Photos and videos of your hostel

4 min read  ·  Updated October 2026

Images on an Unverified directory entry

Unverified directory entries show three to five labelled illustrative accommodation images. These are examples, not photographs of the named hostel, and do not establish its condition or facilities. They are excluded from the hostel's actual photo library and are not published as verified hostel photos.

After claiming ownership, upload at least three photographs of the actual hostel through My Hostel → Images. The public page keeps its illustrative presentation until the completed listing is reviewed and approved. Afterwards the normal public listing uses the hostel's actual images. Do not upload the example images as proof, or photographs showing residents, identity documents or personal records. Unverified entries are not automatically promoted on social media.

Two hostels on the same street, same rent, same facilities. The one with twelve clear photos gets several times the enquiries of the one with two dark ones. Nothing else you can do in an afternoon changes your results as much.

Where photos go

• My Hostel → Images holds pictures of the building: the entrance, the lounge, the kitchen, the mess area, the courtyard, the washrooms, the study space, the parking.
• Rooms → the room → Images holds pictures of that specific room. A room with its own photos gets noticeably more interest than the ones listed beside it without any.
• My Hostel → Videos holds a walk-through, if you have one.

What to photograph

Photograph the things people are nervous about. Everybody expects a bed; what they cannot guess from the price is whether the washroom is clean, whether the kitchen is usable and whether the street outside feels safe at night.

• The entrance and the street. This answers “what kind of area is it?” better than any sentence.
• A made-up bed in a real room. The single most-looked-at photo you will upload.
• The washroom. Owners skip this one and it is the question they then answer on every phone call.
• The kitchen or mess area, and a plate of the food if you serve it.
• Common areas. Lounge, roof, courtyard, study room.
• The practical things you are proud of. The generator, the water filter, the CCTV screen, the parking.

Taking them well, on a phone

You do not need a camera or a photographer. You need daylight and five minutes of tidying.

1. Tidy first, shoot second Make the bed, clear the floor, remove the drying clothes. A tidy Rs 8,000 room beats an untidy Rs 15,000 one in a photo.
2. Shoot in the morning, with the curtains open Daylight from a window makes a small room look like a room somebody could live in. Ceiling light at night makes every room look yellow and cramped.
3. Stand in the doorway, hold the phone level From the corner or the doorway you get the whole room. Held at chest height and straight, the walls stay upright.
4. Take three, keep one Take a few of each subject and upload the best. It costs nothing and the difference is obvious.

Be honest with them

Photos that flatter beyond recognition do not win you residents. They win you visits that end at the door, and reviews that say the place looked nothing like the pictures. Show the hostel as it is on a good day. That is the standard people are fine with.

Never use photos of a hostel that is not yours, and never use pictures from the internet. That is the fastest way to have a listing rejected, and it is unfair to the owner whose building you are advertising.

Order and upkeep

Your first photo is the one that appears on search results and on WhatsApp when somebody shares your listing, so make it your strongest, usually the entrance or the best room. You can reorder photos by dragging them, and remove any that no longer look like the hostel.

On your hostel page the first photo fills a wide box at the top, with the next ones beside it. A photo taken with the phone held sideways fills that box edge to edge. An upright photo, or one much smaller than its box, is not stretched or cut: it is shown whole, with a blurred copy of itself filling the space around it. Nothing is lost, but it fills less of the box. Upload photos straight from the phone's camera. A screenshot, or a picture saved from Facebook, is often only a few hundred pixels wide and looks soft however it is shown.

Refresh them when something changes: a repaint, new furniture, a renovated washroom. A listing whose photos are three years old eventually starts costing you the visits it used to win.

Videos

One steady walk-through (gate, stairs, corridor, room, washroom, kitchen) is worth more than several short clips. Walk slowly, keep the phone level, do not narrate over traffic noise. People who watch a walk-through arrive already knowing the place, and they arrive ready to decide.

Where else your photos and videos appear

Houstel.pk also shows listed hostels on its own social media accounts: Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest and LinkedIn. A post can use your photos and videos as they are, or a short video we make from your photos, with your hostel's name, area and rent, the Houstel logo and a link to your hostel's page. Some videos also have a description read out in Urdu or English by an AI voice, and background music.

• Hostels are picked in turn, so not every hostel appears on every platform, and there is no fixed schedule. You do not need to do anything, and Houstel does not send you a message for each post.
• A post shows your rent and details as they were on the day it was made. Your page on Houstel.pk always has the current ones, and that is where the link in each post goes.
• No resident's name, number or any other detail is ever put in a post. Do not upload photos that show residents' faces, documents or papers with personal details.
• If you do not want your hostel on Houstel's social media, or want a post taken down, tell us through Chat with Houstel. We stop new posts about your hostel and remove the ones we can.

You agree to this when you list your hostel; see Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy.

Common questions