Influencer Asked for Free Hotel Stay; Hotel Rejected & Banned All Influencers

Influencers certainly have a questionable job scope, that’s for sure.

While in layman terms, they aren’t exactly fulfilling the criteria expected of a ‘full-time worker’, they are certainly raking in the dough. And that aspect, no matter how unconventional it is, does make it a ‘real job’ in its own right.

But what about self-entitlement? By undertaking this line of work, are influencers being “self-entitled”?

I can’t help but wonder, when I saw this piece of news:

Hotel bans all social media influencers and bloggers after an influencer tried asking for a free stay in exchange for publicity.

Really gets you thinking, huh?

What happened?

A social media influencer had emailed a hotel in Dublin, Ireland, requesting for a free five-day stay at the hotel the weekend before Valentine’s day. In return, she promised to recommend the hotel to her 87,000 Youtube Subscribers and 76,000 Instagram followers.

Transcript:

Hi there, 

I hope this email finds you well.

I’m emailing in regards to a possible collaboration on social media – my name is *censored*. I work as a social media influencer, mainly lifestyle, beauty and travel based.

I have over 87,000 Youtube subscribers (here: *censored*) as well as 76,000 Instagram followers – *censored*.

My partner and I are planning to come to Dublin for an early Valentines Day weekend from Feb 8th – 12th to explore the area. As I was searching for places to stay, I came across your stunning hotel and would love to feature you in my Youtube videos/ dedicated Instagram stories/ posts to bring traffic to your hotel and recommend others to book up in return for free accomodation. Last year I worked with Universal Orlando in Florida and it’s been amazing for them!

Let me know if this is something you’d be interested in doing – I look forward to hearing from you! 🙂

 

In response, The White Moose Cafe had this to say:

Transcript:

Dear Social Influencer (I know your name but apparently it’s not important to use names),

Thank you for your email looking for free accommodation in return for exposure. It takes a lot of balls to send an email like that, if not much self-respect and dignity. 

If I let you stay here in return for a feature in your video, who is going to pay the staff who look after you? Who is going to pay the housekeepers who clean your room? The waiters who serve you breakfast? The receptionist who checks you in? Who is going to pay for the light and heat you use during your stay? The laundering of your bed sheets? The water rates? Maybe I should tell my staff they will be featured in your video in lieu of receiving payment for work carried out while you’re in residence?

Lucky for us, we too have a significant social media following. We have 186k followers on our two Facebook pages, an estimated 80k on our Snapchat, 32k on Instagram and a paltry 12k on our Twitter, but Jesus Christ, I would never in a million years ask anyone for anything for free. I also blog a bit (www.paulvstenson.com), which as far as I’m aware is another way of saying “write stuff on the internet”. The above stats do not make me any better than anyone else or afford me the right to not pay for something everyone else has to pay for.

In future, I’d advise you to offer to pay your way like everyone else, and if the hotel in question believes your coverage will help them, maybe they’ll give you a complimentary upgrade to a suite. This would show more self-respect on your part and, let’s face it, it would be less embarrassing for you. Here is a little video I produced which you may learn from:http://bit.ly/2mKTDTD

Best regards,

Paul Stenson
www.charlevillelodge.ie

P.S. The answer is no.

 

Although the identity of the social media influencer wasn’t exposed, the person in question, British YouTube personality and social media influencer Elle Darby, posted a video on Youtube in reply.

Titled ‘I was exposed (SO embarrassing)’, the video detailed how the incident had embarrassed her, and had exposed her to a “tidal wave of hate”.

Apart from insisting that she was within her rights to ask for a free stay, she also claimed that she was being bullied by “30 years-plus people (on the) Internet”.

“I feel disgusted having to say this. As a 22-year-old girl who’s running her own business from her home, I don’t feel like I did anything wrong.

“These were all 30 years-plus people (on the) Internet bullying a 22-year-old girl who is just trying to run her own business and raise awareness of what appeared to be a stunning Dublin hotel.”

She also added that older people seem to have “no idea how social media works these days”.

In answer, The White Moose Cafe adopted a rather surprising approach.

Transcript:

**ALL BLOGGERS BANNED FROM OUR BUSINESS**

Following the backlash received after asking an unidentified blogger to pay for a hotel room, I have taken the decision to ban all bloggers from our hotel and cafe.

The sense of entitlement is just too strong in the blogging community and the nastiness, hissy fits and general hate displayed after one of your members was not granted her request for a freebie is giving your whole industry a bad name. I never thought we would be inundated with negative reviews for the simple reason that somebody was required to pay for goods received or services rendered.

The girl in question was never identified in my original post, but she herself went on to create a video explaining how she was “exposed” with “malicious intent” for asking for a freebie. This kind of victimization is very prevalent in the blogging industry, and is in keeping with their general modus operandi of wanting everything for nothing.

If any of you attempt to enter our premises from now on, you will be ejected.

Many thanks,

Paul Stenson 
www.charlevillelodge.ie

P.S. Perhaps if you went out and got real jobs you’d be able to pay for goods and services like everybody else. Just a thought!

Self-entitlement

According to vocabulary.com, if someone has a sense of entitlement, that means the person believes he deserves certain privileges — and he’s arrogant about it.

And I have to say; the influencer doesn’t seem to be arrogant about it. Neither did she exactly preach privileges and whatnot.

From the email she sent, I can see that she was pretty polite about it, and in no way forced her ideals upon the establishment. It was pretty much a give-and-take, a casual business proposal if you will.

The hotel, in my view, then decided to blow things up. If I wasn’t sober I would have thought that it was preaching some sense of social justice-ism. The girl wasn’t even arrogant about it. Where, in that email, did they ever find enough dis to publish the whole story on Facebook?

While they seem to have made an effort to censor the personality’s identity from the public, it seems that people did find out in the end. And it’s not that hard, exactly, as the hotel didn’t bother censoring the Youtube link in full. If you look closely enough (and with sufficient brightness), you can decipher the URL.

But that’s just how I feel. I honestly tried to be objective about it, but really?

And it seems that people feel the same way too.

But of course, there are comments supporting the hotel as well.

What’s your call?

Should an influencer be blasted just because it isn’t a real job?

Or was the influencer in question being too “self-entitled”?

Tell us in the comments!

Meanwhile, here’s a video we did on the topic:

Really makes you think, doesn’t it?

Since you’re here, why not watch a video about a guy who lodged a Police report here in Singapore because he was friendzoned? Seriously. Here, watch it and do remember to share it (and also subscribe to Goody Feed YouTube channel)!

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com

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Featured image: Elle Darby Youtube