Impact of Digital Marketing on Hilton Hotel, UK: Dissertation

This dissertation analyzes the impact of digital marketing on Hilton Hotel in the UK. It explores the advantages of digital marketing for hotels, focusing on Hilton's use of social media, online reviews, and mobile advertising to enhance customer engagement and brand loyalty. The research employs a positivism philosophy, descriptive design, and deductive approach, using secondary thematic analysis of literature and Hilton's online presence. The study investigates the role of social media in tourism and hospitality, the impact of online consumer reviews on sales, and the challenges and future of digital marketing within the hotel industry. Findings indicate the necessity of digital strategies for Hilton's success, emphasizing the importance of platforms like Facebook for promotion and customer interaction. The dissertation concludes by answering research questions about digital marketing's role, challenges, and future for Hilton, providing recommendations for optimizing digital strategies. The study highlights how digital marketing has evolved from transactional to relationship-based, focusing on customer satisfaction and long-term engagement.

Impact of digital marketing on Hilton Hotel, United Kingdom
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Student ID:
Course: BA (Hons) International Hotel Management
Special Module: Dissertation - Service Industries
Module code: TH60004E
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Abstract
The focus of the dissertation is on the impact that digitalization have in a hospitality industry.
The dissertation conducts research on Hilton Hotel, one of the most renowned hotels in the
world. In the modern world, technology plays an important role for the development of an
organisation. In the case of Hilton Hotel, digitalization can help it to gain the trust and loyalty
of the customers. Therefore, the dissertation provides an overview of the impact of
digitalization and the manner in which Hilton Hotel can use it for its development. The
research methodology that is adopted for the research is the positivism philosophy,
descriptive design and deductive approach. The adoption of secondary thematic analysis is
made in order to understand the works of the scholars related to the topic. Relevant themes,
analysis and evidence from the literature review is undertaken in order to complete the
dissertation in a successful manner. The data analysis shows that digitalization for Hilton
Hotel is necessary as most of the success of the business is derived from the advent and
implementation of latest technologies and digital devices. Hence, conclusion can be drawn
about the impact of digitalization that ways by which Hilton Hotel can implement its use. For
example, use of social media for promotion can be made by Hilton Hotel in order to promote
its activities to the customers.

Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................5
1.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................5
1.2 Background Information on use of Digital Media in the Hospitality Sector.........................6
1.3 Brief Overview of the Research.............................................................................................7
1.4 Information of use of Digital Marketing, Social Media and Mobile......................................8
1.5 Definitions and Abbreviations................................................................................................9
1.6 Aim, Objectives and Research Questions............................................................................10
1.7 Rational for the research.......................................................................................................10
1.8 Structure of the Dissertation.................................................................................................11
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................13
2.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................13
2.2 Advantages of Digital Marketing for Large Hotels..............................................................14
2.3 Role of Social Media Marketing for Large Hotels...............................................................18
2.4 Challenges of Digital Marketing Platform in Hospitality Industry......................................22
2.5 Future of Digital Marketing for Large Hotels......................................................................24
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY.................................................................................................28
3.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................28
3.2 Theory of Research..............................................................................................................28
3.2.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................28
3.2.2 Methodology.....................................................................................................................29
3.2.3 Method...............................................................................................................................30
3.2.4 Secondary Research..........................................................................................................30
3.3 Assessment of the Research.................................................................................................31

3.3.1 Reliability..........................................................................................................................31
3.3.2 Validity..............................................................................................................................33
3.3.3 Generalisability.................................................................................................................33
3.3.4 Limitations and Further Research.....................................................................................34
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS................................................................................................35
4.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................35
4.2 Impact of Online Consumer Reviews on Sales....................................................................35
4.3 Social Media in Tourism and Hospitality.............................................................................36
4.4 Social Media Marketing in Tourism and Hospitality...........................................................38
4.5 The Impact of Social Media on the Consumer Decision Process........................................40
4.6 Digital Divide in Tourism....................................................................................................42
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.....................................................44
5.1 Conclusion............................................................................................................................44
5.2 Answering the Research Questions......................................................................................45
Reference.......................................................................................................................................49
Appendices....................................................................................................................................55
Appendix A................................................................................................................................55
Appendix B.................................................................................................................................55
Appendix C.................................................................................................................................56
Appendix D................................................................................................................................56
Appendix E.................................................................................................................................56

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
The significant development in the technological sphere in the last two decades have
resulted in the rise of smart phones and other gadgets leading to the ease of living among
numerous individuals. When these developments are clubbed with the platform of social media,
they produce the ideal platform from which effective marketing campaigns can be launched. The
marketers from different companies have understood the reach and power of digital media and
especially the social media in attracting the customers (Leung, Bai and Stahura 2015). Along
with the right strategy these different marketers can reach out to the potential customers
instantaneously. The companies use these digital marketing platforms to reach out to the
consumers and to interact effectively with these customers. Such ease of use, instantaneousness
and cost-effective nature of the digital platforms have become the main reason for the various
companies to use the digital marketing to communicate with the existing as well as potential
customers. Tuten (2008) argues that expenditure on digital marketing have increased notably in
the past five years. The use of digital marketing can be seen by premium and luxury hotels too
and a sizeable portion of their marketing expenses are apportioned to social media marketing. To
be concise, the digital platform offers numerous services ranging from awareness campaign,
promotional offers and discount, event reminders, conventional advertising among others (Hays,
Page and Buhalis 2013).

1.2 Background Information on use of Digital Media in the Hospitality Sector
Trillions of transaction and personal communication happens on various digital platforms
and especially the social media. Such communications and interactions offer different
organisations to influence users (customers). Modern day marketers have expanded their focus
from customer awareness to acquisition. Subsequently, more and more customer centric
approach within the activities of marketing can be seen (Kim, Lim and Brymer 2015). Marketers
have realised that the customary electronic platform (Television, Radio) are not efficient enough
as individuals have taken their activities to smart phones significantly. As a result, these
marketers have correctly picked different digital marketing platforms including social media to
reach out to the numerous customers. Some of the popular social media platforms that are
popular for the purpose of marketing are Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Such digital
marketing enables marketers to engage with the clients, comprehend their choices and to
establish a long-lasting relationship (Xiang and Gretzel 2010). In respect to big hotel chains,
there exists significant predicament in enticing and retaining customers especially because the
switching cost is nearly non-existent. This is also another reason why big hotel chain are
establishing strong marketing department in place.
Russell (2010) stated that biggest benefit of digital marketing is their range. For instance,
the platform of FB now comprises of 2 billion users, which is way above any channel or
platform. Subsequently, FB has been targeted by numerous marketers for bolstering their
marketing and promotional activities. Kim, Lim, and Brymer (2015) opine that a characteristic
marketing activity consists of four phases. These phases are: awareness, consideration,
conversion and advocacy. Here, it is sensible to observe that

