{"id":1554,"date":"2019-04-09T14:51:31","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T12:51:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dazzlepop.net\/site\/?p=1554"},"modified":"2019-04-09T14:51:31","modified_gmt":"2019-04-09T12:51:31","slug":"no-your-instagram-influence-is-not-as-good-as-cash-club-owner-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dazzlepop.net\/site\/no-your-instagram-influence-is-not-as-good-as-cash-club-owner-says\/","title":{"rendered":"No, Your Instagram \u2018Influence\u2019 Is Not as Good as Cash, Club Owner Says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The White Banana Beach Club does not want you to pay for your cocktail in content.<\/span>Credit<\/span>Credit<\/span>White Banana Beach Club Siargao<\/span><\/p>\n

A man who runs a beach club in the Philippines took a stand against \u201cwannabe freeloaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A small-business owner on an island in the Philippines has become a local hero for pushing back at the growing number of international travelers who introduce themselves as \u201cinfluencers\u201d as a way to get free food, drinks and lodging.<\/p>\n

He made his stand on Siargao, a tear-drop-shaped island long popular with surfers. In recent years it has also drawn a large number of travelers who believe that their vacations should be free so long as they make Instagram stories, according to several local business owners.<\/p>\n

Last week, Gianluca Casaccia, 40, the manager and co-owner of the White Banana Beach Club, decided it was time to take action after opening his inbox and finding yet another message containing the phrase: \u201cI am an influencer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since May, when Mr. Casaccia, who is Italian, and his wife, who is from Manila, opened their cocktail bar overlooking the turquoise Philippine Sea, they have received about 100 of these messages, he said.<\/p>\n

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Along with a bar, the venue has a restaurant and two \u201cluxury dorms\u201d for around $23 a bed. The typical email from a \u201cwannabe influencer\u201d is something like: \u201cI\u2019m coming from the 25th to the 27th. We need three beds and food and accommodation.\u201d In exchange, the traveler offers content instead of money.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found this disrespectful,\u201d he said in an\u00a0interview\u00a0Monday night. It didn\u2019t help that often the \u201cinfluencers\u201d had fewer than 2,000 Instagram followers. \u201cHow can you help me if you are no one?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

And so on March 26 he posted the following on Facebook:<\/p>\n

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We are receiving many messages regarding collaborations with influencers, Instagram influencers. We kindly would like to announce that White Banana is not interested to \u201ccollaborate\u201d with self-proclaimed \u201cinfluencers.\u201d And we would like to suggest to try another way to eat, drink, or sleep for free. Or try to actually work.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He was not aiming to go viral, he said. \u201cI just did it to make these people stop.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n