ECU HOS3320: Hospitality Facility Management Social Media Report

This report delves into the impact of social media on facility management within the hospitality industry. It explores how social media has increased customer demands, influencing their expectations for service quality, and the role of online reviews in shaping their decisions. The report examines the background of the issue, highlighting the rapid growth of hotels and the challenges posed by social media. It discusses how the internet and social media have empowered customers, making them more informed and demanding. The report also analyzes the influence of social media pages, the increased interaction among customers worldwide, and the importance of monitoring social media sites. Furthermore, it addresses the rise in competition within the hospitality industry due to social media's impact, emphasizing the need for hotels to adapt and manage their online presence effectively. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and implications for facility management in the hospitality sector.

Running head: FACILITY MANAGEMENT
Facility Management
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................2
2. Discussion..............................................................................................................................2
2.1. Background of the issue..................................................................................................2
2.2. Social media has led to increase in demanding customers.............................................3
2.3. The influence of the social media page...........................................................................4
2.4. Social media and the increase in level of interaction among the customers worldwide.5
2.5. Monitoring the social media sites for the hotels.............................................................6
2.6. Social media and the increased rate of competition among the players within the
hospitality industry.................................................................................................................7
3. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................8
References:.................................................................................................................................9

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1. Introduction
In recent years, the hoteliers and the investors have been rapidly made aware of the
fact how the social life and environment influence the hotel developments and operations
(Melissen et al., 2016). The factors that have aided to such an awareness are the needs of the
hotel operators and owners for reducing the operations costs and the change that is necessary
for sustainable development and high regulations that pay attention on the hotel operations,
development and the way in which attitudes of the hoteliers and investor are changing
towards the environment. However, sustainability is still a very difficult task for measuring in
the industry of hospitality as businesses face several challenges due to its dynamic nature.
This paper is going to elaborate on discussing about a current issue that is facing by the
management of facilities in the hospitality industry. The chosen issue for this purpose is that
of social media.
2. Discussion
2.1. Background of the issue
The rapid growth and development of the hotels world-wide has been seen in several
nations and at global levels. Different types of business models are being used by the
operators at different hotels. Some of the significant developments in the field of hospitality
industry range from health and customer support systems, the technological advances and the
environmental concerns (Caust & Vecco, 2017). It is to note that the hospitality industry has
undergone several issues and challenges in the contemporary world. Some of the significant
issues include the global emerging markets, shortage of skilled labours, the unavailability of
the capital, the ever increasing expectations of customers and the social media and
technological advancement. Some of the most common of all include the social media,
technological issues, low level of customer satisfaction and intensified competition among

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the players in the industry (Ladkin & Buhalis, 2016). ”. The increased level of competition
among the players within the hospitality industry and the poaching of the guests brought by
the use of the customer disloyalty programs is yet another issues that is effecting the
hospitality industry. It has made the hotel chains to make it a point to have loyalty programs,
aimed towards marketing and promoting the hotels. Social media is transforming the hotel
decision journey of the customers by means of influencing the ways in which the customers
search, book and decide on hotels. Customers today are able to interact and communicate
with the other customers and read their reviews and at the same time, can search for the travel
destination and bargain for the prices, all at once with the help of internet. The usage of social
media pages that need to be updated has been a current trend within the hospitality industry.
Increase usage of the social media platforms among the customers have led the players within
the hospitality industry to be on their toes for avoiding the incidences that have the potential
to bring in negative publicity. It has led the people to share and interact their experiences and
it has significantly influence the hospitality industry.
2.2. Social media has led to increase in demanding customers
Internet has always played a significant role ever since its emergence. The fact that
customers are well-aware of all the comforts and luxuries that are offered at different places
has made the customers demanding that ever before (Leung, Bai & Stahura, 2015). This is
why managers in the hotels today are required to always think about and come up with
solutions and ways for keeping up with all these standards. Expectations of the customers
have increased for quality service and fast hospitality service anytime and anywhere and in
the way that they want it. At the same time, they also expect that the hotel rooms where they
can easily use all their electronic gadgets for their entertainment and can get connected to the
internet. Contemporary guests will never keep up with the average services. They instead are
highly demanding and demand excellent services.

