The credential
What “Marriott approved” actually means.
Marriott doesn’t let just anyone photograph its brands. The company maintains a small, vetted list of approved photographers, and it adds to that list rarely — when I first wrote to them, they told me they hadn’t added a photographer in at least five years. Two years later they reviewed roughly two hundred submissions and wrote back: I was in.
Today I hold Premium-Select approval — eighteen brands across Marriott’s Select and Longer Stays portfolios — with more than one hundred hotels photographed across fourteen states.
Why it matters to a property
Approval means the vetting happened before you booked the shoot. I know the brand standards — coverage, composition, required views — because meeting them is what the credential is. Every brand shoot is delivered DAC-compliant, with the compliance and usage-rights paperwork executed and the files prepared to spec. The set clears review the first time, and the new photography reaches brand.com and the OTAs on the first pass instead of after a reshoot.
Marriott has also trusted the work beyond my approved list: when the AC Hotel in downtown Boise needed photography before AC Hotels joined my brands, Marriott Corporate granted an exemption for me to shoot it. That exterior is still the frame I’m proudest of — and AC Hotels is on the list now.
Approved to photograph
- AC Hotels
- Aloft Hotels
- Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy
- City Express by Marriott
- Courtyard by Marriott
- Element by Marriott
- Fairfield by Marriott
- Four Points by Sheraton
- Four Points Flex by Sheraton
- Homes & Villas by Marriott International
- Marriott Executive Apartments
- Moxy Hotels
- Protea Hotels by Marriott
- Residence Inn by Marriott
- Sonder by Marriott Bonvoy
- SpringHill Suites by Marriott
- StudioRes
- TownePlace Suites by Marriott
Marriott’s Select and Longer Stays portfolios, plus independent hotels. See the work on the hotel portfolio, organized by brand.
Common questions
What does “Marriott Premium-Select Approved” mean?
Marriott maintains a vetted list of photographers approved to shoot its brands. Premium-Select approval means my work has been reviewed and accepted by Marriott's program for the Select and Longer Stays portfolios — eighteen brands — so a property can book me knowing the photography will meet brand standards before I ever arrive.
Do you only photograph Marriott properties?
No. The approval is the vetting standard, not a boundary. The same program — twilight-first exteriors, full interior coverage, brand-standard delivery — serves independent hotels and other flags.
What is DAC-compliant delivery?
Every Marriott shoot is delivered through the brand's DAC submission process: the imagery shot to current brand standards, plus the executed compliance and usage-rights paperwork, prepared to spec so the set clears review the first time and reaches brand.com without a reshoot.
Where do you travel?
I'm based in Boise, Idaho, and shoot on location wherever the property is — over one hundred hotels across fourteen states so far.
Planning a brand shoot?
New build, renovation, or a set that’s aged out of standard — tell me where the property is.
Get in touch