Hotels banning influencers: Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc and other venues restrict photoshoots
The five-star Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes now requires prior permission for photoshoots on its property, one of several hotels, restaurants and beauty spots restricting social media photography as influencer visits disrupt guests.
Hotels banning influencers: Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc and other venues restrict photoshoots
Why the Antibes hotel set new rules
The Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes has brought in rules against photoshoots, which are no longer allowed on its grounds without prior permission. According to the report, the trigger was guests booking lunch reservations and bringing bags of clothing and jewellery, then using the visit to shoot outfit photos rather than to eat.
Manager Sophie Volant said guests value their privacy at the hotel, explaining why management acted. She said guests "also want their summer home to remain private. We had to think about a solution."
Restaurants and shops pushing back
The hotel is not alone. Photography restrictions and rejections of influencers have appeared across hospitality and retail:
- The Hollies, a farm shop in Cheshire, has banned photography and filming between 10am and 4pm. The shop became a popular content stop after Love Island star Molly-Mae Hague posted images from there.
- London restaurateur Jeremy King, behind Simpson's in the Strand and the Park, wrote an Evening Standard article declaring "I'm fed up with influencers over-running my restaurant – enough is enough."
- A shop on Nantucket, an island off Cape Cod in Massachusetts, went viral earlier this year for a sign reading "no influencers".
Beauty spots beyond hospitality
The pushback extends past businesses to scenic locations. The town of Pomfret in Vermont has banned influencers taking pictures in front of foliage in autumn. In Fujikawaguchiko, Japan, a screen has been put up near a convenience store to stop people taking pictures there in front of Mount Fuji.
A divided industry
Not every hotel group is turning creators away. Anna Fedou, chief marketing officer at the Beaumier hotel group, said "We're in the business of hospitality, not running photo studios". Beaumier's hotels include Les Roches Rouges near Marseille, loved for its photogenic pool, and the group has no specific photography rules. It sometimes works with influencers, who produce posts in exchange for perks such as a free room. Fedou added that "Influencers will generally choose quieter moments for shooting content, to capture the space without disturbing others".
Others see the rules differently. Alex Goat, founder of youth culture agency Livity, compares these rules to clubs asking visitors to put stickers over their phones' cameras.
Creators themselves offer a mixed view. Nicole Ocran, an influencer who set up the Creator Union, said "The majority are creating most of their content for their audiences for free", hoping to attract brand deals. On the rules, she argued that "not every space is meant for public consumption, and not every experience should be turned into content". Sophie Bishop, author of Influencer Creep, said influencer culture has always been vilified in popular culture and that "It's a very feminised form of media".
Some venues, including Beaumier's Les Roches Rouges near Marseille, still have no specific photography rules, while Fedou says influencers generally shoot at quieter moments to avoid disturbing guests.
