biggest, biggest pain point for you personally in your business right now?

It is bookkeeping. Especially since my bookkeeper quit on me two days ago before finishing 2019. So.

Okay, so that's a big task.

It's huge. Yes.

That's the big. Yeah, 100%. And yeah, I have got a very good bookkeeper. If you are watching this or listening back to this bookkeeper's essential. What is the one big tip that you have that you can pass on to hosts right now to increase in their direct bookings?

My one big tip is to actually tell your guests that you take direct booking because if they don't know, they're not going to do it.

Yes, thank you. Definitely agree with that. And finally, what would you say would be your superpower? So what is the, what is, what do you think is your superpower? What are you really good at?

So I know how to create photos that sell and experience but also justify the purchase with facts. Because people buy on emotion and justify with facts.

I love this. Thank you so much for doing this. And I know we've already mentioned the website but we're going to mention it again and could you please spell it out for anybody that is trying to drastically making notes at home whether they're listening, where's the best place they can go? Because I've been on the website, I do visit the website and there is so much content. It is crazy. You do such an amazing work and I'm so happy that we're able to get you onto this podcast so we can share you with my world. Timber. What is the domain? And if you could just recommend one blog that someone could start with or sign up to any email list where they can get started with you, where would that be? Where do they need to go?

Okay, so you head to my website. It's my name, tyanmarsink. So T Y A N N M A R c I n k.com if you search for Tyan you will get me. Okay, I'm on Google page one search. I'm there. Easy enough. Then my favorite blog I would have to go with Alana schroeder. Hers is thedistinguishedguest.com she has amazing information, it's very practical, which I love. And she it's not just fluff, it's real true information that you can apply immediately. And she's got a hospitality guide and a communications guide that you can pick up as well. And then as far as newsletters, you definitely want to get hers, you want to get mine, you want to check out VR Mastered Casemental Bootcamp. We got a newsletter there. Registration just opened this week. FYI. From there we send out all of our other favorite ones as to because there's so many good ones in the entire industry, we'd probably spend 10 minutes listing all of them.

Amazing. Thank you so much. So there's plenty of takeaways and again do not worry if you've missed anything, it's all going to be in the show notes@boosie.co.uk podcast scroll down to season 7, come down to episode 16. Click on there will be a full blog post but for now I just want to say thank you so much coming on to the podcast and thank you everybody for tuning in. As always, please, please, please can you make sure that you rate review and if this is your first time tuning in, subscribe to the podcast. Make sure you go and review it whichever podcast channel that you listen on. Because now thanks to the beauty of anchor it pushes it out everywhere. Thank you so much for watching Tuning in listening however you consume this, I appreciate it. Please go and check out the book direct map booster.co.uk bookdirect map to go and find out on how you can list your your property on there. And if you want to come and find out more about Boostly boostly Co UK B O O S T L Y co UK we'll be back with the next episode where we're going to be talking all about virtual reality tours. But for now, thank you so much, Tyenne, and thank you so much for tuning in. We'll catch you again very soon.