Hotel photographer in Paris
I photograph Paris properties for their websites, their booking platforms and their social channels: rooms, public spaces, breakfast, the bar and lifestyle series. Three addresses are published here, in the 18th, the 6th and the 3rd.
What booking platforms do to your images
A Paris hotel does not publish its photographs at the format they were taken in. The website crops them, the booking platforms crop them differently, and social demands a vertical. An image framed tight rarely survives that journey: the bed is cut, the window disappears, and a wall is left.
Which is why every frame is built with the margin the crop will take. At Hôtel Bohem, every room was photographed so that a platform crop takes out neither the bed nor the window, and every image was delivered horizontal, square and vertical. That is not a comfort option, it decides whether the image works once it is online.
A property that has just opened has nothing to show of itself
Hôtel Bohem reopened on rue Lamarck in March 2026, in a building closed since 2020. When I shot it in late April there were no photographs, no press, no reviews. Everything due to go out on the website and the platforms in the following weeks had to come from those two days.
An opening therefore imposes a different order of priority from a refresh: you cover what sells the room first, what sets the mood second. The decoration added its own difficulty, a gold line drawing on a dark ground that swallows light and falls apart under any frontal source, in small rooms with no room to step back. The answer was mixed light, the room sconces kept as ambience and a single added source matched to their colour temperature.
Hotel lifestyle is a different job from the empty room
An empty room serves the platforms. It does not serve social, which asks for a scene: someone in frame, light that does not betray the hour it claims, and verticals usable as they are. These are two different commissions, and they are better treated as such on the quote.
At Hôtel Louison, on rue de Vaugirard, the property had settled its moodboard and its wardrobe direction before the shoot, which meant a full working day with no decisions left to make on site. Courtyard-facing rooms give softer light in the middle of the day; end-of-day scenes play on the sconces alone. Breakfast and the wellness space were treated as two separate subjects, each with its own output formats.
The hotel bar is a subject in its own right
Many Paris properties have a bar that lives its own life, with its own hours, its own crowd and its own list. It is not photographed like the breakfast room: it opens in the evening, it often trades on darkness, and its subjects are glasses, which is to say surfaces that reflect everything around them, photographer included.
At Bar des Muses, on rue de Saintonge, the room occupies an 18th-century theatre and is deliberately kept dark: candles, a lit menu holder, a few sconces. Adding flash would have rendered a different room from the one guests sit in. The series was built around the existing sources, with the service gestures taken as they happened. For a standalone bar, see the cocktail bar pillar.
How a hotel day runs in Paris
The scout comes before the first frame, with the team, and the brief sets out the needs space by space. Rooms are shot in the order of their orientation rather than by floor: the light decides the route, not the plan of the building. A room is blocked for the day, sometimes two, and the model, where there is one, arrives on a slot agreed in advance.
Delivery on an opening usually comes in two parts: the rooms and lifestyle set first, the public spaces once they are finished. At the Bohem the lobby was shot on a second visit, a month after the rest. For the general frame of this kind of commission see the hospitality pillar; for the city, the food photographer in Paris page.
Photographing a property weeks after it opened
Hôtel Bohem Sacré-Cœur opened in late March 2026 on rue Lamarck, forty-eight rooms across four design worlds, in a building closed since 2020. The commission came from The Hotels Agency. The project page gives the real constraint of the gold wallpaper, the working order chosen, the two-part delivery and the agency’s response.
What clients say
Reviews published on Ahoueke Hilaire’s Google listing, reproduced here word for word.
J’ai eu l’occasion de collaborer avec Hilaire sur plusieurs projets différents et j’ai particulièrement apprécié son approche du métier. Au-delà de la qualité technique des photos, il sait réellement comprendre un plat, mettre en valeur les détails et retranscrire l’intention, l’humain. Les échanges sont simples, professionnels et agréables, avec une vraie capacité à s’adapter aux contraintes d’une cuisine professionnelle. Un travail précis, créatif et toujours réalisé avec beaucoup de sérieux. Je le recommande vivement pour tout projet de photographie culinaire.
Nous cherchions un photographe capable de shooter à la fois nos chambres, notre spa et la carte du restaurant sur trois jours, sans mobiliser une équipe entière. Hilaire est arrivé seul, a travaillé en lumière naturelle le matin et au flash pour les ambiances du soir, et nous a livré 180 images retouchées en dix jours. Nous les utilisons depuis sur notre site, nos réseaux et nos supports de vente
« Nous avions besoin de packshots et de visuels d'ambiance cocktail pour un lancement national. Hilaire a construit les recettes visuelles avec notre ambassadeur, géré les fonds, les glaçons, la condensation, tout ce qui fait qu'un cocktail tient à l'image. Les visuels sont partis en PLV et en digital sans retouche supplémentaire. »
Je recommande fortement Hilaire. Nous avions un enjeu de cohérence : cinq adresses, cinq styles photo différents. Hilaire a proposé une direction visuelle unique et l'a tenue d'un établissement à l'autre. Il comprend vite les contraintes d'un groupe, il est autonome sur place et il ne perturbe pas l'exploitation.
Nous souhaitions des Reels de préparation, pas seulement des photos. Hilaire filme et photographie sur la même session, ce qui nous évite de bloquer le bar deux fois. Les vidéos de verse au ralenti tournent encore un an après et on grandement contribué à la visibilité de l’établissement! Un prestataire fiable auquel nous ferons de nouveau appel sans la moindre reserve!
Nous sommes une petite affaire, on ne pouvait pas se permettre une production. Hilaire a proposé une demi-journée avec une sélection resserrée, au prix annoncé, sans extras surprises. C'était exactement le bon format pour nous.
J'ai été client d'Hilaire pour de la photographie culinaire, son talent et sa passion ont rendu grâce à nos plats ! Un véritable professionnel avec qui j'ai hâte de travailler à nouveau
Je recommande vivement! Hilaire est professionnel, disponible et à l’écoute. Il a su s’adapter à notre projet, budget et a fourni un travail irréprochable! 5*
Frequently asked questions
How long does a room need to be blocked?
- A day per room treated as lifestyle, less for a room alone. On an opening it is simpler to block one room for two or three consecutive nights: that lets you follow the light across several orientations without depending on the arrivals schedule.
Do the images need a model?
- For booking platforms, no: they want the room. For social, almost always: a scene holds where an empty room drops. These are two separate sets, and they are better quoted separately.
Do you deliver at platform formats?
- Yes. Every image is delivered horizontal, square and vertical, and the original framing is built with the margin those crops will take. That is what stops a bed being cut off on a platform.
Do you work with agencies or directly with the property?
- Both. Hôtel Bohem came through The Hotels Agency, Hôtel Louison commissioned directly, Bar des Muses through the group that runs the hotel. The quote and the delivery follow whoever commissions.
Do you photograph the hotel restaurant as well?
- Yes, and it is often the best use of a second day. The method is the one described on the [restaurant photographer in Paris page](/en/restaurant-photographer-paris/): plates are photographed in service, not afterwards.
A hotel project in Paris
Tell me the property, the spaces to cover and where the images are going: website, booking platforms, social. I answer with a number of days, what is delivered and in which formats.