in FB brands can deploy advocates who act as brand partners to enable the entities to increase
their outreach. According to Xiang and Gretzel (2010) organisations in the services sector look
to augment their customer services in order to increase brand loyalty. Moreover, the hospitality
sector is a service-oriented industry and what the customers experience leads to his/ her
satisfaction. Thus, it may be observed that regardless of the size of a hotel it cannot have loyal
customer base unless the customer base is satisfied. Organisations in a service-oriented industry
have to constantly improve their level of service to prevent customers from switching over.
Therefore, satisfaction of the customers is also a main consideration for hotels to adjust their
marketing activities (Noone, McGuire and Rohlfs 2011).
1.3 Brief Overview of the Research
This research work is grounded on the digital marketing activities by Waldorf Hilton,
London. The research has analysed main digital marketing activities undertaken by entities in
the hospitality sector. This research paper is comprised of secondary research methods and the
main sources of data are the official Facebook page of Hilton and other pertinent literatures
related to the research topic. The secondary research will be carried out through literature review
to understand the digital marketing for large and premium hotel chains within the UK.
Within the hospitality industry, Hilton is a renowned brand. Hilton has a global presence
with over 570 properties across different continents (Hilton 2018). Waldorf Hilton, previously
known as Waldorf Hotel is a landmark hotel near Aldwych, London and its origin dates back to
1908. It is now a part of Hilton Hotels and Resorts chain. Hilton

has a strong presence on different digital channels like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter Pinterest,
Instagram. The company also carries out social media contests on these platforms on a regular
basis so as to gather user generated content, for understanding their experiences at Hilton.
These are efforts aimed to keep the brand at the top of the mind of the customers and gain their
loyalty (Callarisa, García, Cardiff and Roshchina 2012).
1.4 Information of use of Digital Marketing, Social Media and Mobile
Advertisements
The use of internet has grown rapidly and it is said to influence the decision of the
consumers in a strong way particularly, when it comes to purchasing decision. On a closer look,
it may be seen that functions of marketing have evaluated from a transactional to a relationship
form. The traditional platforms of print and electronic media (newspaper, TV) have lost their
efficacy to some extent in present day owing to the fact these medium lacks the focus and are
expensive (Constantinides 2014). Thus, the digital marketing platforms have become popular
among the different organisations. Zeng and Gerritsen (2014) argue that there are distinctive
challenges of using digital platform in bolstering marketing campaigns. These are lack of
appropriate performance indicators, issues of privacy and transparency. Nevertheless, power of
digital marketing is an aspect that every hotel has acknowledged and trying to embrace in a big
way (Rosman and Stuhura 2013).
Social media enables different companies within the hospitality sector to get accurate
insights about the preferences thereby enhancing their level of satisfaction.

According to Borges (2009), hotels need to change the way they perceive customer service.
For instance, there is a big scope to bolster the digital marketing strategies in order to improve
customer service and generate brand loyalty. Therefore, entities should try to increase their
footprint on the social media platforms (Gillin 2008). At the same time, it can be seen that
demands have increased for hotels resulting in greater competition among hotel chains to
attract guests. This means there is a compelling reason for these entities to strong brand recall.
Using the digital platforms like FB can generate greater awareness among the consumers and
positively affect the bottom-line. It will be interesting to learn how Waldorf Hilton deploys the
digital media platform to entice customers and build brand loyalty (Inversini and Masiero
2014).
1.5 Definitions and Abbreviations
FB: Facebook
FB Marketing: Promotional activity carried out on digital platforms like internet, mobiles and
computers
Customer Loyalty Programme: Loyalty programmes devised by organisations to enrol
customers thereby increasing their loyalty.
Brand Recall: Brand recall is a qualitative measure of how adequately a brand is related
with a product/ service.
CRM: Customer Relationship Marketing. This form of marketing focuses on the loyalty of
customers and their long-term engagement as opposed to short term ones.

1.6 Aim, Objectives and Research Questions
The overall aims, objectives and research questions of this research have been
discussed below:
Aim: The aim of the research is to analyze the impact digital marketing have on Hilton Hotel in
the United Kingdom. The impact in terms of its quality and the innovative changes that has
taken place at the hotel is researched on.
Objectives:
The specific research objectives of this research work are discussed below:
1. To determine the advantages of digital marketing for hotels
2. To understand the role of digital marketing for Hilton Hotel, UK
3. To understand the challenges of digital marketing in Hilton Hotel, UK
4. To understand the future of digital marketing for Hilton Hotel, UK
Research Questions
The questions of this research have been enumerated below:
1. What are the advantages of digital marketing for hotels?
2. What is the role of digital marketing for Hilton Hotel, UK?
3. What are the challenges of digital marketing platform in Hilton Hotel, UK?
4. What is the future of digital marketing for Hilton Hotel, UK?
1.7 Rational for the research
According to Gillin (2008) digital marketing for organisations especially in the
hospitality sector has seen a phenomenal growth in the last five years. The authors also

observed that relationship marketing is going to be the future of transactional marketing wherein
the aim is on creating long-term relationship with the consumers. Here, the digital marketing
platform especially the social media will play a big role. Renowned brands in the hospitality
sector like Hilton, Claridges, Hyatt, Marriott have looked to broaden their presence in the social
media in order to reap the numerous benefits that digital marketing platform offers (Fan and
Gordon 2014). The rational for this research develop from how Hilton fabricates its marketing
strategies on the digital platform. One of the key traits of social media is that it provides instant
connectivity. Feedbacks can be received and queries can be resolved on a real time basis with
minimum delay. Of late popular hotel brands are also providing the customers the convenience
of booking rooms through social media indirectly. This is aimed at those customers who are on
the go and this indicates the trend of targeting young, suave and mobile customers. Study of such
young and tech-savvy customers is imperative in present day functioning as they form a
significant chunk of the target audience (McCarthy, Stock and Verma 2010).
1.8 Structure of the Dissertation
The dissertation is made up of five chapters. The first chapter of the dissertation is the
introduction that sets up the groundwork for the entire research. This chapter also consists of the
background and the prime objectives of the research. A brief account of the digital media and its
usage has been illustrated to better gauge the importance of the research topic. The second
chapter of the research paper comprises of the literature review. This chapter consists of the
literary sources underpinning the use of digital

media within the hospitality sector. This chapter consists of peer-reviewed journals, articles
and other credible web publications. The importance of literature review lies in the fact that it
helps to unearth what prior work has been done on the research tropic and look into the data
sources, which have been used. The literature review is an important part of the research paper
as it puts the key research work in perspective.
The third chapter is the methodology chapter which is also an important one. The
methodology chapter has demonstrated the methods followed in this research work.
Additionally, this chapter has demonstrated the advantages and disadvantages of different
research methods. The rationale behind picking a secondary research method also has been
enumerated in the methodology chapter. The fourth chapter is made up of analysis of data and
therefore called data analysis chapter. It discusses the findings from the data analysis and
connects it with the literature review. The research signs off with a conclusion chapter that also
outlines the recommendations.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
The focus of the literature review has been on four broad themes within the area of
digital marketing in large hotels. A lot of research has been carried out in the past on this topic
related to the hospitality sector. In simple terms, digital marketing can be defined as the
marketing of services/ products using digital technologies and the internet (Milović 2012).
Here, it must be mentioned that digital marketing goes beyond internet marketing to encompass
channels that do not need the use of internet, for example, SMS. Cantallops and Salvi (2014)
state that digital marketing also encompasses social media marketing, search engine marketing
and any other type of digital media. Experts have opined that this is the age of technology. This
is evident from the fact that organisations are reducing their budget for traditional form of
marketing and shoring up their digital marketing platform. The use of digital media
significantly endows the marketers with reach and customisation that was unheard before (Tatar
and Eren-Erdoğmuş 2016).
Some of the main objectives behind the adoption of digital marketing platform are lead
generation, customer acquisition, customer retention and customer contentment. According to
Kannan (2017) the platform of digital media provides some unique features and advantages due
to which organisations can stay close to customers. At the same time, entities need to be vigilant
while using the digital media and especially the social media as one negative comment by a user
has the potential to jeopardise several other potential customers (Cabiddu, De Carlo and Piccoli
2014).

