How to present yourself in the profile photo?

1

Hi gyus!

I have a doubt that I would be happy if you can help with.
I am a host together with my wife, and currently the profile is showing only my name and a picture of me.
Do you think a picture of both of us as a couple is better? does it give maybe a more secured, relaxed and reliable feeling?

In my opinion, i think that i automatically tend to trust more on profiles with a couple photo. what is your opinion?

Thanks,
Asaf

2

Whatever you feel comfortable with is my opinion. I just have a pic of me with my pug lying upside down on me :slight_smile:

3

I host with my husband and have a photo of both of us. I like when guests who are coming as a couple have a photo together.

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Thanks. I am asking it of course also for the question of what brings more people to book with you. So the question is will it potentially lead to a more positive tendency of booking in my listing?
If you have 2 listings in the same building which are exactly the same including all details, but 1 host has a young man profile photo, where the other listing has a young couple photo, which would you choose?

5

I think it would depend on many factors, but I doubt the photo would be among them - unless it’s actively off-putting. And you’re overthinking it. Ask your wife - she’ll tell you what to do. :slight_smile:

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6

Well it depends on the guest really. People judge people differently. Whether it’s colour, race, age, beards, no beards, bald, not bald, weird looking, haha the list is endless.

7

@rozasaf, In my case, most of the bookings is made by women, and I wonder if my photo was of a man if female guests would have selected my place.

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8

Do you rent a room in your home or a separate unit ?

9

We have both our photos on the profile photo. Head shots of happy smiling people. Our profile does read, Hello, I’m Peter and Wendy (Peter and Wendy is what I wrote for “first name” in the profile)

Can’t stress enough the importance of a good profile photo. Nearly as important as your accommodation shots. Think of how many times you look at your potential guests profile photo. If they want to judge you based on your age, colour or whatever, so be it. Most guests are looking for a friendly face. Common sense.

Consider the avatars for this forum. Some stand out. Felix for example. And “Barthelemy” has a nice smiling face. Way better than a bland initial (sorry for all you alphabet letters out there!)

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How do you have two different profile photos without different profiles? Aren’t you supposed to have have a single profile? Multiple profiles for the same user seems dodgy to me.

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You can add multiple photos to the profile

12

I have chosen not to book an Airbnb before that had a picture of a very scruffy, bit scary looking man.
Our picture is of me, my husband and kids ( it’s an entire house so maybe it’s different than a share house) we are usually fully booked. I think it’s nice to see the whole family or couple in the photo, but being a family might make me biased toward that. Also most of my booking come from a woman.

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Love your reply! Ask your wife

14

I went to the bland initial photo after realizing that this forum is able to be read by the public and just in case I vent about some guest, I didn’t want my photo traceable back to the real me (which is easy to do I have learned!)
Edited to add: Just noticed that I am currently not using the bland initial photo, but rather a photo of a lake haha.

I personally would not care if the host was a single person or a couple. I don’t feel that being part of a couple makes a person or an ABB hosted by a couple more reliable than a single person. I can’t grasp that reasoning at all.
What would be most important to me (in order of importance) would be if the space fits my needs, the details of the listing (I would tend to go with the more wordy detailed listing), and if the host has something written on their profile about themselves, photos of the place, the price. I’m a 53 yr old single woman.

My ABB profile photo is a close up photo of my face standing at my front door, smiling. It’s an exceptionally good photo of me, I don’t always look so good in photos :slight_smile:
I do have other photos, but don’t know if many guests realize that there is more than one profile photo, one photo is me on my kayak, me with a group of friends hiking, me doing yoga in a sunset at the ocean.
Whether or not that has deterred any guests from staying in my house share is not something I know.
I’ve hosted couples, single women traveling solo, married women traveling solo, 2 women traveling together, single men traveling solo, married men traveling solo, 2 men traveling together, and a couple of mother/daughter duos. I do know in one instance of mother/daughter, they chose my home not only due to price, but due to the fact that I’m a woman.

15

Yes, you can add multiple photos, but if you have have one profile and multiple listings your profile can only default to one photo across all the listings. Not different photos for different listings. Or am I missing something again?

Suffice to say, your photo should show as much of your face as possible and be friendly. I’m still surprised how many artsy hosts photos there are. Or photos of pets.

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17

Lin, could you stop promoting Pillow on all topics ?

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18

Lin,

Thanks for the share. An an entire article dedicated to the perfect profile picture, very good points that everyone should go by.

The research study by University of “Leeds”. Pretty ironic, is good. All the points there by the University make a lot of sense. Too many profiles have pictures that are over corrected and have been photoshopped to the max they look like.

“Include a high-quality image. A study by researchers at the University of Leeds reveals that images of higher quality that don’t need adjustments for color and contrast have a higher pleasantness response from viewers than those that were over-corrected. Choose a quality picture with a clear resolution that enables renters to clearly see and assess your profile.”

If I were to add to three to the list:

  1. Wear blue - it’s a very trusting color.
  2. Hold a baby or have child in picture. How can you not trust someone who has a child.
  3. Sunny warm climate weather in the background

These would attract me.

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19

Are you referring to this “perfect profile photo” study?: https://blog.photofeeler.com/perfect-photo/

I tested my pics at photofeeler.com to know how they were coming across. Helped me pick the best one.

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