For listed properties
Photos that make people want to bring their dog
Your photos do most of the work on your page. Here are the sizes we use, where to put your files, and the two or three mistakes that leave a grey box where a picture should be.
The sizes we use
Main photo (your cover)
2000 × 1333 px · 3:2 landscape
The one that carries everything: the top of your page, your card in search results, and the preview when someone shares your page on WhatsApp or Facebook. That preview is a wide 1200 × 630 crop, so keep the subject in the middle and leave air top and bottom.
Gallery photos
1600 × 1067 px or larger · 3:2 landscape
Shown as small tiles next to the cover, and full size when a guest clicks. Up to 20 are displayed, the rest are ignored, so pick your best 20 rather than uploading everything.
File format and weight
Under 5 MB each · JPG or WebP
JPG is safest. Photos straight off a phone are usually fine. There is no need for anything above 3000 px wide, it only makes your page slower to open.
The short version: horizontal photos, at least 1600 pixels wide, JPG, under 5 MB. Avoid vertical phone shots for the cover, they get cropped badly on every screen.
What we would love to see
Guests come to HosPet for one reason, so answer it in pictures. A beautiful empty lobby tells them nothing they cannot get from a hundred other sites.
- The room or apartment, with the pet bed visible if you have one
- Your garden, terrace or fenced area, the space where a dog can actually be a dog
- Bowls, treats, whatever you put out at arrival
- Where guests walk their dog: the path, the field, the beach nearby
- Breakfast or dining, showing where pets may sit with their people
- A real dog or cat enjoying your place, if you have the owner’s permission
One video, if you have it
You can add a single video, and it gets its own tile in your gallery with a play button. Upload it to YouTube (unlisted is fine) and paste the link. Vertical is fine here, this is where a phone clip belongs. A slow walk through the place beats a polished advert.
Where to put your files
For now you give us a web address for each photo rather than uploading it here. Any of these will give you one, free:
Your own website
The best option if you have one. Upload to your own media library and copy the image address. It stays online as long as your site does, and it costs you nothing extra.
Cloudinary
Free account, made for exactly this. Upload, then copy the image URL. Reliable and permanent, and the one we would choose.
ImgBB
The quickest if you just want to be done. No account needed, choose "Do not autodelete", then copy the direct link that ends in .jpg.
Imgur
Works, but be careful to copy the direct image link (right click, Copy image address), not the page link.
Links that will break
These look like they work when you paste them, and then quietly stop. If your photo turns into a grey tile in a few weeks, this is almost always why.
Instagram or Facebook photo links
They carry a hidden expiry date. They work today and are dead within days or weeks.
Google Drive and Dropbox links
They point at a page with a download button, not at the image itself. Nothing will show.
Links from a friend’s or agency’s account
The day that account is closed or tidied up, your page loses its photos.
Anything that needs a password
If it is not visible in a private browser window, it is not visible to your guests either.
A quick way to check any link: open it in a private browser window. If the photo appears on its own, with nothing around it, it will work on HosPet.
Or let us handle it
If all of this is one thing too many, send us your photos and we will do it for you: we resize them, host them properly, and put them on your page in the right order.
We ask for a small donation in return. HosPet is a small independent project and hosting your images costs us real money, so this keeps the lights on rather than making a profit. Write to us first and we will tell you what it involves, there is nothing to pay upfront and no subscription.
Email us your photosNot listed with us yet? Apply here.