2.2 Advantages of Digital Marketing for Large Hotels
The hospitality industry is becoming more competitive with every passing day. Major
hotel companies are going through new mergers and acquisitions while new entrants such as
Airbnb has redefined new ways to stay. As argued by Bowie et al. (2016) while such
developments augur well for customers, these developments have certainly led to more
challenging operating conditions for numerous hotels. Thus, then onus is on digital marketing to
offer customer satisfaction and stay competitive. Nowadays, it can also be seen that those hotels
that deploy the platform of digital marketing are more successful than their counterparts (Zhu
and Zhang 2010). There are several benefits of the digital marketing for the hotels that has to be
leveraged for staying competitive and successful. It has been stated by Inversini and Masiero
(2014) two buzzwords that are doing the rounds of hospitality industry are customer attraction
and customer retention.
Consequently, the platform of internet is witnessing a lot of innovative strategies and
moves by players in the hospitality sector to entice and satisfy the customers. Minazzi (2015)
opines that hotels are now paying special attention to make their official website more alluring
and dynamic. The different features and novelties offered by the hotels are engraved in the
website to adopt a more aggressive digital marketing campaign. Additionally, hotels are
embracing the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) feature more fervently to rank higher in the
results page. Employing SEO is a feature of good digital marketing campaign and invariably
leads to better return and volume (Leung, Law, Van Hoof and Buhalis 2013).
Researches in this domain have revealed that large hotels are exploiting SEO
techniques and are even outsourcing them to specialised entities to harness greater

returns (Kannan 2017). Aim of the digital marketing campaigns is to capitalise the transactional
and information potential of the digital marketing platform in order to entice customers and
bring volumes. As stated by Minghetti and Buhalis (2010) special emphasis and focus should be
given on the website itself to enhance the experiences of the customers. Both content and user
interface (UI) are given equal importance in making a website more useful and alluring for the
customers. Additionally, the aspect of functionality and navigation are explored to give a rich
experience to visitors and guests alike (Hudson and Thal 2013). Some of the distinct advantages
of using the digital marketing platforms are explored below:
2.2.1 Reaching New Customers
This is perhaps the most ubiquitous and apparent advantage of using digital media. With
a user base of 2.3 billion FB is presently the most popular social media platform. According to
Kumar (2011), combining other social media like G+, Twitter and Instagram the user base is
indeed massive and allows hotels a reach that traditional platforms cannot even match. Having a
strong presence on the social media also helps hotels in promoting events, services and facilities
to a wide number of potential consumers. All these can be achieved without spending a fortune
on marketing related expenses (Akter and Wamba 2016). Hotel marketers can reach out to
thousands of potential customers every day unlike conventional marketing platforms or
channels.
2.2.2 More Focused Approach
With digital marketing a more focused approach can be maintained. Marketers can
target who to approach based on their geographic location, preferences, interest,

age and many other aspects. Such focused approach enables the marketers to gain better
conversion rate and achieve higher Return on Investment (ROI) (Cabiddu et al. 2014).
2.2.3 Boosting the Branding
Studies have shown that hospitality sector is the second largest industry when it comes
to mobile engagement. More than 65 % of the hotels operating in this sector facilitate mobile
booking for their customers. These hotels have realised that allowing mobile friendly websites
actually helps in boosting their brand image as nearly 80% FB users use mobile platform for
accessing FB. As argued by Russell (2010) these social media platforms are one of the most
suitable platforms to boost brands and build brand loyalty. There are efforts from hotels to
build mobile applications for creating a more intimate relation with the customers (Bowie,
Buttle, Brookes and Mariussen 2016).
2.2.4 Increase Direct Bookings
This is another advantage of using the digital marketing platforms. Direct bookings
are beneficial for both the customers as well as the hotels since it does not involve paying
commission to middlemen. Additionally, direct bookings enhance the overall experience of
the customers. Direct hotel bookings have increased to almost $10 billion every year and are
estimated to increase in the coming years (Kannan 2017).

2.2.5 Hiring Efficient Employees
This is another overlooked but important benefit of digital marketing platform. Using
digital marketing platform allows hotels to tap into a big talent pool and find a perfect
candidate for a specific vacancy. Choosing the right person for the right job is imperative in
the hospitality industry and the digital platform offers a seamless experience to employers to
fill their employee base (Kim, Lim and Brymer 2015). Inversini and Masiero (2014) stated that
digital marketing activities should be consistent with the traditional marketing activities.
Digital marketing strategies mainly help the hotels to expand their customer base.
As pointed out by Zeng and Gerritsen (2014) digital marketing also stresses on the
authenticity of the product/ services. Therefore, it is no surprise that more and more hotels are
embracing the digital platform to spread brand awareness and attract customers from different
locations. For customers, using the digital platform helps in choosing from a wide number of
hotels and associated services (Gibbs, MacDonald and MacKay 2015). Studies within the
domain of hospitality marketing have revealed a definite pattern. Hotels are employing a
framework that includes a combination of digital marketing activities with communication mix
and proprietary business operations.
Ryan (2016) opines that value is given on interactions and relations and then these are
complimented with the legacy style of marketing. Hence, features of interactivity become the
main consideration in this age of relationship building. For customers the process starts when
they visit the hotel’s website and then moves on to provide promotion. Thereafter, the process
goes on to provide information which also builds relationship. Scott (2015) pointed out that
customer loyalty and trustworthiness can be achieved by providing.

