Irish hotel owner who roasted free stay-demanding blogger sends her $6.5 million publicity bill

A controversial Irish business owner is hyping up his feud with bloggers and influencers once more - it's called #BloggerGate.

Paul Stenson, owner of the Dublin-based White Moose Café and Charleville Hotel Lodge has once more hyped up his ongoing feud with bloggers worldwide.

He has sent the original target of his wrath, 22-year-old beauty and lifestyle blogger Elle Darby, a$6.5 million dollar invoice for all the mentions she’s received in the media as a result of the spat.

I’m posting out this invoice today... pic.twitter.com/FYFONTWoOd

— White Moose Cafe (@whitemoosecafe) January 20, 2018

Last week, Stenson issued an outright ban on bloggers on his premises after he began to receive plenty of bad reviews for “exposing” one of the bloggers’ own for asking for a free stay in return for exposure on her social media channels.

The businessman has previously taken a crack at the increasing number of bloggers, vloggers and influencers, but took things a step further with Darby by publically shaming her, although it was she who revealed that she was the blogger in question -- Stenson blocked out her name in his original post of complaint.

On Tuesday, January 16, Stenson posted a screenshot on Facebook of an email he received from an unidentified blogger looking for a free stay in his hotel in return for featuring it across her social media platforms when she visited Dublin.

Read more: Irish people you have to follow on social media in 2018

“It takes a lot of balls to send an email like that, if not much self-respect and dignity,” he wrote.

“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?”

Darby revealed herself to be the blogger in question, claiming she was being bullied by trolls who had identified her as the sender of the email, unleashing the rage of the blogging community on Stenson who only incited the argument further by thanking them for all the publicity they were giving him, before issuing a full-out ban on their kind in his establishment.

“I feel disgusting having to say this. As a 22-year-old girl, who's running her own business from her home, I don't feel like I did anything wrong,” Darby had claimed.

“These were all 30 years plus people internet bullying a 22-year-old girl who is just trying to run her own business and raise awareness of what appeared to be a stunning Dublin hotel.”

Read more: US blogger warned by Irish police about critical blog post of government minister

As the story went viral and spread to publications around the world, Stenson has once again retaliated by issuing an invoice to Darby for the way he has brought plenty of people to her own YouTube and Instagram account with the controversy.

According to Dublin-based public relations agency ClearStory, 114 published news articles about Stenson and Darby were published in the last week across 20 countries (not including these extra follow-up articles on the invoice). They calculated that the articles had “a potential reach of 450 million people generating close to €4.3m in equivalent advertising spend.”

As such, Stenson whipped up an invoice for Darby charging her approximately $6.5 million in total for publicity services rendered.

And he hasn’t stopped there! You can now even pick up your own “I was exposed by the White Moose Café” t-shirts, branching into merchandise on top of his apparent determination to keep the story going for as long as possible.

NEW MERCH JUST IN. Buy now! https://t.co/mLARCMpIhG pic.twitter.com/TzIDwzF7GL

— White Moose Cafe (@whitemoosecafe) January 22, 2018

Paul Stenson is well-known in Ireland for his controversial social media posting and stances on things he believes to be a fad such as the phenomenon of social media “influencers” and the new up spike in a vegan or gluten-free lifestyle.

Last year, he was involved in an online skit named “House of Influencer” which tore apart the manner in which they carry out business while he also courted controversy when he hired a professional MMA fighter to help him deal with people asking for vegan and gluten-free options in his café.

Whose side do you fall on, Stenson or Darby? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.