Research Project: Social Media's Influence on Hotels (Holiday Inn)

This research project critically analyzes the impacts of social media on the hotel industry, specifically focusing on the Holiday Inn Hotel-Camden Lock Hotel in London. The research aims to understand the meaning and types of social media, determine its applications in the hospitality industry, explore its impacts on the case study hotel, and suggest ways to improve social media use. The methodology employed a positivism research philosophy, an inductive approach, and a descriptive research design, using both primary and secondary data collected from the marketing department through purposeful sampling. The findings reveal that Holiday Inn actively uses social media, with Facebook being the most utilized platform, primarily to gain customer attention and engagement. Social media has enabled bidirectional conversations and generated higher converting leads, meeting the organization's business objectives. The study concludes with recommendations for the hotel to improve its social media strategy, including better headlines, customizable posting features, and timely information sharing to increase customer engagement. The project offers valuable insights into how hotels can leverage social media for marketing and customer relationship management.

TO CRITICALLY ANALYZE THE IMPACTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON HOTEL
INDUSTRY: A STUDY ON HOLIDAY INN HOTEL-CAMDEN LOCK HOTEL,
LONDON
Research project

Research aim and objecitves
Research aim – To critically analyze the impacts
of social media on hotel industry: A study on
Holiday Inn Hotel-Camden Lock Hotel, London
Research objectives –
To understand the meaning of social media and
its different types
To determine the applications of social media
initiative for hospitality industry of London
To explore the impacts cause by social media on
Holiday Inn Hotel-Camden Lock Hotel, London
To suggest the new ways by which Holiday Inn
Hotel-Camden Lock, London should increase the
effective use of social media for various benefits.

Research Methodology
Research philosophy: Positivism research
philosophy
Research approach: Inductive approach
Research design: Descriptive research design
Data collection: Primary and secondary
sources of data collection
Sampling: Purposeful sampling
Sample Size: 20 respondents of marketing
department
Data analysis: Qualitative technique

Theme 1: Most of the employees working in marketing
department of Holiday Inn Hotel-Camden Lock, London from
more than 3 years.

Theme 2: Holiday Inn Hotel is actively showing
the presence on social media

Theme 3: Facebook social media platform is most widely
used by Holiday Inn Hotel.

Theme 4: Gain attention of customers is the main aim of Holiday Inn
Hotel behind using social media platforms.

Theme 5: Ongoing customer engagement is one of the most important
applications of social media for Holiday Inn Hotel

Theme 6: An Enable bidirectional conversation is characteristic of social
media influences Holiday Inn Hotel to adopt the following platform

Theme 7: Generate higher converting leads is the major impact cause by
social media on Holiday Inn Hotel.

Theme 8: Social media platform uses by Holiday Inn Hotel
able to meet the business objectives of the organization

Theme 9: Social media has increased the customer
engagement in various activities of Holiday Inn Hotel.