reliable and useful information to the customers. Therefore, optimal result can be achieved
when internet is combined with marketing mix and business philosophy. Such integration will
easily lead to retaining existing customer and attracting new ones (Li, Wang and Yu 2015).
Adopting such a strategy will be beneficial for both the hotels and the customers paving to a
win-win situation.
2.3 Role of Social Media Marketing for Large Hotels
Within the field of digital marketing social media marketing forms an integral part. Just
like the digital marketing platforms, hotel business is also significantly influenced by social
media marketing. Inversini and Masiero (2014) analyzed the fact that experts have opined that
use of social media as marketing tools is at an early stage and therefore slated for tremendous
growth in the near future. Consequently, leveraging social media marketing within their overall
marketing campaigns have become a main strategy for hotels. Presently, websites and social
media are significant source of influencing customer decision making process (Neirotti, Raguseo
and Paolucci 2016). Today, social media plays an important role in delivering success for a
company, its products and services.
Earlier, entities would have to communicate with customers through conventional
platforms that were time consuming. Moreover, these communications were asynchronous and
did not provide any real time information. With the coming of the social media, interaction level
has increased manifold. According to Park and Tussyadiah (2017), the communication level has
been enriched by way of adding interactive multimedia content. By the use of social media
hotels can better understand the sentiment of the customers leading to accurate product and
service offerings. Some

of the popular social media platforms that are used by hotels include Facebook, Twitter, G+ and
Instagram. According to Minazzi (2015), these social media platforms are used by hotels to
monitor and moderate dialogue with the customers. Additionally, these platforms allow hotels to
give the communication process a personalised touch. Overall, social media marketing helps
hotels to mediate the interactions and gain valuable insights to ameliorate their service delivery
(Scott 2015).
According to Gibbs et al. (2015), social media platform is a place where interactions
between customers can also be tracked and valuable inputs can be obtained. Different social
media platforms have seen a phenomenal increase in their subscriber base. User comments and
reviews on these online forums are important sources for hotels to understand the mindset and
their preferences. Ryan (2016) states that the sphere of marketing there seen a significant
inclination towards social media marketing owing to the perceptible benefit that it offers.
Moreover, social media platforms provide the option to look beyond customary awareness and
conversion. Within the hospitality sector, the main aim is on increasing the satisfaction of the
guests so as to ensure repeat purchase and build brand loyalty. Here, the role media is crucial as
they provide a gamut of features and options to the marketers to specifically measure
satisfaction and devise future strategies (Turban et al. 2017). Additionally, platforms like FB
offer the opportunity to amplify positive reviews about a brand. For instance, a positive review
by a guest can be seen by other prospective guests/ clients thereby creating a genuine and
authentic impression about the brand.

The entities in the hospitality sector have realised that customers should be perceived
as an important part of their network. Thus, they are striving to connect with the customers
emotionally. Here, the platform of social media offers a convenient and cost-effective way to
connect emotionally (Wang et al. 2015).
Even though social media campaigns are less costly than the conventional platforms
they do have monetary implications. Therefore, it is vital for entities to calculate the Return on
Investment (ROI). From the discussion above, it can be observed that the biggest advantage of
social media platform is their efficiency. These platforms provide direct access to probable
customers (McDaniel and Gates 2013). Incisive marketing campaigns will yield considerable
cusses for business, develop brand advocates translating into better sales (Xiang et al. 2017).
Within the hospitality sector, moderate product differentiation exists and it is mainly the
service differentiation that is used to entice the customers.
Subsequently hotels need to make sure that they position themselves correctly in these
social media channels in order to increase footfalls. Decker, Kipping and Wadhwani (2015)
stated that keeping in view the user comments and reviews on online platforms many hotels are
tying up with review sites to increase their visibility. Renowned hotel chains try to align their
strategy and ensure cultural fit for holistic appeal of the marketing process (Zhao et al. 2015).
Some amount of experimentation within the marketing process can be seen but the elements of
responsibility, commitment, authority and professionalism are equally present. By roping in
third party agencies, these hotels are creating an authentic and consistent experience among the
user base that goes a long way in ensuring guest satisfaction. Having an in-person tone helps in
creating advertisements suitable to

individual tastes and preferences thereby leading to better conversion rates (Neirotti et al.
2016).
Social media allows marketers to understand the behavioural cue among the customers
more accurately. For instance, the demographic data available on FB can be called a treasure
trove for marketers. As observed by Fan and Gordon (2014) by understanding the past content
consumptions of the guests help in creating segments like business travellers, single-mothers,
college student, frequent flyers and more. Within social media marketing this is called intent
signals. Apart from intent signals some other cues/ signals that can be available from FB are
location signals, interest signals and demographic signals. Armed with this data hotels can
launch highly customised services which bring more guests and business (Turban et al. 2017).
Another important fact is that social media content is highly customisable that further helps the
marketers to shape their activities with little delay or impediment.
Xiang et al. (2017) state that such customised messages and campaigns make the
customers feel a part of the organisation and valued. This is crucial in creating loyal customers.
At the same time, studies in this discipline illustrate that within the platform of social media
airlines were the leading sector when it comes to using the social media platform (Fuller et al.
2016). To be precise, out of all advertisements, 54 % were from airlines, 11% from tour agents,
16 % from hotel chains and 14% from travel agents (Park and Tussyadiah 2017). Thus, there
exists further scope of improvement for hotels when it comes to marketing on the social media
platforms.

2.4 Challenges of Digital Marketing Platform in Hospitality Industry
The growth of digital marketing has brought about its share of lacunas. With the rise in
uses of smart phones digital transformation has been seen in the overall business environment.
According to Cantallops and Salvi (2014), present business dynamics require that entities stay up
to date and current in order to keep up with consumer preferences and maintain market share.
Now, a stage has come where digital marketing is not an option but a matter of survival.
Notwithstanding the numerous benefits of digital marketing there are associated challenges that
need to be explored by hotels to overcome the transformation to the digital phase (Milović 2012).
2.4.1 Challenge of Data Management
Data management within the sphere of digital marketing is an arduous one. The amount
of data is so large that they are extremely cumbersome to process through traditional software.
However, studies from Gillin (2008) have indicated that many entities deploy numerous siloed
systems each containing scraps of data. Proficient operation is unattainable is such data is not
organised into a single system. Having a centralised storing place further enhances the data
access across different departments leading to synergy and cohesive group work. Data solutions
are very useful in managing such vast amount of data (McCarthy et al. 2010).
2.4.2 Challenge of Forging the Right Team
As stated by Ryan (2016) digital marketing is a specialised sector that needs
professionals with precise expertise in this sphere. Individuals who are specialised in
traditional marketing most

often do not have the needed expertise to carry out transactions on this channel. A study by
Adobe titled “Digital Distress” reveals that many senior executives are not confident about
their digital marketing capabilities. Additionally, Park and Tussyadiah (2017) stated that
more than half the participants responded that their proficiency in digital marketing may not
be enough. Forging the right team with the right set of talent and skill set is crucial in reaping
rich dividend from the digital marketing activities. Having a team of proficient digital
marketers help hotels in implement new technologies and adapt seamlessly in ever changing
business environment (Fan and Gordon, 2014).
2.4.3 The Challenge of Understanding Customer Behaviour
Leung et al. (2013) stated that the expectations of today’s digital customers are quite
high and as a result driving entity to go out of their way to meet the demands/ needs. A
successful digital marketing puts the customer as the focus. These marketing efforts try to
understand the specific needs of the digital customer before individualising the marketing
process. Understanding the behaviour of the customer is indeed a challenge (Zhu and Zhang
2010). A big feature of the customer behaviour in this age of digital marketing is their volatility
or fluctuation. Marketers have to understand the pulse of the customers and make any necessary
changes to their marketing campaigns on a regular basis for staying relevant (Gillin 2008).
2.4.4 The Challenge of Transforming to a Mobile Platform
Today, majority of the transactions and interactions are taking place over mobile
devices. As stated by Leung, Bai and Stahura (2015) software which were used exclusively for
PCs not long ago are available on

