Impact of Social Media on Hotel Industry

Running head: HOTEL INDUSTRY
HOTEL INDUSTRY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

HOTEL INDUSTRY1
Executive Summary
The hotel industry has been changing considerably and in line with this, it can be rightfully
comprehended that the hotel industry is greatly affected by the different aspects like social media
and the perception of the different customers. With reverence to this, the given paper focused on
the general mode in which the social media has an impact on the general success of the
hospitality industry. With regard to this, the paper was divided into six chapters whereby the
Introduction threw light on the topic which was then followed by the discussion of the theoretical
concepts and related discussion on the key topics. In line with this the findings chapter
represented the results of the SPSS and this was then followed by the investigation of the way in
which the social media can be utilized as a tool to improve the operations of the hotel industry.

HOTEL INDUSTRY2
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................6
Overview......................................................................................................................................6
Background of the study..............................................................................................................6
Key trends....................................................................................................................................8
Problem statement.......................................................................................................................9
Research aim..............................................................................................................................10
Hypothesis.................................................................................................................................10
Research rationale......................................................................................................................11
Structure of the paper.................................................................................................................11
Chapter 2: Literature Review.........................................................................................................14
Social media...............................................................................................................................14
An appropriate social media strategy for a hotel.......................................................................15
Factors affecting the social media of the hotels.........................................................................19
Customer Brand Perception.......................................................................................................21
Factors affecting the Customer Perception of Brands...............................................................21
Comprehending what Accounts for Success in Tourism...........................................................23
Factors Contributing to Tourism Success..................................................................................24
Gaps in the Literature Review...................................................................................................26
Chapter 3: Research Methodology................................................................................................28

HOTEL INDUSTRY3
Overview....................................................................................................................................28
Outline of the Research.............................................................................................................28
Research Onion Framework......................................................................................................28
Research Philosophy..................................................................................................................29
Research Approach....................................................................................................................30
Research Strategy......................................................................................................................30
Research choice.........................................................................................................................31
Time Horizon.............................................................................................................................31
Systems, Procedures and Research Instruments........................................................................32
Data sources...............................................................................................................................33
Research Sampling....................................................................................................................33
Research ethics..........................................................................................................................34
Research Limitations.................................................................................................................34
Research Reliability and Validity..............................................................................................35
Research Budget........................................................................................................................35
Summary....................................................................................................................................36
Chapter 4: Findings........................................................................................................................37
Overview....................................................................................................................................37
Descriptive investigation...........................................................................................................37
Demographic and general perception........................................................................................37

HOTEL INDUSTRY4
Inferential statistics....................................................................................................................46
Correlation.................................................................................................................................47
Regression..................................................................................................................................51
Hypothesis testing......................................................................................................................57
Summary....................................................................................................................................58
Chapter 5: Investigation and Discussion.......................................................................................59
Overview....................................................................................................................................59
Findings of the study.................................................................................................................59
Discussion..................................................................................................................................61
Impact of Social Media on Customer Brand Perception...........................................................61
Impact of Social Media on Tourism..........................................................................................63
Chapter 6: Conclusion...................................................................................................................65
Overview....................................................................................................................................65
Limitations.................................................................................................................................66
Future scope...............................................................................................................................66
Recommendations......................................................................................................................67
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................67
Ways by which Social Media can be used to Change Customer Brand Perception..................67
Ways by which Social Media can be used to increase Footfall in the Tourism Industry..........69
References......................................................................................................................................71

HOTEL INDUSTRY5

HOTEL INDUSTRY6
Chapter 1: Introduction
Overview
The social media has created a huge effect on the operations of the tourism industry.
When the different consumers engage with the firm via the social networking sites in order to
research the trips, to make informed decisions about the travel and to engage in decisions
regarding the travel and to make a personal experience revelation about hotel or an airline, the
consumers expect that their response would be rightfully comprehended by the different firms
(Alarcó-del-Amo, Lorenzo-Romero & Gómez-Borja, 2011). The social media has had a wide
reaching effect on the operations of the industry and has a reach out of 50 million unique
monthly visitors who often seek out to engage in travel information and take in considerate
advice from the various sources which the trust to a great extent. The medium of the user
generated content is often viewed as one the most critical ways in which the firm reaches out the
audiences and attracts the right number of customers for the general operations. As there are
general 200 million reviews which have been posted on social networking sites till data and more
than 800 million active users on Facebook, posting of the updates and sharing images and other
content can be taken to be dominating the industry. Hence, the first chapter of the study will
outline the general research aims and throw light on the background of the paper. The structure
which will be adopted for the dissertation will also be provided.
Background of the study
The social media can be viewed as an integral tool which is generally made use of for the
investigation of the attitudes of the tourists and this can be comprehended to be confirmed by the
increase in the number of purchases and the general recommendations which are provided to the

HOTEL INDUSTRY7
users as present. It is integral to build a successful a successful service based brand in the field
of tourism which assists in ensuring that a unique value proposition can be provided to the
different users. The tourists are required to see to it that, they are being able to reduce the
uncertainty and create value expectations of the place being visited by them. As the tourist can
be comprehended to have not visited the place earlier, it is important to certify that, they are able
to gain the right information regarding the right kind of decision which has to be adopted
(Alarcó-del-Amo, Lorenzo-Romero & Gómez-Borja, 2011). The modern tourists these days
tend to rely on the other traveler opinion and in relation to this, the medium of social media is
taken more seriously as compared o the commercial marketing activities which are present.
Moreover, as the medium of social media is inexpensive and is expressive, it has become easier
for the consumers to increase their influence on fellow consumers. The bias free aspect of the
social media makes it further easier to make use of.
The primary six types of social media platforms which are essentially available to the
different users and the marketers can be identified as the Facebook and LinkedIn. Along with
this, there are various blogs, content community platforms like the YouTube, Flickr, Slide share
and Delicious which are available. Along with this, there exist collaborative projects like
Wikipedia and Wikitravel and social worlds like Second life which help the consumers in
making their general view considerably popular (Mabry and Porter, 2010). Additionally, there
are various micro blogs like Twitter and the consumer and rating websites like the Trip advisor
which can be made use of by the users in order to make the corrective judgment about the choice
of the tourist destination.
The social media essentially requires making use of various marketing activities and
integration medium which engages in making use of persuasive advertising so that the marketers