A Dublin hotel and cafe owner has banned social media influencers from his businesses after he shamed a 22-year-old YouTube personality who had asked for a free stay during an upcoming trip in return for publicity.
In a Facebook post on Jan 16, Paul Stenson, who owns The White Moose Cafe and Charleville Lodge, wrote a reply to an email sent by UK-based social media influencer Elle Darby.
Darby, who has over 87,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel and 76,000 Instagram followers, had asked for a five-night stay at his hotel in return for publicity on YouTube and Instagram.
She wrote in her email: "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 accommodation.
The backlash motivated Darby to take to YouTube (of course) and post a 17-minute response video, where she explains how she felt and even breaks down. The clip amassed nearly 240,000 views at the time of writing.