the mobile platforms. Meeting the needs of the customers who predominantly use mobile is
indeed a challenge. Apart from incorporating digital marketing strategies the need of the hour is
to adopt a mobile friendly platform so that these hotels can stay in touch over the mobile
platform. Google has declared that it will be moving to a mobile-first indexing implying that
search engine result pages will give preference to mobile-friendly sites (Turban et al. 2017).
Thus, the onus is now on the mobile platforms and all these challenges should be taken together
with the aim of enhancing footfalls and enticing customers for hotels in the hospitality sector.
2.5 Future of Digital Marketing for Large Hotels
The future of digital marketing can be said to be a confluence of consumer behaviour,
technology and how hotels approach. This is the age of technology. Developments are taking
place at a fast pace. Hays, Page and Buhalis (2013) the existing technologies have a short
lifecycle and getting replaced in a shorter time span. At present, the thrust is on the digital
platforms to usher in the changes. Being a service-oriented industry, the hospitality sector has a
definite link with how services are being offered (Wang et al. 2015). There has been a
significant pace at which mobile connectivity has evolved over the last five years. Starting with
2G, 3G and now 4G, the trials of 5G services have already begun. In the near future, with the
help of 5G platform Artificial Intelligence will play a crucial role in driving digital marketing.
Gibbs, MacDonald and MacKay (2015) observed that Internet of Things (IoT) is
likely to become popular and hotels will have to understand the pulse of the market in order
to stay relevant. Mechanism is already in place to understand how bots (internet robots) can
help customers in navigating

websites and answer their queries on a 24*7 basis (Ryan, 2016). Going into the future, these
bots can assume the role of advisors to plan and manage the stay of guests. This indicates that
customers will start interacting and accepting non-human assistants implying further cultural
shift in this domain. Data is now considered an important asset and in the near future the
dependency on data will only increase. Across the different touch points, it will be imperative to
understand data and develop multichannel strategy to harness success (Li et al. 2015).
Another key development which will only increase in the future is wearables. Wearables
have fairly become common nowadays but how they impact the hospitality industry will only
become clear in the near future. With fitness and healthy living becoming a more common
agenda among the customers, these wearables will definitely see an increase their application
from checking in at hotels to self-service kiosks at the hotel lobbies (Akter and Wamba 2016).
The rise of personalised messaging and targeted advertising will also create definite changes in
the hospitality industry in the near future. Alvesson and Sandberg (2013) observed that
customers do not prefer broadcasted messages. Instead, they pay special attention to customised
and personalised messages.
Borges (2009) stated that for hotels, this offers opportunities as they can increase
customer engagement through community activities, encouraging feedbacks on social media
and content sharing. It has also been observed that in the near future the 5Ws of data will be
focussed. These 5Ws are When, Where, Who, Why and What (Bowie et al. 2016). These 5Ws
will guide the hospitality sector in creating content, advertising and developing brand
strategies. Hotels will do well in understanding the efficacy of the content placed on social
media. Here the sentiment analysis will play a key role in

ensuring timely and accurate information dispersal to hoteliers to enhance customer satisfaction
and hotel revenue. The aspect of sentiment analysis focuses on text-based information that is
freely available on the internet to develop competitive as well as strategic intelligence (Zeng
and Gerritsen 2014).
Alike data mining, text mining refers to exploring data in the text files to develop
valuable patterns, which signify trends and important trends about particular topics.
Constantinides (2014) observed that in context to the hospitality industry, it refers to scanning
of customer intelligence by the help of analysing digital platforms like Trip Advisor, Facebook
among others. Sentiment analysis also acquires customer intelligence by scanning other social
media platforms to enhance the internal knowledge of the management. There are three distinct
processes in the sentiment analytics process (Noone et al. 2011). It starts with extracting data,
goes onto transforming data by adding business logic and transforming data to set analytics.
According to Russell (2010), sentiment analysis works on the concept that much of the
conversation within the hospitality sector takes place outside the realm of customer-company
cycle.
Reviews can be made on a number of platforms forcing the different hotels to switch
from manual data interpretation to automated text analytics tool. Today, the use of sentiment
analysis is not much prevalent in the hospitality industry. However, Turban et al. (2017) stated
that in the near future there will be tremendous emphasis on data mining techniques to stay
ahead of the competition. Some of the important concepts that will be explored in this regard are
agile approaches, testing and learning methodology and continuous cycles (Kim et al. 2015).
Additionally, focus will be on managing the complexity of data that comes from numerous
sources and platforms.

The hospitality industry will rely more heavily on data set for understanding individual
preferences of the customers. Going into the future, digital marketing will gather more pace, and
this will enable small hotels to have more say (Hudson and Thal 2013). Such development will
invariably increase the competition and big hotels will have to maintain their niche positioning
by virtue of judicious marketing strategies. Special attention will be given to customers and how
they interact on the web platforms in order to understand priorities. Location-based advertising
and hyper-personalisation will take the centre stage in the future (Leung et al. 2015). Even
though augmented reality and virtual reality appear costly now, they are other emerging trends
and will develop fast. With augmented reality, hotels are looking at ways to make travel
experience more seamless and to enjoy a transformative experience. LeCompte and Bear (2017)
stated that features like 3D scans and 360 photos would allow a person to step inside a room to
experience a room before they book. Similarly, through Virtual Reality (VR) guests can be
engaged with VR tours. The aspect of VR is already popular in the gaming industry now but will
have clear manifestations for leisure and health care industry in the future. Lastly, estimates by
Gartner reveal that there will be 100 million consumers making use of Augmented Reality (AR)
making it one of the most significant developments of the future (Tatar and Eren-Erdoğmuş
2016).

