Irish lodge/café bans bloggers after social media fight escalates

After bluntly calling out a vlogger for asking to stay at his hotel for free, a brash brand manager has been alternately praised or criticized on social media. Is it a ding for influencer marketing?

Ragan Insider Premium Content
Ragan Insider Content

An argument between a hotel owner and vlogger has ignited a contentious discussion over influencer marketing.

The fight started when social media influencer Elle Darby—who has more than 90,600 followers on YouTube and more than 80,700 followers on Instagram—emailed Paul Stenson, owner of Charleville Lodge and White Moose Café in Dublin, Ireland. Darby asked for a free stay at Stenson’s property in exchange for posts about it on her social media profiles.

At the time Darby reached out, Stenson’s hotel and café had gathered a combined Facebook following of more than 186,000, along with more than 32,000 Instagram followers and roughly 80,000 Snapchat followers. After receiving the email, Stenson posted the following on his Facebook pages:

In it, Stenson posed the following questions:

To read the full story, log in.
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today

Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.