Hotel & ryokan photography
Pictures for a hotel or ryokan’s own site and booking-platform listings, one part at a time — a signature room, the bath or the grounds — scheduled between check-out and check-in so rooms and baths are empty. A full-property shoot is booked with extra hours.
- Starting from
- $1,000
- Duration
- 30 min
- You receive
- 15 edited photos
- Delivery
- within 7 days
Business & events
What’s included
- 15 edited photos, cropped for your site and booking platforms
- Shot list built around the rooms you sell most
- Schedule fitted between check-out and check-in
- Delivered within 7 days
Add to the booking
Bought with this shoot, never on their own. Fixed prices in US dollars.
Hair & make-up artist
+$100
Extra hour
+$150
Reel add-on
+$120
Drone add-on
+$235
Express 24 h delivery
+$80
Mandarin-speaking assistant
+$70
Inspiration
Hotel & ryokan photography: ideas for your shoot
Frames by photographers on Unsplash, credited below — the mood to plan your own shoot against, not our portfolio.
Photos: Nichika Sakurai, Lucas Calloch, Takafumi Yamashita, Leopold Maitre, Nicolas Caetano on Unsplash
Where to book it
Book Hotel & ryokan photography where you are staying
Bookable in 19 places across Japan; the 2 below have a page of their own. Choose the one nearest your hotel — travel within it is included.
Plan around the place
Hotel & ryokan photography: where it works best, and what to read first
About this shoot
Shooting between check-out and check-in
- Starting from
- $1,000
- Duration
- 30 min
- Edited photos
- 15
- Places
- 19
Most properties in Japan check out at 10:00 or 11:00 and check in from 15:00, and that window is the shoot. Rooms are photographed straight after housekeeping, with futons laid out or put away as you prefer, the tokonoma alcove dressed with a seasonal flower and the windows balanced so the garden outside still reads. The base 30 minutes covers one room type or one bath; four to six room types, the lobby and a bath are covered with extra hours at $150 each.
Baths are photographed only when empty and closed to guests, which at many ryokan means the cleaning slot between late morning and mid-afternoon. Open-air baths are shot with steam, so the water is kept hot. Kaiseki or breakfast is styled with the kitchen at a time they choose, not during service.
The exterior is best at dusk, in the 15 to 20 minutes after sunset when interior lights and the sky are in balance. Aerial images can be added with the drone add-on if the property is outside a densely inhabited district and we have the MLIT approval in place.
You receive 15 edited images within 7 days, in landscape and portrait crops sized for your website and booking platforms, licensed for the property’s marketing.
Before you book
Frequently asked questions: Hotel & ryokan photography
How do you photograph the baths?
Empty, in the gap between guests — typically after a 10–11 am check-out and before a 3 pm check-in — with the water running and the steam timed for the frame. Open-air baths are best shot in the last hour of that window, when the light is lower.
Can you shoot the kaiseki dinner?
Yes, ideally plated by your kitchen in the early afternoon, course by course, in the room where guests eat it. It takes about an hour, so add an extra hour for it; tell us which courses change with the season so we can return for them.
Next step
Plan your Hotel & ryokan photography
We reply within 2 hours, 9:00–21:00 Japan time. No deposit required to enquire.