The Hotel This Influencer Wanted To Stay At For Free Is Now Billing Her Millions
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Soon after YouTuber Elle Darby asked Dublin's White Moose Cafe and Charleville Lodge if she could stay for free, NY Mag reports the hotel's owner Paul Stenson shut her way, way down.
In a January 16 Facebook post, Stenson screengrabbed Darby's apparent email in which she asked for a comped stay essentially in return for traffic to the hotel. She notes her tens of thousands of YouTube and Instagram followers as proof this arrangement would be beneficial to the hotel.
"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," Stenson's reply begins. He continues:
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?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. Best regards, Paul Stensonwww.charlevillelodge.ieP.S. The answer is no.
The same day, Darby posted the above 17-minute video to YouTube titled "i was exposed (SO embarrassing)." In it, she explains not only has she never received a response like that before, but also she is just "a 22-year-old girl who is trying to do nothing but run her own business, raise awareness about what appeared to be an absolutely stunning hotel."
Stenson hit back again on January 17, in a Facebook post beginning "**ALL BLOGGERS BANNED FROM OUR BUSINESS**" which you can read in full here.
UPDATE: That same hotel man is now billing that same influencer for about $7.3 million for the publicity she's received from their viral saga.
Yes, in an additional Facebook post, White Moose Cafe and Charleville Lodge owner Paul Stenson posted a picture of a bill he planned to send to Elle Darby. In it, he charges her 4,300,000 Euro (~$5.3 million) for "the provision of features in 114 articles across 20 countries with a potential reach of 450 million people." That's before taxes.
He also notes payments must be made with actual money and that "mentions in videos will not qualify as payment." To support his billing claim, Stenson commented on the post with a link to a LinkedIn article, which explains Darby, whose YouTube views spiked massively after this whole mess started, benefited from the debacle.
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