Photographs are chosen to flatter, which is fair enough — but they are the least informative part of a listing. The detail lives elsewhere.
Read the sleeping arrangements rather than the headline capacity. A house that sleeps eight across four bedrooms is a very different proposition from one that reaches eight by counting a sofa bed in the living room.
Check the map pin and, if it is approximate, ask what the last stretch of road is like. Read the house rules and the check-in window before you fall in love with the kitchen. And read the recent reviews rather than the average — a house that has just changed hands behaves like a new house.