Your property photos are a key part of your listing. Hospitable allows you to manage photos in one place and push updates to supported platforms.
This article explains:
Which platforms does Hospitable manage photos for
How photo sync works (which platform is the source of truth for photos)
How to add, edit, reorder, replace, and delete photos
Platform-specific behaviours and limitations
Which platforms does Hospitable manage photos for?
Hospitable manages photos for:
Airbnb
Booking.com
Direct (Hospitable Direct)
Note: Hospitable does not manage photos for Vrbo!
Any photo changes for Vrbo must be made directly in your Vrbo dashboard.
How Photo Sync Works
Initial Photo Import
When you connect listings to Hospitable, photos are pulled in from the booking platform. This applies to all platforms (Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo).
When you merge together listings from different platforms, under the same property, Hospitable creates a combined set of all unique photos from those listings.
Hospitable makes sure to de-duplicate your photos, meaning:
Common photos (the same photo found on multiple platforms) appear once and are scoped to all platforms where they were found, instead of appearing multiple times.
Platform-specific photos (found on only one platform) appear in Hospitable but are scoped only to that platform.
For example, if your property has both an Airbnb and a Booking.com listing, Hospitable imports all unique photos from both. Duplicates are merged automatically and scoped to both platforms.
After Initial Photo Import
After the initial import of photos from your booking channel, Hospitable will continue to pull in photos from Airbnb and Booking.com, on a rolling 6-hourly sync. This will continue until you have set Hospitable as the source of truth for photo edits (see section below).
Note: After the initial photo import from Vrbo, Hospitable will not pull in photos from Vrbo again. Any photo changes for Vrbo must be made directly in your Vrbo dashboard.
Hospitable as the Source of Truth
After Hospitable imports your photos, it continues to sync updates from Airbnb and Booking.com until you make your first photo edit in Hospitable.
The first time you edit, reorder, or update any photo for a property in Hospitable, you will see a one-time confirmation banner explaining that Hospitable will now manage your photos for this property. Once you confirm and proceed:
The banner disappears permanently for that property.
Hospitable stops pulling photo updates from the listings on that property.
Hospitable becomes the single source of truth for that property's photos.
All future photo changes should be made in Hospitable.
Note: This banner appears once per property, on the first photo action you take (editing, reordering, scoping, etc.). Once confirmed, it will not appear again for that property.
Platform-Specific Behaviours
Airbnb
Photos are initially imported from Airbnb when you connect your listing.
Ongoing sync from Airbnb continues until your first photo edit in Hospitable (see above).
After your first edit, Hospitable stops pulling from Airbnb and pushes all changes to Airbnb.
If you make photo changes directly on Airbnb after Hospitable has become the source of truth, those changes will not appear in Hospitable. Hospitable will override your changes on Airbnb on the next sync. Always make photo changes in Hospitable to keep everything in sync.
Booking.com
Hospitable pushes photo updates to Booking.com. Important behaviour:
Photos are managed at the listing (Accommodation ID) level, not per room.
For multi-room listings, updating photos in Hospitable affects photos across all rooms under that Booking.com listing.
Hospitable does not push photos to Booking.com multi-room properties, as managing multiple galleries is not currently supported. If you have a multi-room setup on Booking.com, manage those photos directly in Booking.com.
If you need different photos per room, manage those directly in Booking.com.
You can read more about this here.
Direct (Hospitable Direct)
Photos displayed on your Direct booking website come from Hospitable. Any photo added or edited in Hospitable appears on your Direct site, provided the Direct platform is in scope for that photo.
After deleting a photo in Hospitable, it may take up to a minute for it to be removed from your Direct booking website.
Vrbo
Hospitable does not sync, manage, or push photos to Vrbo. All photo updates for Vrbo must be handled directly in Vrbo.
However, when you add a Vrbo listing to a property in Hospitable, a one-time import of Vrbo-only photos occurs (with de-duplication). These photos will appear in Hospitable, scoped to Vrbo, but Hospitable will not push any changes back to Vrbo.
How to Access Photo Management
To manage photos:
Go to Hospitable → Properties
Select the property you want to edit
Click Details in the left-hand menu
Stay on the Essentials tab
Click Manage photos (located above your property's photos)
You can filter photos by platform using the dropdown — select All photos or choose a specific platform.
What you can do in photo management
Hosts have full control over their property photos in Hospitable.
Reorder Photos
To reorder photos:
Click Re-order photos
Drag and drop photos into your preferred order
Click Save order
Click Cancel to discard changes.
Replace Photos With Higher Quality Versions
When photos are imported from OTAs, they may not be the highest resolution available.
You can replace them in bulk:
Click Replace photo
Upload your original high-quality photo files (you can upload a full folder at once)
Hospitable will:
Match new uploads to existing photos
Upgrade quality where needed
Add any new photos
Preserve:
Photo order
Photo tour setup
Existing settings
You do not need to replace photos one by one.
Add a Photo Description
To add or edit a description:
Click the pencil icon on the photo
Enter text in the Photo description field
Click Apply changes
Descriptions can be pushed to supported platforms.
Booking.com Photo Tags
When Booking.com is selected as a publishing channel for a photo, you can assign Booking.com-specific tags (e.g. Bedroom, Bathroom, Bath, Shower, Swimming pool). These tags help Booking.com categorize and display your photos correctly on your listing.
To add or edit tags:
1. Click the pencil icon on the photo
2. Make sure Booking.com is selected under What channels should this photo display on?
3. Select or remove tags in the Booking.com tags section
4. Click Apply changes
Booking.com tags are only saved when Booking.com is selected as a channel for that photo. If you remove Booking.com from a photo's channels and apply changes, any existing tags will be removed. Tags edited while Booking.com is deselected will not be saved.
Choose Which Platforms a Photo Displays On
You can control which channels each photo is sent to.
For a Single Photo
Click the pencil icon on the photo
Under What channels should this photo display on?, select the platforms
Click Apply changes
For Multiple Photos
Tick the checkbox in the top-left corner of each photo
Click Sync to all channels
Confirm your action
“Sync to all channels” pushes selected photos to Airbnb, Booking.com, and Direct. If you want certain photos excluded from a specific platform, edit them individually instead.
Set a Cover Photo
You can use the same cover photo for all platforms or set different cover photos per platform:
Click the pencil icon on the photo
Under What channels should this be the cover photo for?, select the platform(s)
Click Apply changes
Add New Photos
To add new photos:
Click Add (top-right corner)
Drag and drop photos into the grey field
— or —
Click to browse your computer
Select which platforms the photos should be pushed to
(Optional) Select which platforms the photo should be used as a cover photo for
Save your changes
Delete Photos
Delete a Single Photo
Click the pencil icon on the photo
Click Delete photo (bottom-left corner)
Confirm your action
Delete Multiple Photos
Tick the checkbox in the top-left corner of each photo
Click Delete
Confirm your action
Making Photos Uniform Across Platforms
If you want the same set of photos across Airbnb, Booking.com, and Direct:
Select all photos
Click Sync to all channels
Confirm your action
If you need platform-specific photo sets, manage those photos individually instead.
Important Things to Know
Hospitable is the source of truth for photos after your first photo edit in Hospitable. We recommend you always make changes in Hospitable, not on individual platforms.
Before making a photo edit, on Hospitable photos will continue to get synced from Airbnb and Booking.com.
Vrbo photos are not managed by Hospitable. Manage them directly in Vrbo.
Booking.com multi-room listings are not supported for photo pushing. Manage those photos directly in Booking.com.