Importance of Social Media in Hospitality Industry

Research Project

Table of Contents
TITLE: ............................................................................................................................................3
“To identify the importance of Social media in developing awareness among customers for
services rendered by hospitality industry” A case study on The Stafford Hotel.............................3
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................3
Background.............................................................................................................................3
Statement of research problem...............................................................................................3
Research aim..........................................................................................................................4
Objective of research..............................................................................................................4
Research Questions................................................................................................................4
Purpose and scope of research ...............................................................................................4
Rationale for selection of topic...............................................................................................4
Research specification............................................................................................................5
Research Time Line................................................................................................................5
Chapter 2: Literature Review...........................................................................................................7
The concept of social media...................................................................................................7
Importance of social media for creating awareness among customer's..................................8
Effective social media tool which is used by organization to develop awareness for
customer's...............................................................................................................................8
Chapter 3: Research Methodology...................................................................................................8
Research Design ....................................................................................................................8
Research approach..................................................................................................................8
Data collection methods.........................................................................................................8
Primary data ...........................................................................................................................9
Secondary data........................................................................................................................9
Data analysis...........................................................................................................................9

Chapter 4: Data Findings, Analysis and Discussion......................................................................12
Chapter 5: Conclusion, Recommendations and anticipated Limitations.......................................20
Reflection.............................................................................................................................20
Conclusion............................................................................................................................20
Recommendations................................................................................................................21
Limitation of study...............................................................................................................22
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................22
TITLE:
“To identify the importance of Social media in developing awareness among
customers for services rendered by hospitality industry” A case study on The Stafford
Hotel
Chapter 1: Introduction
Background
Social media is defined as collection of online communication channels which is
concerned with interaction, content sharing and community based input. It is related to computer
mediated technologies that help in creation and sharing of information, thoughts, ideas along
with other forms of networks and virtual communities (Ahmad, 2016). The various social media
platforms like Twitter, YouTube, Snap chat, Instagram and Facebook can be used by business
organisation as this help to interact with customer's in effective way. Also, this is used as
marketing tool as this helps in improving performance of company within marketplace. The
present study is based on Stafford Hotel, which is 5 star boutique hotel which has its headquarter
in St. James's, London, England owned by Lord and Lady Lyttelton. It is exclusive and historical
hotel in UK which is famous among customers for its unique air of Britishness and warm
ambience. The Stafford Hotel consist of 107 uniquely designed rooms, American bar, small
museum, British restaurant, private cobbles courtyard and 380yr old wine cellar.

Statement of research problem
The impact of social media in order to attain growth objective of business in reference to
hospitality industry. In this regard, manager has asked marketing department to conduct effective
research as this will help to create awareness among customers for services rendered by the
application of social media platforms.
Research aim
The research aim for the current study is “ To identify the importance of Social media in
developing awareness among customers for services rendered by hospitality industry” A case
study on The Stafford Hotel.
Objective of research
 To determine the concept of social media
 To identify importance of social media for creating awareness among customer's.
 To identify effective social media tool which is used by organisation to develop
awareness for customer's.
Research Questions
 What is the concept of social media
 what is importance of social media for creating customer's among customer's.
 Which is effective social media tool used by organisation to develop awareness for
customer's.
Purpose and scope of research
The purpose of this research investigating is to know about importance of social media
and its types as this help to create awareness among customer's for services provided to them.
This is important as this is helpful in profit maximisation by increasing awareness for services
provided to customer's with the application of various social media platforms. The scope of this
research report is that it provides ample knowledge to hospitality industry which increases
performance of business in effective manner.

Rationale for selection of topic
The significance of this research report is to examine importance of social media on
developing awareness of service offered to customer. This research report will help to gain
understanding about how to increase awareness of hotel in customers within marketplace as this
will help to attract and retain customer's for longer period of time. In addition to this, this
investigation will also help to increase profitability and productivity of business organization.
Further, in overall aspect this will support in development and growth of hospitality industry
with long and sustainable growth.
Research specification
The present investigation will be including number of various sub-sections that will
contribute in collaborative manner as this will be helpful in attaining feasible results for research.
Firstly,it covers information consist of background of research. Then, it describes about selected
research objectives and questions. After framing aims and objectives, research investigator will
provide brief information in section of literature review. This section will furnish information
which will help in preparation of research questions as per opinions of different authors. Lastly,
there is description of research methodology with its importance is explained in detailed manner.
It includes description and time period for resources which is necessary for researcher to
accomplished research objectives in effective and efficient way.
Research Time Line
Gantt Chart
A Gantt chart is considered as production control tool which was developed by Henry L.
Gantt in the year 1917 and is prepared in the form of horizontal bar chart (Anitha, 2016). This
chart is created by listing periodic intervals on horizontal axis and tasks to be performed on
vertical axis. The Gantt chart helps companies to plan, track and coordinate various tasks of a
project. Also, managers to know about their resource capacity.

