Social Media & Mobile Tech in Hospitality: Blue Bay Travel Case

This case study report critically evaluates the developments of social media and mobile technology on hospitality businesses, using Blue Bay Travel, a leading independent travel agent in the UK, as a case study. The report begins with a literature review that highlights the importance of the tourism and hospitality industry, its contribution to GDP, and the role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in enhancing customer experience and organizational competitiveness. It discusses the benefits of tourism, including job creation, revenue generation, and infrastructure development. The case study evaluates Blue Bay Travel's current social media presence and proposes a new, detailed social media strategy to improve brand awareness, customer engagement, and business growth. The report emphasizes the need for an effective social media strategy in the post-pandemic era, leveraging platforms like Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook to achieve organizational goals.

Digital technologies

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY.............................................................................................................................3
Literature review....................................................................................................................3
Case Study Evaluation (Findings)..........................................................................................8
Discussion............................................................................................................................10
New Social Media Strategy..................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................13
Books and Journals:.............................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
The tourism or hospitality industry is found to be very important in today’s economic
conditions as it plays an important role in the GDP (Ting and et.al., 2020). It is the sum total
of all business that provides a direct or indirect impact on the economy of the country. It is
estimated in Britain that the tourism industry will be worth over £257 billion by 2025. So
that’s why it is very important to discuss and grow in the country. After the pandemic, the
industry is facing a heavy slowdown. In this regard, Blue Bay Travel will be discussing in
this report which shows the importance of social media strategy. Blue Bay Travel is found to
be one of the UK’s leading independent travel agent companies. It is operated in three
branches which include Xclusivity, Tropical Warehouse, and Caribbean Warehouse. They
have approximate 51-200 employees in their branches. The headquarters of Blue Bay Travel
is located in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire. This report aims to understand the importance of
social media strategy. In the fastest-growing world, there is a continuous increase in the use
of digital media as it rapidly spreads the awareness of the business in the market. This report
also discusses the current as well as a new social media strategy of the company.
MAIN BODY
Literature review
According to Whitelaw and et.al., 2020, hospitality or tourism industry is found to be
the total of all businesses that directly provide goods and services in order to facilitate
pleasure, leisure and business activities which are away from home environment. It is
identified that day today the complexities for human beings is increasing which makes their
life complicated and put them under stress. It is becoming very important for them to get
relax so they can enjoy their life. For that purpose, they need vacations and a holiday which
helps them to get relax and stress-free life. It is very important for the purpose of rejuvenating
in the body of human beings. The tourism and hospitality industry is found to be one of the
important industries which are mainly focusing on the entertainment and relaxation of people.
In today's business world, the hospitality or tourism industry is playing an important role as it
contributes to GDP as well. This is the reason that now governments are focusing on
increasing the hospitality or tourism industry so that they can able to increase trade and
tourism. The tourism industry refers to all the activities which are related to the short

movement of people in other locations away from their regular reside. It is identified that the
hospitality or tourism industry is not only based on leisure but also found to be very
important for business purposes. The hospitality or tourism industry is not a small industry as
it is a wide-ranging industry that includes the transport industry, hotel industry and many
other industries. In the tourism or hospitality industry, it is identified that it covers many
sectors which include transportation, accommodation, food and beverage, entertainment, and
other connected industries. In transportation, it includes the airline industry, water transport,
car rental, railway, spacecraft, etc. In the case of accommodation, it includes hotel, camping,
cruises, farmhouse, etc. The food and beverage industry is also found to be an interesting role
in the tourism industry. It includes catering, restaurants, nightclubs, bars and cafes. Whereas,
in entertainment, it includes casinos, shopping, tourist information, etc.
According to Tourism and Its Importance : Introduction to Tourism, Hospitality ;
Hotel Industry, 2020, there are many benefits found in hospitality or tourism industry as it
offers a wide range of benefits such as countries can attract a large number of visitors, a large
number of jobs, etc. In addition to this, it also creates value for the country in front of other
countries. It is also identified that tourism has enough potential in order to improve
relationships between businesses or nation-states. It creates opportunities for recreation,
entertainment and also improves the value of the currency. Some important benefits are
identified as they act as a commercial activity that creates growth in demand in many more
industries. It is identified that tourism does not only contribute to economic activities but also
generate revenues, development and employment. It is identified that tourism of hospitality
industry supports foreign exchange reserves which are very beneficial for the country as they
are able to generate foreign currency. It is also identified that the tourism or hospitality
industry is one of the best sources of income for not only private but also for public income.
In public income, it includes the taxes which government charges from various types of
services which they called government revenue. It is found that hospitality or tourism
industry is increasing local employment that means poor people also get work which is really
important for increasing the living standard (The Importance of Tourism on Economies and
Businesses, 2019).It is identified that with the help of the tourism and hospitality industry, the
country is able to increase societal progress. In addition to this cultural heritage get values.
These are the important reason that increases the value of hospitality or tourism industry.
Tourism or hospitality industry is very important for the development of infrastructure is it

