Journalist Totally Picks Apart Lavish 'Influencer' Trip to Dubai and It's Wild
If you follow any influencers on social media — especially on Instagram and TikTok — there's a good chance you've questioned how some of them can afford the lavish travel they're often on. As it turns out, one of the major perks of being an influencer is getting stuff for free, usually as part of a brand deal or partnership they've agreed to. Some of the trips they take can be fully paid, and they're luxe.
Those who are fascinated by this kind of thing are going to love this TikTok video from @jacmacbarstool. He investigated a trip to Dubai sponsored by the makeup brand Tarte that a bunch of influencers recently went on, and OMG — it's hard to believe that some of this is reality.
Dubai has really become a popular tourist destination over the past few years, but it's not a cheap one, especially when it comes to the flights, which makes it even more wild that the brand was able to splash out on these influencers at this level. According to Jack, the "economics" of the trip simply don't make sense when you add it all up because of the astronomical expenses. Everyone on the trip flew first class on Emirates — just about as expensive as a flight could get — and they all got to bring a plus one. He looked it up, and that would cost about $21,000 per person, round trip. What?!
Then, when they arrived, it was revealed that they were staying in villas at the Ritz-Carlton, which he estimated could cost about $5,000 per night. That would mean that the cost of the trip comes in at about $65,000 per influencer before things like food are even calculated — whoa!
He didn't believe that Tarte had that kind of money to spend, leading him to believe that something shady is going on here.
We do love Tarte's concealer, but he's right that this is a lot of cash to slap down. The business must have believed that these influencers could bring them a good return on their investment... or else something really is going on behind the scenes that we don't know about.
Either way, we wish we were invited on this trip. It looks amazing!
