A vlogger who asked for a free stay at a hotel in return for posting pictures on her Instagram has hit back at the owner whose angry response to her email went viral, saying she has received death threats.

Elle Darby, 22, a self-professed "beauty, lifestyle & fitness YouTuber" with over 89,000 subscribers, emailed Dublin hotel owner Paul Stenson with a proposal – free lodging for herself and her partner in exchange for some coverage on her YouTube channel and Instagram page.

Rather than decline her offer privately, the owner of Dublin's White Moose Café and Charleville Lodge penned a blistering response on his company's Facebook page, for all to see.

The post went viral, being picked up across the world by various media outlets. Stenson then sent Darby an $8m bill for the publicity she has received.

Elle Darby's original email. Photo: Facebook

The charges on the invoice relate to what he calls "the provision of features in 114 articles across 20 countries with a potential reach of 450 million people".

Now, Darby has hit back at Stenson in a new video, slamming the merchandise he's selling off the back of their altercation and claiming she has received death threats from trolls — causing her extreme anxiety.

Stenson has had T-shirts printed with the slogan "I was exposed by the White Moose". He's selling them through the hotel's website for $30.

One of the T-shirts Stenson is selling. Photo: White Moose Cafe

Darby, however, says for her the whole debacle isn't a joke.

In her latest video — which she says she was "torn up about making" but wanted to "clear a few things up" — the tearful 22-year-old publicly refutes Stenson's claims that he didn't identify her.

She claims he didn't blank out her name properly when he shared her original email.

The blogger also says she wasn't angry about him declining her suggestion of a Valentine's Day "collaboration", but the way he responded.

"A simple way to go about it would have just been a "no" or for the email to have been ignored", she said, "instead of me having death threats and cancer threats".

She also told the Mailonline she'd previously suffered from depression, but was now extremely anxious and had visited her doctor.

"I think it is really awful that grown men and women are comfortable to write these things across social media", she said.

The pair's exhange has polarised opinion online. Some have accused Stenson of bullying Darby, while others say he was right to take a stand against millennial self-entitlement.

"Thank you for your email looking for free accommodation in return for exposure," his snarky response to her email began, before the tone takes a sharp turn.

"It takes a lot of balls to send an email like that, if not much self-respect and dignity.

"If I let you stay here in return for a feature in your video, who is going to pay the staff who look after you? Who is going to pay the housekeepers who clean your room?

"The waiters who serve you breakfast? The receptionist who checks you in? Who is going to pay for the light and heat you use during your stay? The laundering of your bed sheets? The water rates?

"Maybe I should tell my staff they will be featured in your video in lieu of receiving payment for work carried out while you're in residence?'

"Lucky for us, we too have a significant social media following… but Jesus Christ, I would never in a million years ask anyone for anything for free.

"I also blog a bit (www.paulvstenson.com), which as far as I’m aware is another way of saying 'write stuff on the internet'. The above stats do not make me any better than anyone else or afford me the right to not pay for something everyone else has to pay for.

Elle Darby. Photo: Twitter

"In future, I’d advise you to offer to pay your way like everyone else, and if the hotel in question believes your coverage will help them, maybe they’ll give you a complimentary upgrade to a suite. This would show more self-respect on your part and, let’s face it, it would be less embarrassing for you.

"Here is a little video I produced which you may learn from," Stenson said, followed by a link to another Facebook video, starring an "influencer" character, with bratty and superficial tendencies.

As if it needed to be said, Stenson ended the rant with "P.S. The answer is no."

Darby responded to the tirade in her own vlog, titled: "I was exposed (SO embarrassing)".

In the 17 minute clip published to her YouTube channel, Darby claims to have received hundreds of abusive messages since Stenson's post, and that people over the age of 30 "had no idea how social media works these days".

"I feel disgusting having to say this. As a 22-year-old girl, who's running her own business from her home, I don't feel like I did anything wrong," she said.

"These were all 30 years plus people internet bullying a 22-year-old girl who is just trying to run her own business and raise awareness of what appeared to be a stunning Dublin hotel," admitting she'd "cried her eyes out" in response to the backlash. The video has now been viewed over 164,000 times.

The incident has prompted other online influencers and fans to reach out to the blogger and show their support.

Darby wrote in an Instagram post: "I just want to send a really big hug to anyone who’s shown me kindness over the last 24 hours … I didn’t ask for or expect to be put in this situation but I’m really happy it’s been able to pull the blogging/vlogging industry together in some way. Have courage & be kind, be the best person you can be every day and everything will fall into place"

View this post on Instagram A post shared by ELLE (@elledarby_) on Jan 17, 2018 at 9:33am PST

Not quite ready to give Darby the final word, Stenson has left a series of follow-up posts on Facebook, taking a stab at vegans and gluten intolerant folks while he's at it.

(Charleville Lodge, Dublin. Photo: charlevillelodge.ie) Charleville Lodge, Dublin. Photo: charlevillelodge.ie

In the first post, suspiciously titled "Official apology to bloggers", the letter begins: "Dear bloggers, Following the incident today in which one of your members was clearly hurt and distressed about having to pay for something like everyone else, I would like to make a statement," Stenson begins, sarcastically.

"I am so sorry that I have waited until now to mobilise you in numbers and I am kicking myself that I didn’t think about you before now. If each one of you is pissed off, and you all have your individual following (no matter how small), there is a fair chance that you will all speak badly to your followers about us which will result in a huge number of people hearing about our brand collectively.

"I am so sorry that I didn’t think of you guys until now. You are a much more lucrative group of people to piss off than the vegans and the gluten intolerant combined."

Stenson has now declared that all bloggers are banned from his businesses, writing: "I never thought we would be inundated with negative reviews for the simple reason that somebody was required to pay for goods received or services rendered.

"The girl in question was never identified in my original post, but she herself went on to create a video explaining how she was 'exposed' with 'malicious intent' for asking for a freebie.

"This kind of victimisation is very prevalent in the blogging industry, and is in keeping with their general modus operandi of wanting everything for nothing."