What kind of photos perform greatly with Gay, Food, Luxury & Wellness Audiences

We live in an era that travellers demand a personalized experience that answers exclusively to their needs – the thriving Niche Markets. Targeting Niche Markets can become quite tricky, especially if you do not have the required experience to understand their needs and the appropriate means to reach them.

As, in Travel by Interest, we are quite experienced in targeting Niche Markets, known for our special Hotel Collections and SEO Articles, we decided to create this very special article for Hotelier Academy, showing hoteliers, villa and apartment owners the most effective visual ways to reach four of our main targeted Niche Markets – the Gay, Food, Luxury, and Wellness.

Photo Material: The Most Important Content for a Successful Marketing Strategy

Photo Credits: Kouros Hotel & Suites Mykonos

Why do I need targeted photos to enter a new niche market, you may ask. A traditional answer would come from the popular saying “a photo equals a thousand words”. A proper visual material, either this is a video or a photo, can stimulate strong emotions easier and more effective than the most well-written articles.

At the same time, the easy access to the internet has made us all vulnerable to so much information that we can’t afford much time to content that might not interest us. This creates the need for fast, easy-to-understand content, that’s able to catch the reader’s attention at first glance. Visual material is, therefore, the most efficient way to do that!

The above are the two main reasons why we believe that photos are the most efficient way to reach Niche Markets. However, hoteliers should also keep in mind that every Niche Market requires its own, targeted photo-shooting.

Let’s discover the visual needs of gay, food, luxury and wellness travellers!

Gay Niche Market: Physical Presence is the Key to Success

Photo Credits: Athina Luxury Suites

The Gay Niche Market has the reputation of one of the most high-spending Niche Markets in the Travel Industry, and, naturally, there are certain requirements for its targeted photo-shooting.

The obvious course of action would be to include gay couples in your photo-shooting, but that’s not always the case. An efficient, yet budget-friendly, way to create engaging photo content is by including photos of single men. Indeed, a targeted photo-shooting does not necessarily require a gay couple. In most of the cases, a photo of a man suffices to catch the gay travellers’ attention.

In addition, photos should be conceptual and somewhat sexy to intrigue their interest. However, if you want to give gay travellers some extra engaging content, photos of gay couples are usually the best option.

In this special Ηotel Collection that we have created, you will find hotels from all over the world that perform greatly with Gay Audiences due to their excellent photo material. Below, we handpicked the best examples:

Melia Bali Vi Mountain Resort

The Late Birds Lisbon – Gay Resort

Alti Santorini Suites

Domes Noruz Chania – Autograph Collection

Food Niche Market: It’s not about the restaurants but the Food Experience

Photo Credits: Diles & Rinies

We do know that presenting the food experience within your hotel is quite challenging, as the photographer must be able to present all the attributes that shape it, from the atmosphere of the restaurant to the dishes, their presentation, and the staff that serves them. However, we are pleased to inform you that we hold the key to success, and it’s no other than “Food Experience”.

During your restaurants’ photo-shooting, you should think of the overall picture and try to understand whether the photos represent the food experience within the hotel. A great way to emphasize your hotel’s food experience is by including models, as photos of plain dishes and staged tables with no human presence are well outdated.

Highlight the experience – show people taking their breakfast, bring your staff on the forth, make your chef the star of the photo-shooting. If you do all the above, we guarantee you that the food experience of your hotel will be clear to everyone.

Luxury Niche Market: Conceptual and Classy – Make it Glamorous

Photo Credits: Esperos Blue Village

Even if your hotel owns the most luxurious facilities in the city, your marketing strategy won’t be 100% successful unless you give your luxury photo-shooting a lavish concept, that will highlight your hotel’s breathtaking facilities in the cleverest way possible.

Use iconic faces for models, and don’t be afraid of the commercial side of your photo-shooting. Usually, we would recommend that you choose everyday faces, but luxury travel is not about the ordinary. Of course, avoid displaying a picture of just your facilities, as they have stopped being engaging for a long time ago.

Below, we have made a selection of luxury hotel photos that we found interesting. Use them to take ideas and draw inspiration on how to specify the perfect photo-shooting to effectively reach the Luxury Niche Market.

Wellness Niche Market: Highlighting Wellness through Relaxing Activities

Photo Credits: So Sofitel Hua Hin

There are many ways to highlight the wellness experience within your hotel through photography, but the most common way up so far is including people getting massaged. This technique has been recycled for many years and it’s now quite boring. This is why, nowadays, it’s recommended to showcase more wellness experiences within your hotel, like the Jacuzzi, the pools, the couple’s treatments, etc.

The photo-shooting of your wellness experience will greatly depend on the facilities and services that you offer. Make sure that all your spa areas are well-designed, featuring minimal and earthy colors that boast well-being. Of course, you can include photos of people getting massaged, but let them become a part of the overall picture.