DUBLIN — Bloggers have been known to wield their influence far and wide – but are they powerful enough to get a free room at a hotel?

One hotelier in Dublin says absolutely not. Paul Stenson, owner of the Charleville Lodge and White Moose Cafe in Dublin, has enforced a ban on all social media influencers after UK-based influencer Elle Darby reached out for a free stay.

Darby, who boasts 87,000 YouTube subscribers and 76,000 Instagram followers, had reached out to the Lodge for a complimentary four-night stay just before Valentine’s Day in exchange for YouTube videos/dedicated Instagram stories/posts that she said would bring traffic to the hotel.

Perhaps miffed by Darby’s entitled request, Stenson shared her request on the hotel’s Facebook page, and asked her how he was expected to pay his staff if she were to get the room for free.

Although Stenson blacked our her name on the post, Darby’s ‘influence’ is so far reaching that it didn’t take long for other bloggers and influencers to publicly out her.

Darby, in response, posted a video accusing Stenson of being malicious, and that as a result she was being labelled as a “freeloader”.

The riff continued with Stenson posting on Facebook that he was now banning all bloggers. He wrote: “Following the backlash received after asking an unidentified blogger to pay for a hotel room, I have taken the decision to ban all bloggers from our hotel and café.”

He also admonished the “sense of entitlement” that runs rampant in the blogging community, blaming the “hissy fits and general hate” displayed by Darby for giving the whole industry a bad name. He also questioned in another post the authenticity of ‘influencer marketing’.

Surprisingly, the blogger community has rushed to applaud Stenson’s move. One social media follower wrote on the hotel’s Facebook page: “Take care and know that there are more people for you and your stance on this matter than against you.”