Successful bloggers, who then take on the honorary status of "influencers", enjoy certain advantages, it's no secret. Highly solicited by brands, they receive products to advertise (or not) and are sometimes invited by tourist companies to stay in heavenly places. A rather nice life to which few would say no, in short. However, some of these "net personalities" tend to push the envelope a little far by presenting their influence as a bargaining chip to stay for free in high-end establishments. The 5-star Dusit Thani hotel in the Maldives is one of those exceptional places, and the managers recently let it be known that they were fed up with being asked for free rooms by bloggers in exchange for publications of photos of the complex (with compliments included, we imagine) on Instagram accounts.
Kate Jones, the marketing and communications director of the island of Mudhdhoo on which the Dusit Thani is located, explains to the site The Atlantic “Everyone who has a Facebook account these days sees themselves as influencers. The latter tell us “I want to come to the Maldives for 10 days and will make 2 publications for my 2,000 followers on Instagram”. Others with 600 Facebook friends ask to stay at the hotel for a week ". Bloggers whose requests for a free stay have been accepted in the past (this is the case for one in 10 today, according to Kate Jones) have not ended up promoting the establishment in the way more flattering. Today, the team only accepts collaborations that are really interesting financially speaking, that is to say with people whose virtual community is around one million. We have been warned… Well and very far from the count level figures, so all is well! Happy (paid) holidays to all!