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According to a very recent survey conducted by Kandampully, Zhang and Bilgihan
(2015), when guests are highly delighted by the services that they receive and they tend to
spend more and even come back. On the other hand, majority of the guests leave at once and
they are likely to never to come back because of just a single bad experience. This is why,
most of the contemporary hotels provide wireless networking services to the customers, most
for free of cost with their check-ins and at the same time, they also have introduced the usage
of swipe cards for enabling the access to their rooms. This in ensuring security and safety of
the customers and all these luxuries come up with the ever increased costs that the owners
and the managers today need to keep up with every now and then (Barton & MacAurthur,
2016). It is to mention that while the revenue controls and costs are important factors, the
media reporting on the hospitality and hotels aspects are also significant factors. With the use
of internet based and globalised hospitality businesses, what the strangers and the guests
write about have gained some significant import in the recent days.
2.3. The influence of the social media page
Today, the total number of internet users have increased to a significant level.
Tourism and hospitality industry are highly careful to the online information. Consumers
today are able to interact and communicate with the other consumers and read their feedbacks
and reviews and at the same time, can search for the travel destination and bargain for the
prices, all at once with the help of internet (Caust & Vecco, 2017). The hoteliers and the
investors have been rapidly made aware of the fact how the social life and environment
influence the hotel developments and operations. The rapid growth and development of the
hotels world-wide has been seen in several countries and at global levels. Different types of
business model are being implemented by the operators at different hotels. Some of the
significant developments in the field of hospitality industry range from health and customer
support systems, the technological advances and the environmental concerns.

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Players within the hospital industry are widely striving for making the industry as
convenient as possible for the use of the customers. They want all their potential customers to
get an easy access to all the benefits and luxuries that could be provided at the best possible
price in order to make the hospitality industry a key player in the market. However, it must be
noted that the usage of social media pages that need to be updated has been a current trend
within the hospitality industry. As per the recent survey conducted by Barton and
MacAurthur (2016), there is an increased in the total numbers and percentage of the
reservations made by the guests online through internet every year these days. It simply
indicates that the owners and the operators need to ensure the maintenance and creation of
these hotel facilities that increase the overall operation cost.
Increase usage of the social media platforms among the customers have led the
players within the hospitality industry to be on their toes for avoiding the incidences that have
the potential to bring in negative publicity. Being one of the part of growth, most of the
chains within the hospitality industry (hotel chains) have ventured internationally, and this
has made the hospitality industry a centre for globalisation. As the world is rapidly and
continuously changing with the passage of time, there has been a greater need for the
hospitality industries to come up with different ways for addressing the changes
(Kandampully, Zhang & Bilgihan, 2015). Players need to ensure that the industry and the
hotel chain is meeting all the global requirements even if they get expanded.
2.4. Social media and the increase in level of interaction among the customers
worldwide
Using social media has led the people to share and interact their experiences and it has
significantly influenced the hospitality industry in the recent years. The customers worldwide
are able to write the reviews that can be read by the people worldwide through social media
sites. According to the Tripadvisor, for about 93% of the guests reviews are important for

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determining and selecting the hotel where they would like to stay at (Han et al., 2016). With
the same, about 53% of the total people surveyed would not book any hotel without having
guest opinion about the same. According to Bowen and Chen McCain (2015), “Creating
relationships and contracts in social media often is rewarded by abstract concept of social
capital. The structure of online relationships has the most influence on generating of social
capital. This concept is important in creating sustain and beneficial community”. Therefore,
the user generated content as feedback or reviews grew into a major decision factor for the
customers. This is why both the positive and negative feedbacks from the guests have a
significant role to play. The positive feedback can bring in more customers for the hotel and
positive perception about the same among the people. While the negative feedbacks will lead
to loss of customers. According to Tussyadiah and Zach (2017), feedbacks and reviews today
have emerged as a significant decision making factor for the customers. Therefore,
productive feedback from the satisfied visitors and customers sharing their good experience
with the hotel is very precious. On the contrary, negative feedbacks and reviews need to be
decreased and used by the hotel for improving their service quality. According to Caust and
Vecco (2017), the customers accept a brand if it has the potential of supporting a cause that
they care about and might switch to the brands that support a particular cause. The main
challenge that lies here is in trying to incorporate a cause that can be associated with greater
number of customers. Therefore, it is becoming highly important for the managers and the
operators for build up a professional Hotel Reputation Management that keeps the tracking of
the reputation of the property over the websites as the success of the hotels highly depend on
this.
2.5. Monitoring the social media sites for the hotels
Most of the hospitality business are making use of social media platforms for
upgrading and personalising their customer service. One of the best example to consider in