Work breakdown structure
A Work-breakdown structure is tool of project management which breakdown projects
into smaller elements or components. It helps to organize projects into manageable sections with
the help of team work (Berger, 2015). It also provides detailed framework for estimating cost
and control by providing guidance for proper development and control. The main objective of
Work-breakdown structure is to reduce overload of complicated tasks into smaller chunks so that
manager can oversee in more effective and efficient manner. It also assist project manager and
stakeholders to have proper communication and cooperation between each other. Also, it
provides estimations to company on the basis of staff, cost and time factor. The formation of
WBS boost productivity, accountability,transparency and helps in identification of risk in better
way.
Chapter 2: Literature Review
The concept of social media
As per the view point of (Bowie, 2016), Social media is a platform which allows to
communicate and share all the information on the internet by using mobile phones or personnel
computer. There are various platform on social media like Facebook, YouTube, twitter, google,
Linked In, Wikipedia and many more. Nowadays people can connect easily to there friends and
colleague. There been a rapid growth in social media in last few years. Major advantage of social
media is connectivity people from anywhere can connect to anyone in just click of a button.
Beauty of social media is that you can share your thought with anyone regardless of any
religion or location. Social media has various benefits for the students as well as teachers.
Students can study online and nowadays various courses are available online for the student
without paying any fees. By using social media individual can get update about what is
happening around the world. Some times media and newspaper can be bias and do not convey
the actual message but with the help of social media person can get actual information by doing
some research. It also help in building the communities because our world have different religion
and beliefs social media help these communities to come together on a single platform.
Nowadays many companies are doing business online anybody can promote there
business to the larger audience. There are also some disadvantage of social media like

cyberbully, hacking , fraud and scams. Privacy issue is a major concern because all the big
social networking site sells the information to third party for money. Recently Facebook was in
news that they were selling the private information of the individual to other company. As social
media is increasing day by day the fraud and scams are increasing rapidly. Many teenagers have
become the victim of cyberbully since anyone can create the fake account and can do unethical
thing without being traced.
Importance of social media for creating awareness among customer's.
As per the opinion of (Brannen, 2017),Social media play an important and effective role
for the marketing of an organization. Now a days social media is at a boom which helps the
organization to promote and branding of product and services of the business which increases
the target market and customer. As social media helps is attractive and effective tool for
marketing which saves cost to print media as well as it is too creative. By one click social media
grabs the huge market in a minimum time by sharing videos, social blogs, pictures, internet
forums, weblogs, social bookmarking, rating, GIF, micro blogging, pod casts,wikis, websites.
The Stafford Hotel can use various types of social media platform for promotion like YouTube,
Instagram, Google+, Foursquare, Snapchat, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and many
more. It is interactive and effective which captures the mind of the customer.
Social media is a way of connecting many people, as it helps in sharing important news,
messages and also for creating the professional link, some of social media platform are LinkedIn
and so on. The management of Stafford Hotel can hire the employee with the help of social
media as there are so many platform which helps the manager to recruits the candidates. Some of
the portals are indeed, reed.co.uk, Totaljobs, job-site, Monster, Guardianjobs, Fish4jobs and
many more. This also helps Stafford Hotel in boosting brand awareness, also helps the
management in interacting with customer which results in healthier customer satisfaction,
making the market aware about the product and services hotel is offering.
Effective social media tool which is used by organization to develop awareness for customer's.
According to (Bresler, and Stake 2017),Social media put tremendous impact on business
organizations. Their are many social media platforms such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Snap
Chat, Instagram which are used for promotion and advertisement of brand and new products.
Also, act as effective media marketing tool that helps in resolving disputes and provide services

