11 Ways Luxury Travel Influencers Lie to Their Followers

The coveted blue tick on social media once stood for one thing. Fame. It represented a person or a brand that was notable, unique, and genuine (as in, that’s the real Jennifer Aniston or Fodor’s Travel). Now, though, anyone can purchase a blue tick for $14.99 a month. So, what’s the point? Well, influencers can trick you into thinking they’re as famous as Ms. Aniston, and Meta/Elon Musk just got a whole lot richer.

I once had an assignment to write about MET Gala hotels. My then-editor wanted me to visit the same suite the stars stayed in to reveal every juicy detail (lucky me!). The problem was that the suite cost $75,000 per night, and well, that’s not going to get signed off by accounts payable. I got in touch with the hotel publicist, who happily offered a standard room for my write-up.

“Wait a minute, I saw [influencer name redacted] just stayed in the penthouse. How do I get the same access for [major fashion publication name redacted]?” I begged, knowing my editor would be furious if I didn’t get the full scoop. The publicist laughed, “We’ve never hosted influencers in that suite. They stay in a standard, and we just let them in to film or shoot”.

When was the last time you were at a restaurant and all your food came at once (Panda Express excluded)? In most sit-down service restaurants, meals arrive in stages. I shared a table with an influencer at the World Restaurant Awards one year. Licking my lips as starters arrived, I was told not to eat anything just yet. The influencer needed the mains to arrive for photos. Cue 45 minutes later, and when all starters and mains had made the table, I still had to wait a further 20 minutes for the actual photoshoot to take place, complete with fabulous ring lighting. Next time you see a full spread, remember that soggy fries and cold steaks are nothing to envy.

I know a couple who are influencers in tandem. They’re on a never-ending honeymoon, twirling, dancing, cuddling…you get the picture. They make you feel bad for yelling at your husband, who left dishes in the sink. But no fear, the lovebirds offer us solid advice such as “take rose petal baths in Bali’s best hotel” or “go on a Michelin-star dinner date” for relationship success.

In reality, they were going through a divorce. I felt terrible when I heard the news and imagined it wasn’t something they wished to disclose to their followers. However, I couldn’t help but wonder why they didn’t just focus on the travel aspect of their brand rather than continuously shove love down everyone’s throats.

Having a paid partnership collaboration with a five-star hotel makes a luxury travel influencer look more legit, but I’ve yet to meet a hotelier who has paid for an influencer’s post.

“Influencers will do just about anything for a free night’s stay or even a meal,” says the marketing director of a well-known hotel chain. In fact, most paid-for brand partnerships are actually via FMCG, “fast moving consumer goods,” in other words big-name products that are sold quickly and cheaply. Now, grocery brands may not be the sexiest partnerships for a travel influencer, but at least it’s a sort of honest way to make a living. And Mariah Carey sure had no shame working with McDonald’s, despite her apparent disgust of their chicken nuggets.

This brings us to the next lie: that influencers can simply live on influencing alone. Unless you’ve truly made it in the world of social media, chances are that posing for photos next to an infinity pool ain’t going to pay the bills. Those fast food brands want Mariah’s levels of reach, dahling. The influencers I know mostly have mundane office jobs, which no doubt fuels their desires to get out there. They simply don’t tell you they stare at a computer for just as long as we do.

Contrary to how their feeds make others feel, sometimes influencers are more cash-strapped than you are. On a week-long press tour, I was grouped with both writers and influencers. I befriended one who revealed that his bank balance was so low that he couldn’t afford to buy his family Christmas presents. His plan was to take the contents of the trip’s goodie bag and distribute them to the folks back home. I appreciated his honesty with me and even gave him my bag of gifts. But when we exchanged social media afterward, I saw quite the billionaire lifestyle. Someone like that most definitely wouldn’t need to lie to get an extra goodie bag of wine and sweaters.

There is nothing wrong with flying economy; most of us do, so why not admit it? I even fly Basic Economy sometimes (I hate checked bags). However, thanks to the nifty Priority Pass, regular folk like moi can access thousands of airport lounges while waiting for my budget flight out. Travel influencers always seem to have champagne in hand before taking off, but interestingly, not in the lounge of the same airline. First and business-class flyers tend to be loyal to an airline in order to maintain status unless they’re outrageously wealthy. But come on, we can’t all be Rachel Chu, a la Crazy Rich Asians, lucky in the skies.

How is it possible that somebody can have millions of fans online, but nobody’s heard of them in real life? Answer: because they bought them. Luxury travel influencers with bought followers, comments, and likes are so easy to spot. You’ll see that underneath their photos, the comments are all rather unimaginative and from other influencers of the same remit with blue ticks. They’ll say things like “looking good” or “so cool” under the post to help ramp up engagement. When said influencer decides not to pay for a post to skyrocket in likes, they’ll simply hide their like count. Otherwise, you’ll see that the numbers just don’t add up.

It’s 2024 (almost), so I’m well aware everyone does a bit of editing. Maybe it’s to get rid of a blemish with a Facetune or make colors pop with some saturation. But some influencers completely alter an image, so much so that it doesn’t represent the true experience of their trip, one you’re following to see. In Kyoto, I got up before sunrise to photograph and explore the Arashiyama bamboo forest in peace, and this was reflected in my (unedited) photos. Most influencers will skip the effort and edit out entire crowds, giving followers what is essentially a painting and not a true depiction of a destination.

Most of the world doesn’t travel to an exotic new destination four times a month. While many who repost old content will throw in a #TBT, influencers will deliberately caption or edit their old photos to make it look like they’re back on another vacation. But they’re not, and they’re probably at their office cubicle, scrolling and wishing they were away, just like everyone else. So, let’s stop feeling bad about life right now and remember that influencers aren’t more privileged than anyone else. We are all equally awesome.