improves road connectivity, airport improvement and other important activities which make a
place more visiting in a better way.
According to Travel and tourism in the United Kingdom - statistics & facts, 2021, it is
identified that there is an important role of hospitality or tourism industry found in the UK
market. The tourism or hospitality industry is very important for the development of
infrastructure is it improves road connectivity, airport improvement and other important
activities which make a place more visited in a better way (Scherer, Siddiq and Tondeur,
2019). Tourism is found very important for the success of economies around the world as it
provides jobs. In UK tourism, it is identified that it contributes £106 billion to the British
economy and GDP. In addition to this, it is also found that it supports 2.6 million jobs. The
United Kingdom is estimated that it will become 10% of the UK GDP by 2025. It has a huge
impact on the UK economy. In Britain, the tourism or hospitality industry is becoming one of
the fastest-growing industries which are expected to expand by 3.8 %. It is identified that the
UK ranked seventh in UNWTO. The UK calculated that 4 million people visited in July 2019
of which 54% are spending their amount in London.
According to Love and Matthews, 2019, there are many methods are identified which
helps to increase the trade and tourism or hospitality industry. It is identified that ICT is the
acronym of information and communication technology in the travel, tourism and hospitality
industries. It is identified that information and communication technologies bring an
important role in the hospitality or tourism industry in their supply chain process. Information
communication technologies are found to be transforming tourism globally as they gradually
generate a new paradigm shift. Some important information in communication technology
tourism systems are CRM i.e. customer relationship management and PMS i.e. property
management system. For hospitality industry, the customer satisfaction is the main motive of
organisation and that's why it is very important for them to include customer relationship
management system as it is really very helpful for creating memorable guest experience is at
every touch point. The combination of property management system and customer
relationship management are found to be the most important integration in hotel technology
which is able to create best customer experiences. It increases many opportunities and threats
for the country. It is also identified that information communication technologies are
important as it empowers consumers in the process of identifying, customising and
purchasing tourism products and services. This can be better understood with the help of a
simple example. For example, an individual wants to go for a 7 days’ vacation then how do

they decide where to go. In this situation, it is identified that information communication
technologies are playing a critical role as it provides a lot of information to the customers so
that they can decide where did need to go and where they need to spend their time (Straker
and et.al., 2018). It is also found at ICT is becoming an important element for organisational
competitiveness which means it uses for increasing competition. It is used as a powerful tool
that brings many advantages in the process of strengthening and promoting tourism industry
operations and strategy. So, it is very crucial for the development of tourism in the hospitality
industry as it allows customers to purchase good quality products and services. In an
organisation, ICT allows customers management relationships and is also very helpful in
supply chain management. It is used in many operations of organisations such as product
selection, fulfilment, ordering, tracking, reporting and payment. In addition to this, it is also
identified that ICT is very helpful in cutting the cost as the provider is directly contacting
consumers which removes all the mediators. After the pandemic, it is identified that there are
many problems that occurred as people are not allowed to contact directly to other people. So
in this case information communication technologies were playing a very important role as
all the work is effectively performed without any physical touch. It is not only providing an
impact on organisational supply chain management but also very important for creating
demands, marketing mix, etc. This is the reason that there are many companies in this
industry that are doing work only on an online basis. They have no physical evidence such as
stores.
According to Mobile Devices and Their True Impact on the Hotel Industry, 2019, ICT
involves many tools and techniques currently used by the tourism and hospitality industry. It
involves mobile technology, social media, PM system, etc. The study shows that mobile
technologies are changing the hospitality and tourism industry as organisations that
incorporate mobile applications and functionality are found to provide higher guest
satisfaction as compared to other organisations. After the pandemic, it becomes more
important as every day it increases the number of direct bookings on mobile. It is found that
every year, global tourism is becoming more innovative as it uses the power of a Smartphone
and tablet. It provides flexibility, convenience and accessibility in travelling. It is identified
that with the use of mobile technologies now accessing information is becoming easier than
ever before. With the use of mobile technology, any person is able to get information related
to the destination and other activities which they want to perform. In mobile technology, it is
identified that social media is being an important role as it provides all the important

