We won’t touch freebie misers with a bargepole!
THEY say there’s no such thing as a free lunch... well, except if you’re a brazen influencer.
However, one canal-based restaurant have stood their ground against a demand for a free meal from such a social media showboater – and have vowed that they won’t touch influencers with a bargepole.
With Covid-19 having a devastating impact on bookings, Shiful Islam was a little surprised when a tweet landed asking for a discount at his sought-after restaurant on the Grand Canal.
In fact, the owner of the French restaurant in the capital was so unaware of the term ‘influencer’, he tweeted his own followers, asking: ‘Is this a thing?’
The La Peniche canal barge restaurateur wrote: ‘We just received a message from an influencer to book a table this week. We gave them times available and they picked one, then they replied with have we “influencers” rates?’
‘Is this a thing? Like, we are a small business and in these times we all need to support each other.’
The 47-year-old owner of the converted barge said the miserly request gave him a real sinking feeling, and that he had no option but to refuse it.
‘It was a surprise. We let them know we don’t do discounts. We don’t want to be bad, we just tried to be as nice as we can,’ he said. ‘This is a pretty new thing, we were surprised. At the moment we have to give so much space and have few people and people are not going out often either.
‘It is terrible with business as well, the thought of giving away free meals or anything really. We let them know we don’t do a thing like this.’
His innocent query on social media prompted an unexpected wave of support, with hundreds of people saying, while they were not ‘influencers’ and may not have 100,000 followers, they’d certainly book a table or promote the restaurant.
It’s not the first time influencers have caused a stir in the hospitality industry and been refused a freebie. A year ago the well-known White Moose Café, near the Phoenix Park in Dublin, was involved in a spat with an influencer who wanted a free stay in the hotel in exchange for ‘exposure’.
The café, which is part of the Charleville Lodge on the North Circular Road, is one of the most popular restaurants in Dublin, not only due to its food, but also for owner Paul Stenson’s tongue-in-cheek promotions. He said on the café’s Facebook page that he ‘played along’ with the individual and said that his ‘conversation with this social media influencer highlights the pure deception of the influencer world’.
The conversation started with the woman asking if the hotel is available for ‘partnerships’.
She said she was making a short trip to Dublin and would love to stay in the hotel in exchange for advertising and would share her ‘experience’ of the hotel on all of her social media platforms.
The hotel was involved in an earlier social media rift with popular English blogger Elle Darby, who asked for a free stay in exchange for a plug on YouTube.
Manager Paul Stenson shared a photo of the email on the company’s Facebook page, in which the influencer revealed she was hoping for a free stay to enjoy St Valentine’s Day with her boyfriend, writing: ‘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.’
Mr Stenson then shared a public response, taking to Facebook to question who would pay the costs of the influencer’s stay.
‘They replied “have we influencers rates?”’