Should bloggers approach hotels for collaboration?
I came across this article and wanted to share with you regarding influencers asking hotels for free stay in exchange for recommending the hotels to their followers.
Let me summarise the story. It was a 22-year-old YouTube cum Instagram star, who wrote an email to a hotel to ask for free room stay in exchange for featuring the hotel in her YouTube video and Instagram story. But the hotel owner responded no with sarcastic remarks, and most importantly, the hotel owner wrote his response on its hotel’s Facebook page, showcasing the influencer’s email request.
If you are interested to know the details, click the following link.
Nowadays, sponsored posts or contents are common. Even the Singapore government has engaged influencers to reach out to younger generations about the upcoming Budget spending for the country. Some bloggers even teach others about ways to get sponsors for blog posts or contents. So, to a certain extent, I believe social media influencers are now part of the marketing strategies to promote or reach out to a certain demographic audience or followers.
The above controversy somehow shines the spotlight on influencers being freeloaders and self-entitled. Others had criticised the hotel owner for publicly shaming the influencer. Because of this controversial, the influencer, as well as the hotel, have unintentionally gained more attention from the public.
So should influencers be shunned if they approach sponsors themselves? Or should influencers wait for opportunities to knock on their doors? What is your take on the above controversy?
Share this:
Keen
Hi, I am Keen. This blog is about taking the Goldilocks approach to travel and lifestyle, i.e. Just Right!!! Here I share tips, tricks and itineraries from my personal experience travelling as a couple and as a family to various places around the world. Most of my journey involved architectures, cultural, shopping, food and family outing. In addition to being an occasional traveller, I am also into staying healthy and ageing gracefully. I hope to inspire you to travel more, create better memories and live a life that you love!
9 Comments
thewonderer86
This raises some interesting points. Both the hotel owner and the blogger seemed to have jumped in feet first, with unguarded, emotional responses. The blogger is upset with the way she was rejected, but responds in a like manner – not very professional surely. I feel there is nothing wrong with approaching a business for a ‘collaboration’ as she calls it – but she is very specific in a request for a five day free stay, and then promises to recommend the hotel in return – there is no suggestion of a genuine, unconditional review. Shame. This devalues the whole blogging industry. I’m sure there are bloggers who operate differently.
Keen
This incident I think, to a certain extent, has cast a shadow on bloggers who get sponsored products/services and giving reviews on their blogs. Readers may doubt the reviews as being fair and true. As for the blogger and the hotel, you are right that they should have dealt with this matter professionally. Thanks for your comment!
isabelle
Giving a review and recommending a hotel purely based on a five day free stay might make people question the credibility of the recommendation. If for instance, a language learning podcast is sponsed by a language center/school, I think it’s completely acceptable. The sponsed products need to some extent, be connected to the content of the blog or reflect the values the blog host stands for. Thank you for the post!
Keen
Yeah, if the blog contents have the same fit as the products/services and the potential sponsors believe in digital marketing such as blogging or vlogging, then this incident would not have happened. Thanks for the comment!
Pingback:
The Snow Melts Somewhere
Interesting topic and I don’t have an answer. But calling yourself an influencer seems very funny to me. Both parties handled the situation unprofessionally, but unfortunately that is the world we now live in. Professionalism has nothing to do with anything anymore. Maybe I’m cynical 😀 But out of these two, I side with the hotel.
Keen
Yeah, professionalism was lacked in this situation that is why create this sensational news for all of us. So this actually serves as a reminder to all of us to deal with sponsorship, businesses and customers with professional courtesy. Thanks for your comment!
sportsdiva64
Hi Keen, I just followed your blog and while I don’t follow the blogger in question, I had heard of it because bloggers all over were talking about it. My feeling is there’s nothing wrong with asking a sponsor but a 5 NIGHT FREE STAY?! Are you for real right now? Definately not, that’s really taking advantage of the hotel and making it worse for other bloggers .
Keen
I agree with you that 5 nights free stay is a bit excessive for a feature in a blog. I also think both parties should negotiate in private instead of air their dirty laundry for everyone. Thanks for the follow!