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
The importance of the methodology section is that it provides an analysis of the methods
that are used for the development of the research in a proper manner (Walliman 2017). This
research is based entirely on secondary data analysis. The methodology chapter can be further
broken down as follows:
3.2 Theory of Research
3.2.1 Introduction
One of the most important parts of the research is the methodology section. Methodology
consists of a number of activities used for recognising, selecting and evaluating information on
that research topic. In a research primary data, secondary data or a combination of the two can be
used. There exit different methods to collect these data and information (Silverman 2016). In
case primary research method is used data is collected directly from the participants.
Questionnaire, interviews, surveys are the chosen method of collecting the answers. In this case,
collection of primary data may be based on the information gathered from social media. The
sample and sampling technique can be random sampling method by taking into account only the
people providing opinion via social media. Normally, with primary research the accuracy is
expected to be high. Other benefit of primary data is they are current and reliable. At the same
time, primary research is costlier and time consuming. There can be instances of high bias in
primary data (McDaniel 2013).
Some other research follows the secondary research where the data is collected from
existing work like the literature review. The prime benefit of using secondary data is that they
involve little

monetary expenditure. Since data has already been collected and refined, evaluation can be
started immediately without the need to prepare it. However, a main drawback of using
secondary research method is that credibility of the data collection process is unknown (Kothari
2004). As an example, it may not be feasible to understand how profoundly the data is affected
by misunderstanding interview questions or low rate of response. The research topic here is
‘Importance of Digital Marketing for Hilton’ that has been addressed through a secondary and
qualitative research method. Qualitative research method is non-numerical method that looks to
establish pattern and applies to all that information that cannot numerically expressed. Apart
from qualitative method, there can be quantitative method that deals with analysing numerical
data (Kumar 2011). A research can employ qualitative method, quantitative method or a
combination of both (mixed method). This research is based on secondary research method and
uses qualitative data analysis.
3.2.2 Methodology
Methodology may be defined as the process of collecting data and how it is filtered to
bring out useful information that can aid future researches. Methdology identifies the activities
that are required to be adopted for a research (Fuller et al. 2016). In this case, the philosophy,
approach and research design need to be taken into account for the development of the research
methodology. For example, the applicaton and use of positivism philosophy can help in the
scientific analysis of the data. The research approach that can be used is the deductive
approach so that a proper conclusion can be made that can help in meeting the research
questions and the objectives. The research design includes the descriptive design so that a
proper and elaborate description of the topic and the factors can be discussed. Along with
these, the methodologies also provide the difference between the collection of primary and
secondary data. In the research, secondary mode of analysis is used that can help in identifying
the themes that exist as per the topic.

3.2.3 Method
The research follows a qualitative research method using secondary data. The biggest
advantage of qualitative research method is that results are dependable and can be generalised
to a greater population. According to Alvesson and Sandberg (2013), qualitative research
methods are predominantly used in behavioural studies. The research is related to Hilton Hotel
in the UK and cannot be generalised to other smaller hotels in the hospitality sector. One of the
key benefits of using the secondary data is that it provides extensive data that has been
subsequently used to make valid deduction. Thereby, the application of the deductive design for
the completion of the research is applicable. At the same time, deductive approach may provide
opportunities for the analysis of any scientific theory by the application of positivism
philosophy. Themes are to be used for conducting the data analysis so that a proper insight can
be gained for the development of every aspect that affect digitalization at the Hilton Hotel in
the UK. It is vital to understand the emotional aspect since it is the emotional aspect that entices
customers towards brand Hilton.
3.2.4 Secondary Research
As has been stated earlier, only secondary data has been collected to carry out this
research work. The application of the secondary research helps in understanding the importance
of digital marketing for Hilton Hotel in the UK. Secondary research collected for the literature
review purpose has been used as examples for the analysis of the data. Another important
platform from where useful information was available was the official website of the company.
The Hilton Hotel UK website displays different offers and promotions available to

the customers. Additionally, the company’s activity on other social media channels were tracked
and compared with its activity on the official page. From the study of it was understood that
Hilton was going big with digital marketing. It also undertook hotel reservations and grievance
management through these platforms. The purpose of the secondary data collection is to gain a
deeper understanding of the impact of digitalization and the manner in which a company like
Hilton Hotel can adopt it in order to remain progressive in the society.
Another key consideration was to take inferences from the existing literature sources. A key
word approach was used to identify pertinent literature and make out key set of research data.
Keywords used for this purpose were ‘usefulness of digital marketing for hotels’, ‘Digital
marketing in hospitality industry’, ‘Role of digital marketing for hotels’ ‘Importance of digital
marketing in hospitality’. The purpose of the key words is that it can help in refining the data
search. The relation of the use of keywords can be related with the identification of a sample
method in case of primary collection of data mainly because refining of the population for
conducting the research is done. While conducting an analysis of the social media sites, primary
research can be used. Here, it needs to be mentioned that only peer reviewed articles, journals
should be used as the information on blogs, and other websites can be biased.
3.3 Assessment of the Research
3.3.1 Reliability
The aim of the data collection process was to obtain suitable and reliable data.
Reliability can be defined as constancy across items, researches and time. Reliability of the use
of qualitative data can be ensured by identifying relevant websites that provide authentic data
related to the topic. At the same time, it may be mentioned here that reliability of a research can
be subjective (LeCompte and Bear 2017). To ensure that a research has a high reliability only
data from trusted sources have been used. However, there is always room for improvement.

Introspecting on the data collection process, some more studies could have been chosen or more
time could have been allotted for the study.

3.3.2 Validity
Validity indicates the soundness of a research. In simple parlance, validity measures
how well an instrument measures what it is supposed to measure. Validity is applicable with
the design as well as methods of the research. Validity of the qualitative data was ensured by
getting back to the research questions. Data that fit the research questions were taken as valid
implying the aspect of face validity. Other types of validity are construct validity, criterion-
related validity, formative validity and sampling validity. Validity can also be classified into
internal validity and external validity (Noble and Smith 2015). Research findings can be
internally invalid if the data interpretations cannot be supported clearly. On the other hand,
external validity is the extent to which the findings can be generalised/ related to other group/
subjects. For this research, it may be opined that there is high external validity as the digital
marketing platforms and their importance applies equally to other hotels in this industry.
3.3.3 Generalisability
Research generalisability can be expressed as the expansion of the research findings
from a small sample population to a greater population. In context to this research, it may be
commented that the result is highly generalisable as it can be applied for other hotels as well.
Greater the sample size/ secondary source more is the chance of realistic generalisation of the
results/ findings. In case a research has high generalisability, the findings can be applied to
other research works (Decker, Kipping and Wadhwani 2015). Hence, it may be opined that the
research generalisability could have been strengthened further by incorporating primary
research method.

3.3.4 Limitations and Further Research
The limitations of the use of qualitative research are that chances of gaining an
appropriate data for the research may be weak. Fake data can be available that may comprise the
quality of the research. The official website of Hilton Hotel in the UK may not be available all
time for gaining information about the strategies of the company. At the same time, the data that
has been collected need to be based by following the rules stated in the Data Protection Act
1998. The application of the qualitative research can restrict gaining direct insight about the
mentality of the people.
It is always difficult to choose the best data collection method for a research (Fuller et al
2016). For this research there were different data collection methods to choose before finally
selecting that one research method for this work. At the same time, the research could have
been bolstered by using primary data. Additionally, more secondary data sources could have
been used to develop a broader perspective on the research topic.

