A luxury hotel in France has revealed it cracked down on Instagrammers’ photo shoots after guests started complaining.
The five-star Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc on the French Riviera in the south has 111 guest accommodations ranging from standard rooms to suites and villas.
Guests have access to four restaurants, a spa run by fashion and beauty house Dior, tennis courts, a pool overlooking the sea and a private pontoon.
While the hotel is known for its beautiful setting, hotel manager Sophie Volant has found that some guests who stop by for something to eat spend more time taking pictures than enjoying their meal.
Ms Volant told Travel Weekly that visitors who do not stay overnight have been arriving at the property with lunch and dinner reservations, but would never sit down to eat, instead roaming the property in search of a place for a photo shoot.
She said they would arrive with multiple outfits to change into, despite not having a room to stay in, and stay for hours, swapping out clothes and jewellery while posing for photos.
The manager said that their longtime guests have started to complain.
"We have a lot of loyal, repeat guests who don't see this hotel as a hotel – they see Hotel du Cap as their summer home," Ms Volant told Travel Weekly.
"And as much as they appreciate having people in the restaurants and in the bars, they also want their summer home to remain private. We had to think about a solution."
While on a trip to the US, Ms Volant said she spotted a list of house rules in private members' clubs, and thought she could introduce a similar scheme at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc.
The hotel rules include refraining from wearing bathrobes or towels around the property, wearing a shirt and shoes in public areas, and no photography or calls at the pool.
On the hotel’s website, its policy also states that to “preserve the peace and privacy of all our guests, photo shoots are not permitted on the property”.
Guests can ask the concierge for the contact details of the hotel’s exclusive partner photographer.
Not all photography is out of bounds, Ms Volant explained. For example, guests can take pictures on its 200-metre Grande Allée promenade, but if other visitors start walking down it, they will be asked to pause taking photos.
The manager said that it has been tricky to enforce the rules, especially when correcting the behaviour of VIP guests, but other guests have thanked her, with some even saying they should be stricter.
The Independent has contacted Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc for further comment.