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With the rise of influencers came the terms collaborations, barters, and x deals – this meant that brands (especially hotels) and influencers work together to promote each other, with or mostly without cash. Some top-tier influencers even demand free flights if they are invited to promote certain hotels or destinations. In our case, we offer complimentary stays and experiences in our resorts (hotels) in exchange for deliverables such as Instagram tagging, high res photos, videos, etc.

As the person handling collaboration requests for three hotels, I receive a dump of emails and DMs daily. And while a lot of influencers are professional, I also come across annoying ones. Some are annoying right from the start of your conversation. Some seemed professional at the beginning but acted like gods towards the end of the deal.

Here are a few annoying things that influencers do:

1. They harass you.

Not all influencers fit your brand; therefore, no matter how huge their followership is, sometimes you have to decline them. However, persistent ones come to a point where their emails and DMs come across as ‘harassment’ already. I came across one influencer whom I declined in the past year because we don’t think his content fits our brand. After a year, he returned and sent an email to us almost weekly. In addition, he sent DMs nearly every other day and commented on each of our Instagram posts, saying, ‘Did you check my DM?’

I again declined his proposal, but he still made another proposal that I did not reply to anymore. And I don’t intend to. And I am waiting if he will still come back again some other time.

Some influencers are quite professional, and they understand when we tell them why we have to decline their collaboration proposal, and then they thank us for our time and move on to finding other brands to work with.

2. They feel entitled.

Some influencers with hundreds and thousands of followers feel the entitlement that follows their ‘popularity.’ They think that companies will automatically agree to work with them just because of the high followership. Although certain companies will want them for some reason, the issues arise while working with them. For example, they aren’t on time; they don’t follow their schedules and don’t want to follow what the brand has asked them to do. They do whatever they want as if the companies, like our hotels, should be grateful for their presence.

Some entitled send me angry emails. For example, once I declined a photographer because we just didn’t need his services at that time. I offered him exceptional media rates instead if he just wanted to have a holiday(which a lot of them do). Still, he sent me an aggressive email saying I don’t know his worth and how much he gets paid for his photography service.

3. They send unprofessional emails.

Sending an official email requesting a brand collaboration is like sending your application for a job. You should make sure your email is neat and your resume well presented. Professional influencers take their time to learn about your brand before drafting their email; they attach a creatively done media kit of their past works and their statistics. And while these influencers are a delight, some send me emails that were hastily typed on the mobile phone with many words misspelled and no other information except the fact that they wanted a free stay.

4. They don’t fully deliver what they committed.

I have come across several influencers that are professional to work with. I met them at the hotel; they followed the provided schedule, and all were rosy and nice until they departed from the hotel. Usually, hotels like us ask for deliverables; for example, we ask for ten high-resolution photos in exchange for a one-night stay. The deliverables must be provided 30 days after departure from the resort. Some did as committed, others a bit late than the agreed period. Some ignored my email follow-ups until I threatened to ban them from our corporate office so they won’t be able to collaborate with our other hotels anymore. Some just totally ignored me. Some have provided their deliverables on time but not as we expected. 

While this is true for our hotel (because I experienced all these first-hand), this might not be true for all other companies and brands. And if you are an influencer, you probably would want to reassess your approach to companies and consider some points that I mentioned to get good gigs.