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS
4.1 Introduction
This chapter will evaluate the findings of the previous studies carried out on the topic
of digital marketing platform and its suitability to the hospitality sector. This paper will
evaluate five research works and from their findings understand the role of social media in the
hospitality sector.
4.2 Impact of Online Consumer Reviews on Sales
The study by Zhu and Zhang (2010) is useful in understanding how product
characteristics and consumer characteristics have an influence on online consumer reviews
ultimately affecting the sales. Even though the research was conducted on the video gaming
industry the findings can be related to the hospitality industry. The article is useful to
understand the differential impact of customer reviews across various products (Akter and
Wamba 2016). Findings from the article reveal that online reviews are more cogent for less
popular games. The implications of such results in context to the greater presence of niche
products in last few years have been discussed. Additionally, as stated by Alvesson and
Sandberg (2013) online reviews are also more influential for players who have significant
gaming experience on the internet platform.
According to Borges (2009), these online reviews do have a perceptible effect on how
consumers perceive a brand and therefore managers must undertake concrete measures to
improve their organisations’ visibility on the digital platform. The statistic shows that most
reviews had been on the quality of the services provided. Bad service can be easily published
via the website and blogs and can have a severe impact on the reputation of hotels. Similarly,
for Hilton Hotel, this can be considered as a major challenge as the reviews provided may have
the power to deplete it reputation among its competitors. As seen from the statistics,

improvement in the innovation of Hilton Hotel and the changes in quality had been the major
focus. At the same time, in 2017 Hilton hotel had undergone a major change in the decorum.
Figure 1: Customer review platforms
(Source: Hilton.com 2018)
4.3 Social Media in Tourism and Hospitality
The digital media and the social media in particular have been one of the mega trends to
have impacted the tourism sector. The review by Leung, Law, Van Hoof and Buhalis (2013) is
based on content analysis of articles from both points of view of customers and the suppliers. On
the customer side, as stated by Gillin (2008) the study focused on the impact of the social media
in the process of travel planning. On the suppliers’ side, the study analysed articles that
discussed aspects of promotions, R andD and management. The work is an exhaustive one and
consults 44 relevant studies to understand how present-day travellers rely on the web platform
while making a decision. Hays, Page and Buhalis (2013) observed that eighty four percent of
leisure travellers used the internet as a planning tool for booking rooms at the Hilton Hotel.
Additionally, a traveller’s planning process comprised of three stages: pre-trip, during-trip and
post-trip. At all these stages, social media played a vital role. On the supplier-related side five

important components of communication, promotion, management, RandD and product
distribution were evaluated (LeCompte and Bear 2017).
The study reveals that there has been a lack of direct interaction between customers and
the hotels before confirming any type of booking date. Hilton Hotel has also placed significant
onus has been placed on word-of mouth information sources for travel planning. According to
Inversini and Masiero (2014), off late, a shift can be perceived where more and more travelers
are
31

relying on the online platforms like Google, Trip Advisor, Trivago and other popular web
platforms. For Hilton Hotel, social media platform also becomes important from the supplier’s
side of view.
Figure 2: Social media
(Source: Cabiddu, De Carlo and Piccoli 2014)
4.4 Social Media Marketing in Tourism and Hospitality
The work by Minazzi (2015) explores the influence of social media in tourism by
analysing important trend/ phenomenon: Word of Mouth (WOM), Brand Valuation and ICTs.
The nature of offerings by the travel and tourism sector has been the main propellant for the
growth of social media in this industry. Even then, the entities in this industry are yet to tap the
full potential of the social media to harness greater returns. The work especially draws light to
the issue of customer engagement on social media and how it can be further developed by
entities to bring volumes for the organisations. The research has carried out by an in-depth
literature review and investigation of business practices.
The field of social media is an emerging domain and Hilton Hotel can use it for
understanding the behavior of the tourists, corporate communication and decision-making.

Hilton Hotel focuses on two main themes related to social media marketing that includes nexus
between traditional marketing communication and Word of Mouth (WOM). As stated by Fan
and Gordon (2014) the implications of WOM are done mainly on advertising and Brand Value.
Hilton Hotel can improve its brand value if it creates and invests in the marketing activities with
the aim of influencing consumers’ mindset (Borges 2009). In particular, the hotel can follow
three brand valuation approaches that relate to the cost-based approaches, market-based
approaches and income approaches.

Going into the future, Hilton Hotel will do well to understand the ways to evaluate a brand vis-à-
vis the cost implications and their ultimate impact on the company’s bottom line.
4.5 The Impact of Social Media on the Consumer Decision Process
The decision-making process has changed significantly with the advent of the social
media. This research by Hudson and Thal (2013) illustrates how the consumers interact with
the different brands in the wake of proliferation of different social media.
Within the hospitality industry, this level of interaction is at an emerging state and thus brands
will do well in augmenting the way they interact with the consumers. Some of the important
criteria fixed by the authors to understand this phenomenon of interaction between the guests and
the hotels were the level of the web content, user-friendliness of the website, details of the hotel
property and level of interaction with the consumers.
The research indicates that perceptive marketing managers are already reaping the
benefits of social media marketing. For example, in order to engage the guests, Hilton Hotel
has managed to ensure that every customer is aware of the services provided by virtue of
conversation. As the platform of social media is highly accessible by millions of other guests
and users’ efforts are made to develop the brand within the media so that enough customers
can be attracted. Additionally, marketing efforts need to concentrate on the mobile platform
with focus on emerging trends. The digital environment is rapidly changing, and it is necessary
that Hilton Hotel change its modus operandi on a constant basis to maintain its momentum in
this digital age. The statistics show that social media can have a positive as well as negative
impact upon a business. Reviews provided on social media can negate the progress of Hilton
Hotel mainly because people reading the reviews may feel reluctant to be involved with the
hotel. It not only affects the customers but also can have an impact on the employability rate of
the hotel. For example, if Hilton Hotel pays less than the average salary to an employee, the

reputation of the hotel in terms of people management can be bad. This might lead to loss of
employees from the hotel and exert more pressure in improving the services
Figure 3: Social media impact
(Source: Fuller et al. 2016)

4.6 Digital Divide in Tourism
The research work by Minghetti and Buhalis (2010) discusses the digital divide and the
manner in which an integrated framework can benefit the tourists and the destinations alike.
Tourism has been an important creator of wealth at local and global levels. Within this industry,
the different players operating can benefit significantly by the diffusion of Information and
communication technologies (ICTs). Specifically, the confluence of internet, informatics and
multi-media has empowered the tourists and the destinations to strengthen their interaction
without any impact on the search and distribution costs. As stated by Noble and Smith (2015)
although tourism is, a global industry there exists a strong centre-periphery relationship. This is
because majority of the destinations are located in peripheral, less developed areas.
The potential from the diffusion of ICTs is more visible in these peripheral regions and
scope exists whereby communication and informatics are bolstered in order to benefit the
different parties engaged in this sector (Gibbs, MacDonald and MacKay 2015). Theoretical
paradigms discussed in this research work are economic and technical models, socio technical
models and social capabilities models. The paper further classifies tourism markets based upon
the accessibility of ICT resources. These are ‘High digital access tourists’, ‘upper digital access
tourists’, ‘medium digital access tourists’ and ‘low digital access tourists. There exists a digital
gap between the supply and the demand side within the tourism industry (McDaniel and Gates
2013). Going forward, the main causes of digital exclusion among the tourists and the
destinations can be explored on a case-to-case basis for devising specific recourses.

