‘No influencers’: the hotels, restaurants and beauty spots restricting photoshoots

Backlash against content creators includes restricted hours for filming and even outright bans.

Stand in any vaguely photogenic spot these days on holiday, and the chances are you will come across people posing with raised phones and even ring lights. Some may be influencers with huge audiences on social media, while others are just overkeen Instagram users. With hotels and beauty spots now so overrun, however, bans on photography are coming into place.

The five-star Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, known for its glamorous clientele, views of the Côte d’Azur, and a stunning infinity pool, has implemented rules against photoshoots, which are no longer allowed without prior permission. This decision has reportedly been prompted by guests booking lunch reservations and bringing bags of clothing and jewelry. Instead of sitting down to eat, they have used their time at the hotel for photoshoots of themselves in different outfits, creating images to post on their social media accounts.

Less glamorous spots are also clamping down. The Hollies, a Cheshire farm shop that became popular after Love Island star Molly-Mae Hague posted images from there, has banned photography and filming between 10 AM and 4 PM. Meanwhile, Jeremy King, the London restaurateur behind places such as Simpson’s in the Strand and the Park, expressed his frustration in an article for the Evening Standard earlier this year titled: “I’m fed up with influencers over-running my restaurant – enough is enough.”

In the US, a shop on Nantucket, an island off Cape Cod, went viral earlier this year for a sign reading “no influencers,” while the town of Pomfret in Vermont has banned influencers from taking pictures in front of foliage in autumn. In Fujikawaguchiko in Japan, a screen has been put up near a convenience store to stop people from taking pictures there in front of Mount Fuji.