We receive a number of requests for photographers to use our hotel for a shoot, so wanted to try and clarify things here.

As you may have seen, commercial photography within our hotel is not allowed without permission  (we don’t want our highly acclaimed rooms used in any commercial stock photography or similar, or our designs used to promote other competitive or other unwanted brands, neither do we want our venue used as a backdrop for stills or video on any adult websites or similar).

However, as such a gorgeous venue, we do occasionally allow photographers to shoot boutique hotel style shoots, such as fashion, lingerie, and tasteful art nude  (no Gonzo, glamour, ‘adult’, or similar).

We will ask to see portfolios of photographers first, and question what type of shoot you’ll be doing.  Right to refuse entry or eject photographers from the venue of course is always reserved (no guest is allowed to make another person in the hotel uncomfortable).

The typical rates for hiring one of our rooms is £20 per hour, for a minumum of two hours.  However, as a small venue of just 8 rooms, any booking like this will always be subject to limited availability:

• We need to fully clean each room back to standard before new guests may arrive from 3pm.
• If the room was in use the night before, then the previous guests may not have left the hotel until 11am, and we still need to clean the room and check for any damage, etc.  which can easily take one hour.
• Therefore, if guests were in the room the night before, and there may be new guests the night after, you may only have access from 12pm – 2pm.  However, a member of hotel staff also needs to be on-site throughout your shoot time, which also isn’t always possible!
• If you needed the room from 9am – 5pm or similar, please see our post about ‘day lets‘.
• Otherwise, the only way to know if the room was in use the night before, would be to check from 10:30pm onwards the night before.
• If someone has booked the same room for two consecutive nights, then of course there would be no access to the room during their stay.

If you’re able to modify your studio hire booking right up to the morning of the shoot (possibly moving rooms from your original plan, if that room is no longer available but another is), then this could work out for both (so long as Jason the manager is on-site that day)

If you want to hire a room all day from 9am to 5pm, then the rate would be for two regular nights at the hotel for that room (but still, only for the ‘right’ type of photography).

You could also hire out the entire hotel for just under £1,000 for 20 hours (from 3pm – 11am), and then have use of all 8 of our rooms, as well as our lounge area.

We do occasionally host group shoots (normally by invitation only), so to be considered, please contact us via the studio page on PurplePort.