The folks who run the Charville Lodge / White Moose Cafe in Dublin seem to have a very no-nonsense approach to their business, which one Instagram influencer learned in a brutal clapback recently.

Of all the companies to request free stuff from, this was possibly the worst choice. Looking over their facebook feed, I can tell you two things: these folks seem to run a nice place, and they have ZERO patience for difficult customers. That’s typified by a post that’s gone viral, with over 5,000 shares and tons of coverage.

It starts with a redacted screenshot of the message they’d received from the “influencer.”

They took care to cover up the contact info on the request (though not too much care – the black bars there are mine, the original left the text still clearly discernible), and accompanied the screenshot with a scathing reply.

(Side note… don’t ever start an email with “I hope this note finds you well.” Just don’t.)

Okay… the response…

Dear Social Influencer (I know your name but apparently it’s not important to use names),

Thank you for your email looking for free accommodation in return for exposure. It takes a lot of ball$ to send an email like that, if not much self-respect and dignity.

So, off to quite a start.

It 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?

You best believe a small business owner is VERY aware of how much everything costs.

Lucky for us, we too have a significant social media following. We have 186k followers on our two Facebook pages, an estimated 80k on our Snapchat, 32k on Instagram and a paltry 12k on our Twitter, but Jesus Christ, I would never in a million years ask anyone for anything for free.

I also blog a bit (www.paulvstenson.com), which as far as I’m aware is another way of saying “write stuff on the internet”. The above stats do not make me any better than anyone else or afford me the right to not pay for something everyone else has to pay for.

He rounds it off with a little advice.

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.

Here is a little video I produced which you may learn from:
http://bit.ly/2mKTDTD

Best regards,

Paul Stenson
www.charlevillelodge.ie

P.S. The answer is no.

Apparently, this particular joint was VERY familiar with the tactics of quid-pro-quo internet personalities, and felt pretty strongly about it.

So strong, in fact, that months earlier they’d actually produced this fairly impressive House of Cards parody video about it.

It seems most folks are running out patience for the internet-personality culture.

So much so that the White Moose is now selling merch about it:

I bet they’ll send me some shirts if I offer to mention them on my blog.

What do you think of this? Supreme justice? Overreaction?

Tell us in the comments!