How to organize listing photos into a home tour

Select, browse, book. That’s what you want every traveler to do when your listing shows up in their search results, right? You can often influence their decision to stay with you—or keep on scrolling—with the images you provide of your space.

Beyond spending some time taking great listing photos and choosing the best ones to share, what can you do to entice visitors? Try turning your gallery of photos into an organized virtual tour.

Your photo gallery consists of all the images you’ve uploaded to your listing. On smaller screens, such as smartphones, guests can check out your photo gallery by tapping your cover image, which stands alone at the top of your listing page.

On larger screens, such as tablets and laptops, a 5-photo grid replaces the single cover image, giving guests a better sense of what makes your place interesting. They can select any of the images to browse the rest of your gallery, displayed in a larger, vertical grid.

You can organize this larger grid by room or area of your space. Think of it as giving guests a virtual tour—an opportunity to peruse every corner of your space before booking.

Start by making sure you’re offering clear, well-lit images of every room and area of your place that’s available to guests. Superhost Sarah of Sayulita, Mexico, suggests including “at least 2 photos of each bedroom, from different angles, so guests can see if there is a closet, desk, or whatever is there.”

Next, if you haven’t already, add a few photos of special amenities or other details. These could include a well-stocked kitchen, an office with a door, or a fully equipped children’s playroom.

Photos of accessibility features, such as a step-free entrance or wide doorways, can provide important information too. Guests typically want to see what makes your space unique—and a great place to stay.

Once you’re happy with your photo gallery, you can organize it into a virtual tour. Update your listing with these two simple steps:

1. Under listing details, select Property and rooms, then scroll down to edit Rooms and spaces.
2. A list of the areas or rooms your guests can use appears. (To add or remove rooms, go to Edit rooms and spaces.) Choose a room on the list, select the Add photos button, and select the pictures of this room that are in your photo gallery. Repeat the same process for each room.

Sorting every picture in your photo gallery by specific room or area helps create an inviting tour that’s easy for guests to follow. It’s OK if you have a few outliers, which automatically go in the Additional Photos section at the end of the tour—just make sure these images really don’t belong with any others to avoid confusion.

After you update your listing, your gallery is organized by room or area. Guests get a property overview that allows them to explore each area, or they can scroll through the whole tour. The tour typically starts in the living room, then moves to the kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, outside areas, and any additional spaces you have in your listing.

It’s important to note that organizing your photo gallery by room or area won’t affect the cover photo or the 5-photo grid at the top of your listing. Doing so is just another way you can help give curious guests the information and confidence they need to book a stay with you.