to customer's. The social media marketers utilize various social media sites which are helpful in
raising visibility on internet as this helps in promoting products and services to larger customer
base. The most effective tool used by Stafford Hotel is Facebook which helps to develop
awareness among customer's for services offered for them. This social media platform help in
getting increased exposure to prospective customers which provides hotel to gather more and
more leads. It also assist marketing managers in reducing their marketing expenses and
effectively reach their target audience. Facebook as social media tool helps Stafford hotel to
increase awareness among customers which also helps in building brand loyalty. Along with this
this assist managers in knowing more about customer's which can include their needs,
expectations and wants.
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
Research Design
Research design is a process of collecting, analysing and measuring data specified in
research (Dwivedi, 2015). This enhance the decision making power about what to study, which
data is relevant, data collection method, analysis of data in research design. In other words, it is
developed according to the research work, it is a tool which helps researcher to design a plan
with relevant information and strategies to solve the problems.
Research approach
Researcher approach is defined as process of collecting, analyzing, interpretation of data.
It can be divided into three parts that is Deductive, Inductive, Addictive research approach. The
deductive analysis describes the exploration of theories and thesis (Fletcher, 2017). This is a
method of verification and explanation and also observation done by statistical testing of
hypothesises. Inductive research is a tool of discovery and development. It uses the secondary
data for effective data collection and also considered the emotions and experience of the
researcher. In the present research inductive research is used, because it helps in gathering
accurate data which is useful for the study.
Data collection methods
Data collection is defined as the process of collecting and gathering the information. It
can be said that the, this a tool by which data is collected in a systematic way for specific

purpose from various sources. There are two method by which data can be collected which
includes primary and secondary data.
Primary data
Primary data are which is collected for first time from respondent with face to face
interaction (Flick, 2015). The methods of collecting primary data are observation, surveys,
experiments, case studies, interview, questionnaire, through schedules etc.
Secondary data
The data which are already collected earlier by someone else for objective. As it saves
cost, time, effort of researcher in collecting data. It can be collected by books, magazines, online
websites, news papers, journals, libraries and many more. In this research, the researcher used
both the primary and secondary methods for collecting data in effective manner within given
period of time.
Questionnaire:
It refers to the set of questions typed or printed in a specific manner, that is prepared by
investigator to get information and opinions of respondents. This is further filled by respondents
so that researcher can do effective analysis and interpretation with the their responses. It is
efficient tool of gathering information as it take time to fill the questionnaire also there are closed
pattern questions by which the respondent do not express their views and opinions.
Sample size:
It refers to choosing the total number of respondent from the whole population. There are
two methods to data sampling probabilistic and non- probabilistic, in this the investigator uses
the data sampling method which comes under probabilistic data sampling method. With this
investigation study, the researcher has selected 40 respondents from the targeted audience. In
present research, the researcher has considered the respondent as a customer to analysis the
importance of social media in developing awareness among customers for services rendered by
hospitality sector.
Data analysis
Qualitative - It helps in getting in-depth understanding of problems and developing
ideas for problems which have arise in business. This is used to have knowledge of opinions,
influencing factors and reasons. The researcher get the insights about problem or help in

developing ideas or hypothesis for positive results. Some of various methods of this research
includes interviews, focused groups and observation. This method is suitable where sample size
is small and respondents are selected to fulfil expectations.
Quantitative- This is used to quantify the research problem by generation of numerical
data or statistics. It is helpful to quantify opinions, attitudes, behaviors, other defined variables
which helps to gather results from large population. The methods of quantitative research are
more structured and it includes survey, mobile survey, online polls, systematic observations and
longitudinal studies.
In the current study, investigator has used qualitative method of research in order to find
out appropriate results based on human perception.
Questionnaire
Q 1) Do you have knowledge of Social Media Concept?
a) Yes
b) No
Q 2) According to your opinion which among them is most important benefit of social media?
a) Cost Effective
b) Brand Awareness
Q 3) Does social media help in creating awareness among customers at Stafford Hotel?
a) Agree
b) Disagree
Q 4) Which among them is most important social media tool used by Stafford Hotel?
a) You-tube
b) Instagram
c) Facebook
Q 5) Does social media help in attracting and retaining customers?
a) Agree
b) Disagree
Q 6) Is their any negative effect of using social media tool?
a) Yes
b) No

