Sell the setting before the room
Most guests choose a Michigan stay for where it is: on the lake, near the slopes, in the woods, a block from the ballpark. Room photos cannot show that. An aerial can, and it is often the first image a traveler sees in a search result or a booking listing.
Lost Woods in Boyne Falls is a good example. It is a 160-acre eco resort with a geodesic dome, bell tents, an A-frame cabin, a wood-fired barrel sauna and trails, according to its website. From the ground, each site is a tent or a dome in the trees. From the air, it is a stay set in rolling hills with views across the Boyne Valley. Our film for the property, shot for booking season, covers the domes, the sauna and the land around them.
Seasons are the shot list
Michigan hospitality sells four different products in one year, and each needs its own images.
- Fall. Color arrives in stages. It usually turns first in the Upper Peninsula and reaches southeast Michigan weeks later; Explore Fall’s 2026 forecast, as reported by WDIV, put most of the UP near peak around October 7 and Metro Detroit in early November. We book a flexible window and move with the color.
- Winter. Ski resorts, cabins and heated domes sell on snow. We shoot the morning after fresh snowfall, on clear days, and plan short flights because cold weather shortens battery life.
- Summer. Water, docks, beaches and patios, shot at golden hour when the light is warm and the lake is calm.
- Shoulder seasons. At Lost Woods, the dome is open all year while the tents run June to October, according to the property. Content has to sell both, so one visit is rarely enough.
Guests, events and flying over people
A hotel is never empty. FAA Part 107 limits flying over people who are not part of the operation, and sustained flight over an open-air gathering, such as a wedding on the lawn or a pool party, requires a drone that meets the FAA’s operations-over-people categories and Remote ID. The heavier Category 3 drones cannot fly over open-air assemblies at all.
We plan around guests rather than over them: pools and beaches before they open, arrival and check-in areas in quiet windows, events from the edges, and staff briefed on where the drone will be. For weddings, overhead moves are agreed with the couple and the venue in advance. Every venue receives a certificate of insurance before we arrive.
Where you can launch Up North
Airspace over most rural Michigan resorts is uncontrolled near the ground. FAA data shows Boyne Falls, for example, in uncontrolled airspace up to 700 feet. Land is the bigger question.
- State parks. Michigan DNR land use orders require written permission for commercial drone use and bar flights over campgrounds and occupied beaches.
- National lakeshores. Under a 2014 National Park Service policy, parks prohibit launching, landing or operating drones on park lands and waters. That covers Sleeping Bear Dunes and Pictured Rocks. A resort next door can still fly over its own property.
- Mackinac Island. A Mackinac Island State Park Commission policy bans drones over Mackinac State Historic Parks without the commission’s permission, citing horses and historic sites.
- Downtown Detroit. Hotels near Comerica Park and Ford Field are inside the FAA’s game-day restriction during Tigers and Lions home games, and the Riverwalk needs a Conservancy permit.
Michigan law stops local governments from regulating drone flight, with a narrow exception that lets communities banning motor vehicles, such as Mackinac Island, protect working horses from drone interference. It does not give anyone the right to launch from land they do not control. None of this is legal advice; we confirm permissions for each site.
Built for booking platforms
Each booking platform sets its own photo requirements. Booking.com’s partner guidelines ask for at least 2048 x 1080 pixels and prefer 4000 x 3000. You receive full-resolution stills, web versions, a property film if ordered and vertical cuts, organized for booking sites, your website, your Google Business Profile and social. Our Google Business Profile photo guide explains what to post there.
Tell us the property, the season you are selling and how you will use the images. We will check the airspace and land rules and send a fixed quote. Plan a hospitality shoot.