this hotel gave me some crappy images for their website. what do i do?

so i took a web design job to design teh site of this hotel and i asked them if they had images and they are like yea...so i began designing the site and left placeholders for their images pending when they send them.

so they finally just sent the images and oh my gosh..the quality is terrible...i mean its a hotel for goodness sake..u sell perception ...sonow i dont know what im gonna do..i hate maling terrible looking sites...but ive already taken down payment...is there any creative ways i can do this to make the hotel look lovely with pics? i dont want to use stock photos because its gona be too obvious that its nott he place....pls any ideas?

this client is driving me nuts

Why not ask them, kindly to use a iphone or high tech samsung galaxy device to take a picture and send it to you? Or you can brighten it up with photoshop, by adding some colors, but not overdoing it?

Goodluck with your clients.

Ask them for better quality photos.... Tell them exactly what you told us..
it shouldn't be hard to take hd photos these days.

Maybe you can touch them up in terms of lighting etc?

If not, then make a demo page showing their pics compared to that of a competitor, explain how they could retake the pics and the big benefit to them of doing so.

Ps I feel you btw - had the same problem with a few of my clients as well

Tell him "sorry, but these photos are shit ! imagine if you are a tourist looking for a hotel and you come across these photos, would you book a room there ????" and slap him !

Be upfront and tell them to send new ones.

Take a proactive step and send some recommendations for some local photographers. You could even try to find some photographers that will do the work for free so they can add the photos to their portfolio and use the gig as work experience.

You could either tell them the images are bad, or you could touch them up with a filter. Alternatively you might start looking into stock image sites, like Adobe Stock so you're prepared for this sort of thing should it ever happen again.

No other way than asking them for better pictures.

Did they hire you just to put together a website or is there more to it?

The way I see it, you can:

a) don't give a shit, keep the photos and get paid
b) explain how the photos will scare guests and demand better ones. Refer them to a professional photographer even.

How far away do you live from the hotel? I used to run into the same issue where my clients would send me low-quality photos. These days, I always just travel to my clients and take photos of their business (it gives me a chance to meet them in person as well).

In the meantime, if the photos are absolutely terrible, you can try one of the following:

1. Go on Google Images and take a few of the photos (ask the copyright owners for permission).
2. Go on Google Maps and see if you can get a decent street view of the hotel. Using a hotel not far from where I live as an example, I took the screenshot below. Of course, see if you can get rid of the Google Maps info boxes.

Shit on his doorstep and ask if this is how he wants to represent his business.

Very interesting question and situation. I've recently came across a problem very similar to yours : I was developing a portfolio for a client and the images weren't good at all. I ended up contacting him and explaining the situation. Ended up that he's email client was shrinking the images somehow , converting them to lower size images , totally killing the quality.
But if the images are bad still, try offering him to take new pictures if you leaving nearby or try telling the person that you would need to take some extra pictures and take all you need.

Honesty is the best policy here, tell them that the photo's are a representation of their business and you honestly don't think the photo's are good enough. Explain that they need to be high quality to show properly on the net.
Offer to send a professional photographer round, if they agree contact a photographer who is in their area, book him / her and charge the hotel more.
Then just tell the photographer to mail you the pics.
I have done this myself . They will thank you for your honesty and like your work, remember it's not just their showcase but yours too

Neon said:

Tell him "sorry, but these photos are shit ! imagine if you are a tourist looking for a hotel and you come across these photos, would you book a room there ????" and slap him !

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Good boy

offer to take pics for them at a good rate and add to invoice?

ask them for a better new photo,tell them the reason, i'm sure they will respond for their own good.

I was going to say either go and take your own photos or if you are not near by than contact a local photographer or photography student and have them take some photos and pay them a small fee. Oh I know, contact someone that works at the front desk and tell them you are designing the site and see if they will take some photos for you. Always go above and beyond, this website also represents your work too.

Putting the ball in the hotel's court, per say, is the best option. Kindly letting them know the photos are not sufficient will go a long way.

One tip: Send them links to photos on competitor's websites to give them idea of the industry-standard.

Ste Fishkin said:

Shit on his doorstep and ask if this is how he wants to represent his business.

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Made my day

This happens all the time in web development. Just call them up and say the pictures are too poor for a modern website. Tell them you can take photos for them at a price, or if they are a hotel, I'm sure they would have staff that would know how to take a good photo.

It also helps to remind them that pictures play a role in SEO and that good high quality pictures help them rank higher on Google.