Q 7) Does Stafford Hotel provide effective services or not ?
a) Agree
b) Disagree
Q 8) Do you think social media posses the capacity to persuade customers to make a purchase?
a) Agree
b) Disagree
Q 9) Does using social media helps in maximising business profitability?
a) Agree
b) Disagree
Questionnaire
Q 1) Do you have knowledge of Social Media Concept? Frequency
a) Yes 36
b) No 4
Q 2) According to your opinion which among them is most important
benefit of social media?
Frequency
a) Cost Effective 24
b) Brand Awareness 16
Q 3) Does social media help in creating awareness among customers at
Stafford Hotel?
Frequency
a) Agree 32
b) Disagree 8
Q 4) Which among them is most important social media tool used by
Stafford Hotel?
Frequency
a) You-tube 5
b) Instagram 10
c) Facebook 25

Q 5) Does social media help in attracting and retaining customers? Frequency
a) Agree 30
b) Disagree 10
Q 6) Is their any negative effect of using social media tool? Frequency
a) Yes 12
b) No 28
Q 7) Does Stafford Hotel provide effective services or not ? Frequency
a) Agree 35
b) Disagree 5
Q 8) Do you think social media posses the capacity to persuade customers
to make a purchase?
Frequency
a) Agree 37
b) Disagree 3
Q 9) Does using social media helps in maximising business profitability? Frequency
a) Agree 33
b) Disagree 7
Chapter 4: Data Findings, Analysis and Discussion
Theme 1: Knowledge about social media
Q 1) Do you have knowledge of Social Media Concept? Frequency
a) Yes 36
b) No 4

Interpretation: Social media is known as modern marketing tool that is used by business
organization because this helps in creating awareness about services among customer's. From the
above graph it can been analyzed that out of 40 respondents 35 respondents are having
awareness and knowledge about social media concept as they have seen advertisement on social
media platforms. On the other hand, 5 respondents are not aware of this concept as they consider
themselves as self-oriented and even they not use social media platforms for interaction.
Theme 2: Most important benefit of social media
Q 2) According to your opinion which among them is most important
benefit of social media?
Frequency
a) Cost Effective 24
b) Brand Awareness 16
36
4
a) Yes
b) No

Interpretation: Social media is very much beneficial for every business organization as this
helps in building reputation and increasing awareness for products and services offered. From the
above graph it can be interpreted that 25 respondents say that social media help companies to do
marketing in cost effective manner. Whereas 16 respondents views that most important benefit of
social media is that is help in creating awareness about brand and company both.
Theme 3: Social media help in creating awareness among customers at Stafford Hotel
Q 3) Does social media help in creating awareness among customers at
Stafford Hotel?
Frequency
a) Agree 32
b) Disagree 8
24
16
a) Cost Effective
b) Brand Awareness

Interpretation: Social media is considered as very important tool for creating and developing
awareness for products and services offered by companies. This tool is very important for
creating awareness for services rendered by Stafford Hotel as agreed by 32 respondents. On the
other hand 8 respondents disagree to the fact that social media is helpful in creating awareness
for services offered by Hotel.
Theme 4: Most important social media tool used by Stafford Hotel
Q 4) Which among them is most important social media tool used by
Stafford Hotel?
Frequency
a) You-tube 5
b) Instagram 10
c) Facebook 25
32
8
a) Agree
b) Disagree

Interpretation: Their are many social media platforms such as You tube, Facebook, Instagram,
Snap chat, Twitter and many more. As per 25 respondents the most important tool used by hotel
is Facebook because there are many users on this platform. And 10 respondents says that
Instagram is essential tool for creating awareness among customer for services provided.
Whereas 5 respondents say that You tube is most important tool for promotion of Stafford hotel.
Theme 5: Social media help in attracting and retaining customers
Q 5) Does social media help in attracting and retaining customers? Frequency
a) Agree 30
b) Disagree 10
5
10
25
a) You-tube
b) Instagram
c) Facebook

Interpretation: Social media help in attracting and retaining customers for company for longer
period of time. It has been agreed by 30 respondents that social media helps to attract and retain
customer's which is helpful for growth of company. On the other hand 10 respondents disagree
because there are many customer's which are not using social media platforms so they don't get
attracted and retained by company.
Theme 6: Negative effect of using social media tool
Q 6) Is their any negative effect of using social media tool? Frequency
a) Yes 12
b) No 28
30
10
a) Agree
b) Disagree

Interpretation: Every coin has two sides same way social media has both positive and negative
aspects. The negative effects of social media includes leakage of personal information, security
reasons, and many more. Out of 40 respondents 28 respondents says that there is positive impact
of social media on company but remaining 12 respondents agree to the fact that social media as
marketing tool has negative effective upon company.
Theme 7: Stafford Hotel provide effective services
Q 7) Does Stafford Hotel provide effective services or not ? Frequency
a) Agree 35
b) Disagree 5
12
28
a) Yes
b) No