information to the customers as well as to organisation which helps them to access the
services easily (Wang and et.al., 2020). It is not only beneficial for customers but also very
important for organisations. It is important to note that social media is becoming one of the
important strategies which are mainly focusing on increasing brand awareness in the market.
With the use of social media, now the tourism or hospitality industry is increasing its business
every day. It is necessary for them to achieve the goals and objectives with the help of using
social media. Social media is not only used for the purpose of getting information but also
important for doing business. There are many organisations that should run their business
with the use of social media such as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn,
Facebook, etc. So that's why it is important for the tourism and hospitality industry to
formulate an effective strategy for social media. They can easily increase the number of
customers with the use of social media. For example, when people are deciding to go
anywhere then and they are searching on social media that which places are appropriate for
them. It is also identified that social media is used for encouraging people to share their travel
experiences which result in making better decisions. The tourism or hospitality industry
builds trust for customers by taking reviews on social media. There is a huge impact on the
tourism industry as every customer is engaging with social networking sites so that's why
they use of social media is becoming very important in today's business environment. The
hospitality industry uses social media for the purpose of engaging customers and clients in
order to recognise their needs and wants. They are directly contacted with customers which
helps them to make production services according to the need and wants of customers.
TripAdvisor is also using social media so that they can give information to the customers
which help them to take the right decision. In the marketing field of the hospitality industry, it
is identified that social media is an important tool which used as a marketing tool. Social
media has changed every single aspect of an individual life else at each and every movement
people are engaging with social media applications. Because of it, now organisations are
focusing on developing new marketing strategies with the involvement of social media. In the
hospitality and tourism industry, the merging of social media with marketing will lead to
accident results for business purposes. Social media is very important as it shares information
which helps in making better customer relationships (Krick and et.al., 2019). When people
have shared their experiences on social media then the organisation has a chance to improve
its relationship with customers by analysing their viewpoints and taking action accordingly.
That means if people give some negative points for organisations then they need to take

positively by improving them. It is really helpful for the success and growth of the hospitality
and tourism industry.
According to Li and et.al., 2021, it is identified that the discussed technologies are
playing an important role in the success and growth of the tourism and hospitality industry.
For containing this success, it is very important for an organisation that they need to have a
performance management system which is really crucial for maintaining the performance of
employees. In the tourism and hospitality industry, human resources play an important part as
their activities decide the satisfaction of customers. So that's why the performances of human
resources are playing an important role. Due to this, it is crucial to improve and maintain the
performances of employees which can be possible with the help of an effective performance
management system. There are many new software and technologies emerging in the
hospitality and tourism industry that helps to maintain and improve the performances of
employees. The performance management system should be effective as it is found that
human capital is one of the most critical resources which need to be managed in an effective
way so that employees feel motivated and encouraged in order to perform their duties. For
that purpose, the organisation can also understand the importance of Maslow's hierarchy
which gives them the idea of the requirement of employees in the organisation. If the
company is able to manage the requirement of employees then they can effectively manage
the performances of employees. It is found that performance management is one of the
important functions of human resource management which is a continuous process of
identifying, measuring and developing performances of each individual in the organisation
(Zelizer, 2019). For the achievement of organisational goals, the performances of employees
need to be effective and increase every day. It is found that in the hospitality industry, there is
a large number of people in the world who are employed so that's why it becomes very
crucial for them to be motivated. For the purpose of motivation, it is identified that
organisation needs to use effective motivators which helps them to increase their motivation.
It can be intrinsic as well as extrinsic. But organisation needs to use motivators which are
appropriate for employees. This should be according to their needs and wants.
Case Study Evaluation (Findings)
From the discussion of the above literature review, it is identified that the hospitality
and tourism industry is increasing its business every day. This can be better understood with
the help of a discussion of Blue Bay Travel. It is a small-sized travelling organisation which
is the UK leading independent travel agent. It is identified that this organisation operates their

