HI6008 Business Research: Self-Reflection on Social Media in Hotels

This report presents a self-analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of social networking in the hotel industry. It highlights the effectiveness and usefulness of the learning experience, including the role of social media in enhancing hotel sales and attracting customers through competitive techniques and prize distributions. The report also addresses the potential drawbacks, such as time consumption, costs, and risks to safety and privacy. The learning process involved qualitative and quantitative research methods, analyzing customer reviews and journal articles to understand the impact of social media on brand image and customer loyalty. The research emphasizes the importance of targeted advertising and active social connections for building long-term customer relationships. It concludes by reflecting on how this knowledge can be applied to improve social media strategies in the hotel industry, focusing on building strong customer bonds and leveraging social media for targeted marketing.

Running Head: Self Analysis 1
Business Research
Self reflection on advantages and disadvantages of social networking in
hotel industry

Self Analysis 2
Contents
Overview......................................................................................................................................................3
Effectiveness and your usefulness of the learning experience ...................................................................3
Usefulness of learning process....................................................................................................................3
Activity in the learning process....................................................................................................................3
Evaluation of the learning............................................................................................................................3
Explanation of the learning process.............................................................................................................3
Applied learning...........................................................................................................................................3
References...................................................................................................................................................4

Self Analysis 3
Overview
Social media is the cost effective strategy that has the potential to link with outside world
without any costs (Stephen and Galak, 2012). I have learnt that social media can increase the
revenue of the business if organization uses it in effective way. Along with that I have learnt that
social media are utilized by number of customers who map their visit to hotels after analyzing
the menu and the room size. There is umber of benefits along with it can be provided to the
customers with the help of social networking.
Effectiveness and your usefulness of the learning experience
I have observed the effectiveness and the usefulness of the research advantages and
disadvantages of social media in hotel industry in which I have learnt that like other industry,
hotel industry can initiate applications to develop their business marketing plan digitally. I have
gained knowledge about many hotels in hotel industry that attract number of customers by
applying competitive techniques and prize distributions. I observed that there is location based
application which utilize by the hotels to offer complimentary utility products as per the need of
the destination ( Xenos, Vromen and Loader, 2014). I have found that there are number of
benefits of social networking in industry as it facilitates hotel industry to increase the number of
guests in the hotel. Along with that there are some disadvantages of social networking in hotel
industry such as time consuming, over costs, inefficient outcomes and trademark and copyrights
violation. I have found that Safety, trust and privacy have also become difficult to be maintained
in social media marketing for hotel industry. This research is very effective and usefulness as it
covers huge concept of social media strategy that would be helpful for me to attain the objectives
in my life significantly (Van Laer, 2014).

Self Analysis 4
Usefulness of learning process
In this course, I have learned that the role of social media networking in hotel industry is huge as
it helps to enhance the sales of the hotels. This research program is useful for me as I gained
knowledge about the importance of the social media in the hotel industry so in future I will use
this strategy to get growth in my business. I have found that social networking not only
facilitates in keeping themselves in front of potential customers but also provide platforms to
crate continuous efforts in providing them incentives to purchase their services. I have analyzed
throughout my learning process that the use of coupon and competitions in the channel of social
media can enhance the number of participations of clients which increase the more sales of the
hotel industry. on the other hand, I have found that the interactions of the customer with owners
for negotiations can be done in more efficient manner. in my prospective, it is essential to have
the formal interactions before their visit which can facilitates hotels to manage their booking of
customers as per the demand (Treem and Leonardi, 2013).
Activity in the learning process
In the learning process, I used the combination of the qualitative and quantitative research that
facilitates me to understand the concept of gathering the information in quantity way and quality
way. I have taken various approaches to increase the quality and authenticity of the research. I
have observed that there are some negative impacts of social media strategy on the hotel industry
which I have found through the reading of journal articles. I have seen in the customer review
section of the hotel industry that the review of the customers are kept huge importance in the
social media as participation of more customers relies on the reviews that are made by the
experienced visitors. The hotels can get negative influence in case of getting negative feedback
from the customers who affect the rating of the company in social media sites (Correa, Hinsley