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this context is that of what the USA Today claims- some of the hotel chains of Marriott make
use of their Facebook pages for communicating with their guests about the hotel and local
events (Chen, Lee & Ho, 2018). Hilton and Hyatt hotels too are making use of Twitter as
their virtual concierge services for which their guests can tweet their queries and expect the
responses within an hour. Twitter has also allowed the employees working in the hotel for
initiating the conversations with the guests. A simple tweet like “hope you have enjoyed your
stay!” can go a long way and can possibly provide a personalised touch that some of the
guests would really appreciate. One of the most common and most used methods in the
hospitality industry is the employment of the managers for monitoring the blogs and social
media and for responding to them when appropriate (Kandampully, Zhang & Bilgihan,
2015). It has created an additional cost for the hospitality industry and at the same time, has
created the needs for the managers and operators to come up with more efficient ways for
meeting all these costs. However, the main challenge lies here is of creating a feeling of
defending the company against the customers. It needs training for the employees and also,
for implying further costs of operations.
2.6. Social media and the increased rate of competition among the players within the
hospitality industry
As stated by Kumar et al. (2016), “While social networking can help strengthen guest
loyalty and satisfaction, it can also lead to unfair negativity, inaccurate information and
undue criticism. When input is mostly anonymous, as it is with many social platforms,
participants are likely to have a polarized stance, opinion or critique”. The increased level of
competition among the players within the hospitality industry and the poaching of the
customers have been brought by the use of the customer disloyalty programs is yet another
issues that is effecting the hospitality industry, more particularly the hotel sector. This is why
it has made the hotel chains to make it a point to have loyalty programs that are aimed

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towards marketing the hotels (Kandampully, Zhang & Bilgihan, 2015). Problems associated
with such loyalty programs is the high costs that are linked with them. This increases the
overall cost of operation for the hotels. According to the survey conducted by Kim, Vogt and
Knutson (2015), the customers accept a brand if it has the potential of supporting a cause that
they care about and might switch to the brands that support a particular cause. The main
challenge that lies here is in trying to incorporate a cause that can be associated with greater
number of customers. Bowen and Chen McCain (2015) in this context have claimed that
“Customer loyalty is based on customer satisfaction during a previous interaction leading to
a positive attitude resulting to preference for the brand”. It further suggests that the managers
and the operators need to ensure that the guests are receiving right treatment from where they
can enter into the hotel and at the same time, can decide on to when they should bid goodbye.
Preferences of the guests would shift to the other hotels with better handling of the guests.
3. Conclusion
Hence, from the above analysis it is clear that there are several contemporary issues
that have been emerged for the use of social media within the hospitality industry. They are
affecting the managers and owners of the hotel chain all across the globe. This report has
analysed and evaluated the impacts, implications and the nature of these issues as well. It is to
mention that while the revenue controls and costs are important factors, the media reporting
on the hospitality and hotels aspects are also significant factors. With the use of internet
based and globalised hospitality businesses, what the strangers and the guests write about
have gained some significant import in the recent days. The demands of the customers world-
wide along with the lower level of customer satisfaction has been identified as contemporary
issues. Customer satisfaction is a critical aspect within the hospitality industry and each and
everything revolve around this aspect. This is why, the hotel chains, by any means, needs to
consider the needs and requirements of their customers in all their services.

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References:
Barton, T. L., & MacArthur, J. B. (2016). A Teaching Case on the Benefits and Costs of
Restaurants Using Opentable Online Restaurant Reservations. Journal of Business
and Accounting, 9(1), 126.
Bowen, J. T., & Chen McCain, S. L. (2015). Transitioning loyalty programs: A commentary
on “the relationship between customer loyalty and customer
satisfaction”. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(3),
415-430.
Caust, J., & Vecco, M. (2017). Is UNESCO World Heritage recognition a blessing or burden?
Evidence from developing Asian countries. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 27, 1-9.
Chen, M., Lee, D., & Ho, C. I. (2018, October). Business Intelligence From Facebook Fan
Pages: A Case Study of Luxury Hotels. In Global Conference on Business,
Hospitality, and Tourism Research (GLOSEARCH 2018).
Han, H. J., Mankad, S., Gavirneni, N., & Verma, R. (2016). What guests really think of your
hotel: text analytics of online customer reviews.
Kandampully, J., Zhang, T., & Bilgihan, A. (2015). Customer loyalty: a review and future
directions with a special focus on the hospitality industry. International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(3), 379-414.
Kim, M., Vogt, C. A., & Knutson, B. J. (2015). Relationships among customer satisfaction,
delight, and loyalty in the hospitality industry. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism
Research, 39(2), 170-197.

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Kumar, A., Bezawada, R., Rishika, R., Janakiraman, R., & Kannan, P. K. (2016). From social
to sale: The effects of firm-generated content in social media on customer
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