Interpretation: From the above graph it can be analyzed that 35 respondents agree that Stafford
Hotel provides effective services to its customer's as they are getting maximum satisfaction by
fulfilling their expectations from company. On the other hand 5 respondents says that hotel don't
provide effective services as they are satisfying needs and wants of its customer's.
Theme 8: Social media posses the capacity to persuade customers to make a purchase
Q 8) Do you think social media posses the capacity to persuade customers
to make a purchase?
Frequency
a) Agree 37
b) Disagree 3
35
5
a) Agree
b) Disagree

Interpretation: Social media platforms poses the capacity to influence customer's to opt for
Stafford Hotel services. Their are 37 respondents who agree that social media platforms
encourages customer's to enjoy services rendered by company. On the other hand 3 respondents
disagree because they think that social media don't poses capacity to influence customers to
purchase the products or services.
Theme 9: Social media helps in maximizing business profitability
Q 9) Does using social media helps in maximising business profitability? Frequency
a) Agree 33
b) Disagree 7
37
3
a) Agree
b) Disagree

Interpretation: Now-a-days people have become tech-savvy which helps companies to achieve
their objectives and maximize their profitability. As per 33 respondents social media is helpful
in maximizing profitability for business organizations. Whereas 7 respondents thinks that there
are many other better ways by profitability can be enhanced except social media tools.
Chapter 5: Conclusion, Recommendations and anticipated Limitations
Reflection
While conducting research, I noticed some positive and some negative aspect of research.
According to my whole experience and knowledge, i get to know that i have improved my
presentation and communication skills while conducting the research as I interacted with more
and more people. This interaction reduce my hesitation and fear of interacting with people.
While investigation on The Stafford Hotel has improved my researching skills and also gain the
knowledge about the hospitality sector which enhance my productivity and effective skills. This
knowledge and experience will definitely help me my growth of career in the same field in
efficient and effective manner.
Conclusion
From overall study, it is noticed that that social media is an important effective marketing
tool for any business which helps in promoting and branding products and services of the
33
7
a) Agree
b) Disagree

company in efficient as well as effective manner. This helps in targeting market and numbers of
customer at one time, which helps in increasing the customer and new opportunities. It saves the
time and cost of print and offline marketing of organization. In this research the researcher
collected both primary and secondary data as well as he adopted the random sampling method
for data sampling and questionnaire (primary data) for collecting information. The qualitative
method and inductive approach of research is used to conduct whole investigation for achieving
desired objectives. Although , the social media is effective tool which help this whole hospitality
industry in customer awareness.
Recommendations
From the research report it is find that, social media has a vast presence in market, which
is important tool of marketing for any business organization. This helps in marketing and
promotion of products and services of the company in a creative and in effective way.
Social media helps in attracting and retaining the customer, as The Stafford Hotel is using
different different strategies effectively which helps in promotion of their brand and increasing
their customer.
There are some beneficial recommendation for The Stafford Hotel, which they can apply
in their business for their growth and success:
 For the promotion and branding of the products and services, the manager can use the
various platform of social media like Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter, Pintrest,
Instagram,ads between games and many more.
 firstly, the top management of The Stafford Hotel should checked that they are delivering
the high quality service to each and every guest and satisfying them.
 The management should hire the talented and skilled candidate for their organization.
Also checked that they are putting the right person for the right job.
 They also focuses on enhancing the personality of employees, as well as their working
and the appearance which enhance the productivity of the employees.
 Also helps employees in develop their soft skills, communication skills so employee will
communicate politely with the customers. This gives positive results to organization as
employee and customer will remain loyal with their work as well as with organization.

 Social media may be defined connecting tool between the people, as connect people and
also exchange their views, opinions. As the management of the Stafford Hotel hotel
should creates hotel website which is very help full for organization to grow.
Limitation of study
This investigation has been completed with is help of questionnaire which helps in
gathering the information from 40 respondents to collect relevant and effective information to
achieve the objective. The main limitation of this study is it totally relies upon questionnaire, as
it only contains the close ended questions by which respondent does not share their opinions and
views about the subject as each and individual has different perspective. To make the
investigation more informative and reliable the researcher can use the interview method to
overcome with this issue in near future.

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