Vacation Rental Video: What to Shoot and Where It Goes

Photos get the click on a rental listing. Video answers the question that comes right after it: what is it actually like to be there? A guest who has watched the arrival, walked the rooms and seen the view books with fewer doubts, and fewer doubts mean fewer “is the deck really that close to the water?” messages. This is how we’d plan one.

Start with the guest’s trip, not the house

A for-sale video follows a buyer through the rooms. A rental video follows a guest through a weekend. That changes the order of things.

Open with the arrival: the drive in, where you park, the walk to the door. Then the entry, the main living space and the kitchen. Show every place somebody sleeps, one at a time, and make the bed count obvious. Then spend real time outside, because the deck, the fire pit, the dock or the pool is usually the reason they picked your place over the next one.

Use the actual sound of the place instead of canned music. A fire crackling or a screen door closing tells a guest more about a stay than a stock track. If you want a second opinion on structure, this video marketing guide for vacation rentals covers the strategy side.

Show the things guests ask about

Most pre-booking messages are about the same handful of questions. A video can answer them before anyone types.

• How far is the parking from the door, and are there steps?
• Where does everyone sleep?
• What’s the view from the deck, at eye level?
• How close is the water, the trail or the town, really?
• Does the hot tub, grill or fire pit actually look usable?

Cover the dull practical stuff too. A guest traveling with kids wants to see the gravel drive and the stairs, and they’d rather see them in your video than find out at midnight.

Keep it honest

Guests have all been burned by listings that oversell. A video is harder to fake than a photo, and that works in your favor. Shoot rooms at their real size, don’t hide the small bathroom, and let the viewer see the whole space. A guest who gets what the video showed leaves a better review than one who got a surprise.

Add the location with one or two aerials

When the setting sells the stay (a lake, a ridge line, a quiet lot), a couple of aerial shots show what the ground can’t: where the house sits, how much land is around it and how far it is to the water. Keep them wide and short. Drone work for a business needs a Part 107 pilot, and in the controlled airspace around GSP, Donaldson, CAE or RIC it also needs an airspace authorization (LAANC) requested ahead of time, with no guarantee of approval at every spot.

A short clip of the area helps too, such as the walk to the water or the downtown strip. Keep it to a few seconds and make it something a guest would actually do.

Where the video goes

• Your listing. Check which platforms let you add a video, since they differ.
• Your direct booking page. This is where a video does the most work, because nobody else’s listing sits next to yours.
• YouTube or Vimeo. Another place guests can find you, with a clear title and description that names the area.
• Social. Cut a tall version for Reels and TikTok. Our guide to shooting vertical video covers framing it so it doesn’t look cropped.

Refresh it when something big changes, like a new deck, new furniture or a finished remodel. Old footage that shows a room you no longer have does more harm than none.

Do the photos first

If you don’t yet have a strong photo set, start there. Photos are the first thing a guest sees, and our field guide for Upstate rental hosts covers what to shoot and when to hold off. We also explain why rental photos matter so much. Once the place is finished and staged, video is a good second step. The packages page shows how video fits with photos.

Beyond All Media shoots vacation rentals across Upstate SC, Columbia and Richmond. South Carolina (864) 714-0724, Richmond (804) 913-3013.