business with three different sub-branches which includes Xclusivity, tropical warehouse and
Caribbean warehouse (Pan, 2020). They are providing excellent services and unbeatable
deals to the customers and because of that, they are awarding many victories. It started its
operation in 2003 and has a company size with 51 to 200 employees. It is identified that this
organisation has a social media presence as they understand the importance of using
information communication technologies. In this organisation, it is found that they are using
Facebook and Youtube in their social media strategy. Blue Bay Travel is an organisation that
knows the use of Information communication technologies. It is analysed that information
communication technologies are becoming very important to use as it provides the business
easy to do in the market. The company found to follow this statement as they are using many
software and applications in order to manage the business work. They are taking orders with
the help of online business portals and tracking with the same. It becomes easy for them to
get information about their customers. According to Blue Bay Travel, they are trying their
best to maximise the satisfaction of employees. This is the main reason that they use
information communication technologies as it provides easily not only to businesses but
consumers can also enjoy benefits.
It is analysed that hospitality and tourism industry is rapidly spread their business in
the world. Due to this, it is found by Blue Bay Travel that the competition in this industry is
continuously increasing at a fast speed rate. All organisations are using many marketing
methods so that they can attract more and more consumers (Khin and Ho, 2019). Towards
this purpose, now organisations are moving with mobile technology. It is analysed that
mobile technology is becoming an important element for change in the hospitality and
tourism industry. Every day the use of mobile is increasing as it has the potential to provide
all information to the customers. It doesn’t require a specific time and place which is found to
be the most important fact about this technology. This can be better understood with the
example of Blue Bay Travel. Currently, any person can get information and contact the
company with the use of mobile technology. This is the power of mobile technology.
It is also found that social media is becoming the tool of marketing from the discussion
of literature review. This is necessary to understand that social media is becoming the need of
the market. If any person wants to get information about any organisation, then they are first
trying to judge with their social media updates. It is found that every person is now directly
connecting with social media (Indahingwati and et.al., 2019). It includes Facebook,
Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, etc. Every organisation is using social media as a marketing

tool as they know its importance in the market. With the right use of social media, it is
analysed that organisations are able to increase their customer base. Blue Bay Travel knows
this fact very well and this is the main reason that they are using social media. With the help
of social media presence, they are easily increasing the number of customers towards their
organisation. It is found in the discussion that social media is increasing the chances of
success in the market. Now organisations cannot need any mediator to transfer the data to the
customers. Earlier, it is found that people do get not the right information about the company
as mediators become the main cause. But now with the use of social media, organisations
don’t need any mediators as now they have a chance to directly contact customers. This is
found to be very interesting as companies are able to directly contact the customers (Lund
and Tyson, 2018). They can easily understand their needs and wants which becomes crucial
in order to make the goods and services accordingly. Blue Bay Travel is using social media
not only as a marketing tool but also for the purpose of analysing the needs and wants of
customers. This is the reason that social media is playing an important role in the success and
growth of any organisation.
Discussion
After all the discussions, it is found that it is important for an organisation to
formulate a new social media marketing strategy. This will help them to achieve the desired
goals and objectives. For the purpose of new social media strategy, it is crucial for Blue Bay
Travel that they need to perform a SWOT analysis (Sewall and et.al., 2020). With the help of
SWOT analysis, company is able to understand the internal environment and strengths and
weaknesses. This will assist them to make right social media strategy for organisation. So, the
SWOT analysis of Blue Bay Travel is mentioned below:
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
 It is important to note that Blue Bay
Travel is very well known that what
they are selling to the customers
which is the main reason that makes
their decision right.
 It provides wide services to the
customers that's why they are known
as award-winning experts.
 It is found that company is not using
multiple social media platforms as
they are just focusing on two
platforms such as YouTube and
Facebook.
 In addition to this, it is also found
that they are not able to deal with
pandemic. Due to this. Their

