Technology and Social Media as a Contemporary Issue in Hotel Industry

Running head: TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL MEDIA 1
Technology and Social Media as a Contemporary Issue in Hotel Industry
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TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL MEDIA 2
Technology and Social Media as a Contemporary Issue in Hotel Industry
Introduction
Currently, investors and hoteliers are increasingly becoming aware of how the
environment and social life impacts hotel operations and development. Various factors have
contributed to the awareness of investors and hoteliers including their desire to lower the
costs of services, create sustainable development, management adaptability to growth and
changes in processes and changing the attitude of investors towards the environment. More
so, investors and hoteliers face the difficulty of sustainability due to the dynamic nature of the
hostel industry business environment.
Statement of the Problem
Technology and the internet are playing a significant role in creating value and
competitiveness in the hotel industry. Customers have become aware of luxuries available,
and hence, they demand more from hotels who must keep up with these standards. Hotels
face challenges in keeping up with technology and internet trends which shape consumer
expectations of services. Therefore research on how technology has affected the hotel
industry is critical to recommend for future sustainable development and operations.
Objective
i. Find out how technology and social media has affected the hotel industry.
ii. Give recommendations based on the literature findings.
Literature Review
Technology and social media are one of the major contemporary issues facing the
hotel business. Experts in hotel industry argue that there is a need for hotels to keep up with
technology trends for sustained growth (Kansakar, Munir, and Shabani, 2019). The
improvements target a new generation of technophile whose travel is based on a tight budget
for the sheer thrill. The group represents more than 50 percent of all travelers. Most young

TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL MEDIA 3
generation travelers have attributes like traveling a lot, early adoption of technologies, prefer
personalized interactions, and are spontaneous. Also, observed that the majority of guests
today are tech-savvy travelers who prefer using the internet to make communications and
connections (Quach 2017). The number of mobile users has been increasing exponentially
from 4.8 billion in 2016 and expected to grow to 5.7 billion by 2020. Therefore, investors and
hoteliers have a role in making sure their offerings are up-to-date and user-friendly. Modern
travelers hope hospitality facilities to offer quality equipment and expect then to have
knowledgeable staff.
According to Varkaris and Neuhofer (2017), hotel decision-making has dramatically
changed in this age of internet and social media. Consumers and hoteliers no longer depend
on brochures and travel agencies to reach out to get information and reach out to the
consumers, respectively. The reason being, Google, Facebook, MySpace, Trip Advisor, and
more are now used for such purposes as advertising, informing, and disseminating
information. Social media is being used as a primary channel for information search together
with other search engines.
However, workforce compatibility is a common challenge in adopting social media.
Though the use of social media may be straightforward to handle when compared to other
websites, it poses a challenge to hotel operators to make communication (Hofacker and
Belanche, 2016). The reason being, language proficiency has become a barrier when creating
content for use by the public. Also, hoteliers face financial issues in deciding to invest in
technology. Managers are sometimes hesitant to spend more on acquiring new technologies
since they may see social media networking as not necessary and significant. Therefore, some
hotels end up not investing in social networking and hence lose the advantages that come
with it.
Additionally, the hospitality industry is challenged by the implementation and