Turkish hotels are attacked by letters from influential Lithuanians: we want free vacations!

Everyone needs a vacation, everyone wants it, and everyone deserves it. But not everyone wants to pay for them. Some try to vacation for free, but it is not as easy as it seems at first. Social media stars compete with each other to see which one of them will get that dream resting place in Turkey.

We live in an era of social media, where many young people do not dream of any special profession for the future, or impressive professional achievements, but simply want to have a large following on social networks on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok or Youtube. . It seems to many that having a large following is like being happy, rich and full of everything. As if nothing else was needed. Of course, the young dreamers did not invent it themselves, they only look at what is happening right now, how well the so-called influencers live, how all doors are opened to them. Well, almost all of them. There are things that even infusers don’t get that easily.

Here’s how to organize a free vacation in Turkey – not everyone is lucky. The face heralded in Lithuania: Turkish hotel managers and administrators are hardly worried. The popularity among the tens of thousands of people in our country in this country with a population of almost eighty-five million does not sound very impressive, they agree. Every more luxurious, newly built or renovated hotel receives at least ten flu letters every few days with requests to take a vacation. But he will not accept everyone: the Turks take over his shoulders.

“I am from Lithuania, I have eighty thousand followers who follow my life on the social network Instagram. I want a free vacation at your hotel, in return I offer advertising. I will tell everyone that they are very well ”, is the letter from a Lithuanian, popular on the Internet, to the Club Marco Polo hotel in the Kemer spa, in the Antalya region. Really very beautiful and luxurious, five star place – it would look solid in social media photos, apparently it would make a lot of people jealous. “We constantly receive letters from Instagram stars, mostly from all kinds of pretty girls, promising impressive advertising packages, separate films, taking photos for several thousand euros,” says Onur, Marketing Manager of the Marco Polo Club. But even the girls he liked very much, the most beautiful and elegant, he could not accept. “Beautiful girls, of course, haven’t hurt anyone yet, but that’s not our advertising style,” he says.

The strategy devised by Onur is somewhat different. You want to attract as many young, beautiful, and stylish families as possible, so if you accept something from the influencers, you are at least one family living a perfect life. “This summer I agreed to accept some, these are two famous Russians who play a lot of sports. They promoted us well and we had really good feedback after their visit, ”he says. But one infuser per season will suffice for this hotel. Maybe next year some Lithuanian will get it.

When I showed up from Lithuania, one of the most luxurious in the Antalya region, Gamze Gunduz, Marketing Director of the Calista Luxury Resort in Belek, immediately boasted that she knew our country well. “You have many influencers, they want to come to rest with us, we often receive letters,” revealed the hotel’s advertising manager. However, Gamze is open: this hotel, which belongs to the “luxury” class, does not see the need to receive the stars of Lithuanian social networks. “The biggest announcement of us was made by the president of the United States, Barack Obama, when he stayed with us. Many years have passed, but people all over the world are still learning about this fact. It really makes a great impression, that’s why we hung up. his portrait at the reception, “explained the marketing manager. Many guests want to stay exactly in the room where Obama also rested. Of course it costs a lot of money, but this place is really very popular with the rich, and for them it is not a trouble.

According to the representative of the hotel “Calista Luxury Resort”, this luxury hotel – for influencers from a country as small as Lithuania – is a bit greasy. “Tens or hundreds of thousands of followers still don’t matter, infusers from other countries sign with a million followers, but that doesn’t mean we can accept everyone,” a hotel spokeswoman told me this spring. In a lot of communication with colleagues at other hotels, Gamze says that all top-tier hotels receive letters from influencers. However, many of them have adopted the same order; for the rest, even popular guests on social media have to pay. And only the most special clients (movie stars, famous singers on the international stage) can receive great discounts or accommodation.

Sometimes the youth-oriented, new generation Alanya resort hotel Cooks Club likes to host influential people, where you can often meet celebrities from one country or another. “We have fancy people on vacation, so the influencers are very suitable, they attract good audiences, that’s what we need,” says Kemal Goktepe, spokesman for this four-star hotel. However, he doesn’t really plan to accept everyone in a row. Carefully review the questionnaire of each influencer who wants to come, its content and lists the requirements that they would like in exchange for a free vacation. “We want to show our bar, our pool, good food, rooms, balconies with sea views,” says Kemal, who personally interacts with the stars of social networks.

Turkish hotel representatives admit that until early 2020, when the world was hit by the coronavirus crisis, it was easier to accept celebrities online, but the coronavirus broke this established order. After severe quarantine restrictions and long months of downtime, businesses need to recover, they need money, so free guests sadden hotel managers. Many have slashed their advertising budgets.