Figure 4: Digital division
(Source: Minazzi 2015)
It can be seen from the statistics that the digital division is largely on the people living in
the United Kingdom territories. Foreign tourists that come to visit the country seek help from
travel agencies in the UK in order to book Hilton Hotel. However, as stated by McCarthy, Stock
and Verma (2010) British residents across the county use the mobile applications and the
internet in order to book places at the hotel. The use of digitalization among the rural people is
also high as opposed to the people residing in the urban areas. The stats suggest that the speed of
internet plays a major role in the division of digitalization (Noone, McGuire and Rohlfs 2011).
It is for this reason that the people residing near the cities or business areas get more access to
the use of internet.

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Conclusion
The conclusion focuses on the impact of digitalization and the manner in which it has
played an important role for the development of modern hotels such as Hilton Hotel in the UK.
The analysis of the literature review provides an idea about the effectiveness of digital
marketing. It has been seen that Internet marketing is the new form of search engine marketing
that provides hotels with an analysis of the potential customers.
The analysis of the literature review shows that with the rise of social media there has
been a paradigm shift in different industries and how business transactions are carried out. The
objective for this study was to analyze the importance digital platforms in the hospitality sector
by referring to Hilton Hotel in the UK. A strong presence in the social media can increase and
improve the opportunities of gaining customers in the business. The aim of the research is to
understand the application of digitalization on Hilton Hotel. From the literature review, an idea
can be gained about the modernization of the society and the activities that every hotel sector
need to undertake in order to attain competitive advantage. It can also be concluded that using
digitalization or social media platforms can help in understanding the behavior of the customers.
This is because the customers provide feedback about the experiences received and this can be
adopted by Hilton Hotel in order to improve. However, challenges remain in converting the
services into a mobile application but the rapid rise of technology and the technical
advancement of the customers can help in the growth of digitalization in the future.
35

5.2 Answering the Research Questions
5.2.1 What are the Advantages of Digital Marketing for Hotels?
The uses of digital marketing within the domain of hospitality sector are
comparatively an emerging trend. Alike other sector, this sector has also witnessed a surge of
digital marketing campaigns in the recent years with both the sellers (hotels) and the buyers
(consumers) getting distinct advantages of the digital platform. As stated by Leung et al. (2013),
the internet is popularly used by the customers for booking hotels. Similarly, the study noted that
for sellers (hotels), digital marketing platform is comparatively cheap, provides more reach, lend
a more concentrated marketing approach, boost the brand and even helps in hiring the right
employees. With the rise of new technologies, the aspect of digital branding will only increase in
the future. Going into the future, as the age of 5G, Internet of Things (IOT) and AI draws near it
is the right time for the brands to make the most of ICTs and specifically the digital platforms.
This work takes a holistic approach, covers both the demand and supply side of the tourism
sector, and sums up the situation correctly as a win-win situation for the hospitality sector.
5.2.2 What is the Role of digital Marketing for Hilton Hotels, UK?
Within the domain of digital marketing, the social media marketing occupies a central
part. The rise of web platforms and proliferation of smart phones has increased the use of social
media immensely particularly in the last decade. Astute entities quickly understood the role of
social media in the marketing process and now marketing on social media platform has become
the new norm in Hilton Hotel. Social media offers significant benefit

as can be made out from existing literatures on this discipline. The study by Scott (2015) draws
light to the power of social media in knowing the customers very closely. In fact, the use of
social media platform such as FB, Twitter, G+ Instagram can help Hilton Hotel to gain close
glimpses on the customers. Knowing the customers well covers first half of the job of
marketing. Another apparent benefit of social media is its reach. The platform of FB alone has
a user base of 2.3 billion (Scott 2015). Combining with this the instantaneousness of social
media, marketers have a truly potent tool for Hilton Hotel. Connecting with the potential
customers is so much easier with the social media platform and that too in a convenient and
friendly manner. For Hilton Hotel, the platform of social media offers a focused approach that
is lacking in other contemporary channels. Apart from allowing targeting of a very specific
demographic, it is also cheaper. Last but not the least is the aspect of branding. It has been seen
that Hilton Hotel uses social media as the perfect platform to represent the brand directly to the
consumers. The use of social media can be done to carry out even reservations and direct
bookings to offer customers a complete experience starting from travel planning (Minazzi
2015).
5.2.3 What are the Challenges of Digital Marketing in Hilton Hotel?
The challenges of the digital platform warrant a close look for the companies to
better devise their future strategies and tackle any impediments. According to Zhu and Zhang
(2010), what is boon of the digital platform is its bane also if not managed correctly. In the
case of Hilton Hotel, due to the rapid reach and high visibility of the social media platform
negative reviews can quickly hamper the brand name. In the near future having an online
presence will be a matter of survival and will not generate any competitive

advantage. Therefore, Hilton Hotel needs to look out for newer ways in enticing customers
constantly. The work by Hudson and Thal (2013) draws particular attention to the challenge
of managing big data and forging the right team. The data management will be a big topic for
Hilton Hotel in the near future. Managing the big data on cloud can be considered as a
challenge for Hilton Hotel as the hotel may fail to provide the customers with an authentic
application of the technologically developed services.
Another significant observation here is the dearth of specialists in the digital marketing
platform. The lack of familiarity among the use of technology compels the restricted application
of digitalization in the hotel. Hilton Hotel can create new posts such as Digital Optimiser, Chief
Data Officer for dealing exclusively with digital marketing efforts of the hotel (Inversini and
Masiero 2014). Another common but significant challenge for Hilton Hotel will be to deal with
malware attacks and hacking attempts. This can be considered as the most common challenge
mainly because rival restaurants can recruit hackers for gaining an insight about the systems
used in Hilton Hotel.
5.2.4 What is the Future of Digital Marketing for Hilton Hotel, UK?
The platform of social media is going strong and is expected to reach a user base of 3
billion by the end of 2020. Presently Facebook is the strongest platform with a user base of 2.3
billion active users followed by YouTube and WeChat (WhatsApp and Messenger are owned by
FB). Hilton Hotel need to continue with the development of the technology and the
digitalization of its services so that development can take place within the restaurant. Hilton
Hotel can develop interest of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) in the tourism
and hospitality sector. Presently VR is popular in the gaming industry and has tremendous
potential in the hospitality sector. The study by Kannan

(2017) also discussed how video marketing could be useful in bringing volumes for large
hotels. Depending on the marketing needs several promotional videos can be created by Hilton
Hotel to promote its brand. Some important types are Brand videos, Event videos, Destination
videos, 360-degree videos, live videos. For Hilton Hotel, adopting a mobile-first approach will
be mandatory going into the future. Google has already rolled out mobile-first indexing all over
the globe in March 2018. Consequently, with mobile SEO is gaining ground and having a
mobile friendly website will be a necessity for Hilton Hotel (Park and Tussyadiah 2017).
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Appendices
Appendix A
Customer review platforms
Appendix B
Social media

Appendix C
Social media impact
Appendix D
Digital division
Appendix E
Ethical form