Self Analysis 5
and De Zuniga, 2010). From this, I have learnt that it is vital for the company to make the good
image in the view of the customers as bad rating by customers on the services can impact the
revenues of the company in an adverse manner.
Evaluation of the learning
The business research was very useful for the research leaning as it facilitates me to understand
the entire concept of the research topic. The business research helps to understand about the
importance of the advertisement on social media sites as it permits reaching targeted and
retargeted customers. I have found through business research that advertisement is the best
technique in now days where their business highly depends on end users. I come to know with
the help of business research that advertisement made in social media sites that facilitates the
owners of the business to target customers according to their location, age and culture. I have
observed that the brand promotion which is done with the help of social media can increase the
brand loyalty and if the promotions are made on regular basis, customer can remain attached
(Cheston, Flickinger and Chisolm, 2013). The active social connection with brands can have
tended to have loyal customers. Being socially dynamic creates organisation treated as a united
group of person rather than just a business.
Explanation of the learning process
There are certain reasons behind conducting Assignment 1 and Assignment 2. I prepared the
questions of research to focus on the particular feature of social networks. The role of both
assignments are different as they give me better understanding about the concept of the research,
Through first assignment, I have found the objective and the scope of the research and I
reviewed literature with taking help of relevant sources and journal articles. I have observed that

Self Analysis 6
sampling method helps to analyze the data in more significant manner. There are two methods of
data analysis such as MS Excel and SPSS Tool used in the research paper to evaluate the data in
an effective manner. According to me, it is crucial for the social network to involve gender and
age for the respondents as less than 18 years of people was not included in the sampling method
(Diga and Kelleher, 2009).
Applied learning
This learning will be applied in the future to enlarge my knowledge regarding the use of social
media in the hotel industry. I would be getting advantaged through this research because it
covers huge concept of social media by including the advantages and disadvantages of it. I will
take care of the use of social media in excess manner and implement the effective strategy to
attain the benefits from these strategies (Kavanaugh et. al., 2012). I have learnt that the
organizations should make the good bonding with its customers as it helps to them to connect
with the services of the hotel for a long time. As per my point of view, the organizations of hotel
industry should focus on the social media as it will be helpful to target customers.

Self Analysis 7
References
Cheston, C.C., Flickinger, T.E. and Chisolm, M.S., 2013. Social media use in medical education:
a systematic review. Academic Medicine, 88(6), pp.893-901.
Correa, T., Hinsley, A.W. and De Zuniga, H.G., 2010. Who interacts on the Web?: The
intersection of users’ personality and social media use. Computers in Human Behavior, 26(2),
pp.247-253.
Diga, M. and Kelleher, T., 2009. Social media use, perceptions of decision-making power, and
public relations roles. Public Relations Review, 35(4), pp.440-442.
Kavanaugh, A.L., Fox, E.A., Sheetz, S.D., Yang, S., Li, L.T., Shoemaker, D.J., Natsev, A. and
Xie, L., 2012. Social media use by government: From the routine to the critical. Government
Information Quarterly, 29(4), pp.480-491.
Stephen, A. T., and Galak, J., 2012. The effects of traditional and social earned media on sales:
A study of a microlending marketplace. Journal of Marketing Research, 49(5), 624-639.
Treem, J.W. and Leonardi, P.M., 2013. Social media use in organizations: Exploring the
affordances of visibility, editability, persistence, and association. Annals of the International
Communication Association, 36(1), pp.143-189.
Van Laer, T., 2014. The means to justify the end: Combating cyber harassment in social
media. Journal of Business Ethics, 123(1), 85-98.

Self Analysis 8
Xenos, M., Vromen, A. and Loader, B.D., 2014. The great equalizer? Patterns of social media
use and youth political engagement in three advanced democracies. Information, Communication
& Society, 17(2), pp.151-167.