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hotel introduced a $270 membership fee after its clifftop bar was overrun by Instagrammers. - The owners of The Druidstone Hotel in
Wales defended their decision after it was criticized. - He said the crowds of people flocking to take pictures at their bar "just got too much."
A hotel in the UK introduced a £200 ($270) membership fee after its picturesque clifftop bar became inundated by Instagrammers wanting to get sunset pictures, the BBC reported.
The owners of the Druidstone Hotel in Pembrokeshire, Wales, said that the bar, which overlooks St Brides Bay, got so swamped by tourists that they were forced to "control numbers."
"It just got too much," owner Angus Bell, who inherited the hotel from his parents, told the BBC. "My guests were having to wait 45 minutes at the bar to get a drink and a lot of the local people would avoid us in the summer because we were too busy."
Bell said that non-members could still book accommodation and a table at the restaurant.
The move has angered some locals who have been going to the establishment for years.
One reviewer on Tripadvisor said the move was "utterly elitist and backward," according to the BBC.
"So disappointing to have such a lovely place turned into an elitist members-only clique where you can only drink if you're staying there or pay £200+ a year," the person wrote.
But Bell remains confident that the move was the right decision, saying he's made his life "better."
"I've made my life better even though someone might be a bit upset that they can't pop in for a cup of tea," he said, according to the BBC.