Airbnb paid for professional photos of New York host listings

What they ran

The founders rented a $5,000 camera and went door to door in New York, taking professional photos of listings. The essay Do Things that Don't Scale describes these New York visits as a way to recruit users and help hosts improve their listings. The effort became a formal photography program in summer 2010, starting with 20 contracted photographers.

What happened

The GrowthHackers growth study says New York revenue had doubled by the end of that month. A blog post on pro photography at Airbnb repeats that monthly revenue doubled after the pilot. By 2012 the program used more than 2,000 freelance photographers for 13,000 listings on six continents. Listings with program photos were reported as two and a half times more likely to be booked.

What the account does not show

Both outcome sources are secondhand write-ups, not figures published by Airbnb. Neither gives a starting revenue number, so the doubling has no baseline. The result is not separated from the founders' other door-to-door help with recruiting and listings. The booking claim gives no comparison group or method. A research figure of $2,455 more yearly revenue per unit comes to us secondhand through a blog post, and it measures professional photography in general, not this program.