 It is identified that Blue Bay Travel
is known because of their customer
satisfaction.
 They have the experience to handle
all the activities related to the travel
agency.
customer base is destroying every
day.
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
 The increase in digitalisation in
business world is becoming an
opportunity for Blue Bay Travel as
they are become more capable to
deal with the customers in more
efficient way.
 Continuous increase in competition
becomes a big threat for organisation
as they need to think about to beat
the competition.
 It is also found that every day the
demands of customers are
continuously changing as well as
increasing (Prior, 2018). Due to this,
company is in threat that how they
can satisfy the needs and wants of
customers.
New Social Media Strategy
Here is the new social media strategy for Blue Bay Travel is mentioned below which
assists an organisation to become successful in the market:
 The first and foremost step is to set goals of social media strategy (Building your
social media marketing strategy for 2022, 2021). Without setting of goals and
objectives, it is not possible for Blue Bay Travel to formulate new social media
strategy. So that’s why Blue Bay Travel is setting a new goal of its new social media
strategy is to maximise the customer base and attract new as well as old customers
which are decline due to pandemic situation.
 The second step in social media strategy is to take time for researching about the
target audience. That means Blue Bay Travel need to understand and analyse the
needs and wants of their target audience so that they can formulate strategy

accordingly. This can be possible with the help of using different social media
platforms.
 The next step is found to be important for increasing and maintaining the
performances of employees. So, it is found that organization leads use key
performance indicators so that they can able to measure their performance.
 The fourth step is to create engaging social content which is an important part of
social media marketing strategy (Mercer, Hennessy and Warwick, 2019). It is
necessary for an organization that needs to make sure that content should be
according to the needs and wants of the target audience because then only they are
able to attract customers towards the organization. It can be in the form of short-form
videos and stories post.
 The fifth step is that organization needs to make sure their social presence timely as
possible. It is identified that there are many organizations that have a social presence
but they are not doing any work on media so that's why it is important for Blue Bay
Travel to make a social presence time by time. Currently, it is identified that the
company is focusing on YouTube and Facebook. But now they need to work on more
social media platforms such as Instagram which become one of the important
marketing tools in the current world.
 The last and the most important step is to assess what is working and what is not
working according to the plan or a strategy in organisation. After identification of all
the deviations, now company need to focus on what they should improve.
The above social media strategies found to be very important as it is able to achieve
the specific target market. With the help of this social media strategy, organisation is able to
set their goals and objectives for the targeted audience and they can research for them
effectively. In addition to this, this is strategy is effectively relate to the specific target
audience as their employees are using their expertise in order to identify the needs and wants
of target audience.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above discussion that digital technologies are increasing
every day and its importance is also increasing in the market. It is analysed that now
hospitality and tourism industry understand this fact and because of it, they are using
information communication technologies effectively. It is analysed from this report that use

of social media is becoming very important in the current market. It is found to be the best
tool of marketing. It is analysed that organisations are using social media so that they can do
marketing in the market. The reason which is identified is people are more connected with
social media as compared to any other media. So that’s it becomes very important to use. It is
analysed that information and communication technology is playing an important role in
hospitality and tourism because it becomes very easy for customers to pay for their bookings.
From the above literature review, it is analyse that social media is becoming very important
for organisations as it helps to increase the business of company. In this report, there is a
discussion of performance management system as well as it is very important for the success
and growth of organisation and maintain the performances of employees.

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