The hospitality industry includes industries such as hotels, theme parks, restaurants, cruises and tourism agencies, etc.  When it comes to the marketing of products and services for the hospitality industry they are using social media to get their information across. Social media helps the industry gain data in their services and customer satisfaction. A study by Madden and Zickuhr (2011) “reported that 65% of U.S. adult Internet users (50% of all U.S. adults) now use social networking sites, more than double the percentage reported in 2008 (29%) and that 43% of online adults use social networking sites daily.” (Leung, Xi Y., Billy Bai and Kurt A. Stahura). One social media site is Facebook, Facebook allows companies to create their own page and send information about their hotels, restaurants, and or travel locations to its followers. They can also pay to advertise on Facebook so it is made public to everyone using the site. The Hospitality industry can use social media to connect with their potential clientele. Social media is new and the advantages are wide-spread. It is a cost-efficient way of promoting the brand of a company. Social media has a positive effect on the efficiency of the hospitality industry.

 

Social media is used a great deal by the hospitality industry to promote company’s specific brands and get feedback from the customers. They can see what the customers like and don’t like and how they could improve their company. As more and more companies join the social media movement it is becoming a stronger type of marketing. American Hotel & Lodging Association and STR had surveys where “93 percent of hotel businesses are using social networking sites (SNSs) for marketing, a 10 percent increase from 83 percent in 2012” (Ajay Aluri, Lisa Slevitch, Robert Larzelere) Companies are using social media to attract customers to book a stay or purchase something from the company. There was study done that found there is a positive relationship between social interaction and traveler satisfaction after the customer trip. The research looked at another group with no social interaction on social media sites with the company and found that their levels of satisfaction were less than the ones with social media interaction. The social media sites considered in this experiment were Facebook (88%), Twitter (79%), and YouTube (57%). These sites were used by 50 percent or more hotel brands. The studies found that there was a positive relationship between perceived information and traveler satisfaction. People who used the hotel website with social media showed higher levels of positive influence, because “the path between perceived informativeness and traveler satisfaction was stronger (β = .53, p < .001) compared with the sample group who did not have access to embedded social media channels (β = .50, p < .001).” (Ajay Aluri). This research shows that companies that have social media aspects in their personal website are more likely to attract customers. Customers are attracted to interactions with social media and it influences their decision-making process, it is typically more helpful when the customers like the social media site more.

 

Another aspect of social media and the positive effect on the hospitality industry is the use of Yelp. Yelp is a consumer driven website that people sign up for and they give reviews on restaurants they have been to. There was a study done to see the impact of Yelp reviews on why they left comments and the revenue created. Out of 72 responses 56 percent were female while 44 per cent were male. 96 percent had some college or more education 56 per were married or living with a partner. They tried to closely match demographics with Yelps. The two most common reasons for them sharing to Yelp were, they wanted to share their experiences with other consumers in online communities and help others with their own positive experiences. Another study done by Michael Luca in 2011 found that for every one-star increase Yelp review was followed by a 5-9 percent increase in the restaurants revenue. Yelp is a great investment for companies because the power of informing people has shifted from the providers to the consumers. And people are more likely to trust the consumers because there is no bias. Restaurants can communicate with the customers leaving the reviews for them on their restaurants page. The restaurants can comment and thank reviewers for reviews or ask what they can do to improve if there isn’t a positive one. They do this because Yelp is a widely reliable source for people to look at when choosing to eat. People are more inclined to try a restaurant with positive reviews. When Restaurants reassure users to leave helpful reviews it creates a good impression for future customers. Restaurateurs can make this happen by having events for people using Yelp. Restaurateurs should have the community get on board to build their image. If restaurants post updates on the business they can get more people coming in to dine with them. Customers feel involved with the restaurant and they will become a loyal customer and get other customers to come.

 

Two of the most common social media sites used by the hospitality industry are Facebook and Twitter. It is also known Facebook and Twitter are the two most useful social media channels for marketing purposes in the hospitality industry. There was research done that sampled 50% (102) males and 50% (102) females in two groups. Customers’ experiences on a hotel social media page influenced their attitude toward a social media site. (β = .84 for both the Facebook and Twitter groups, PS < .001)” that led to Customers’ attitudes the hotel toward hotel brand. “(β = .92 and β = .90 for the Facebook and Twitter groups, respectively, PS < .001)” Then eventually leads to customers’ attitudes to hotel booking intentions. “(β = .51 and β = .50 for the Facebook and Twitter groups, respectively, PS < .001).” (Leung, Xi Y., Billy Bai and Kurt A. Stahura) The results are in the percentile for example that means experience on the hotel social media sit influence on attitude for social media site is in the 84 percentiles and so forth. The results show that if companies want to have more success in getting their brand out and securing more bookings they should make an appealing site that informs the customer and what’s going on with the hotel. For example, “In November 2009, Sheraton introduced a new website that connects with Facebook, allowing visitors to post their “Sheraton stories” this led to an increase in customer satisfaction and bookings.

 

A useful aspect about social media is it gives industries tons of data to look through. In the hospitality industry, specifically hotels they are using more Intelligence Technology (IT). They are using special programs to mine data about across the entire internet. They are looking at what Customers like, what they don't like, their recent bookings etc. For example, The Peabody Hotel uses IT to see which guests will never stay again, and see the reasoning behind it. The data can see if it is a specific issue or an employee. “The company estimates this use of BI saves them about $120,000 a year in potential lost revenue” (Korte, Diane, Thilini Ariyachandra and Mark Frolick) Another example in the hotel industry is the Ritz Carlton hotels have a system called “internal failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA)‟ it looks at data collectively to understand the bigger picture issues rather than smaller issues. It operates by looking at guest comment cards and feedback surveys. The data is analyzed and rated based on severity. Their customer service scores went up seven points since 2004. Technology affects the hotel experience. Hotels use social networking to attract customers. They offer things like geo-located deals, check-in discounts and more through social media.  This creates a community feeling in the hotel industry. They use smartphone apps and reviews to get customer loyalty. Some bars and restaurants are even posting recipes online to attract a wide variety of customers. (Roger G. Hill)

 

As seen Marketing is essential to the hospitality industry. Dr. Bonn a professor at the Deadman School of Hospitality at Florida State University, goes into more detail about Hospitality and social media. Social media is used “primarily for positive exposure (Facebook), and to increase traffic rapidly (Twitter). Developing a loyal fan base and providing general insight into product offerings is also important (Loyalty programs). So, SM is used by hospitality businesses primarily for 3 purposes: A. creating positive visual images of their properties, B. for creating videos or infomercials, and C. for Blogging. SM is used by operations with respect to soliciting, measuring and managing customer satisfaction issues and especially for handling guest complaints; for promoting events directly to segmented target markets; to maintain awareness about the brand; as a method for which individuals can develop a social relationship with based upon their common interests in things like restaurant programs involving wine; overall advertising.” His response to revenue created by social media is as follows “Every SM-campaign is different, so revenue generated by these efforts vary quite extensively. They are also quite sensitive to the amount of lead time the business invests in the marketing campaign. Sometimes marketing works well but sometimes it does not work well and the reasons are many for both. Depending upon the cost of goods related to the product you were trying to market, you may be satisfied with a 10%-15% ROI. Depending upon the purpose of the marketing effort your strategy would be to use certain marketing tactics to help offset slow periods of sales but not at the risk of deep discounting your normal customers. Today, with social media, marketing should be constantly on-going and used as an informational strategy, basically to maintain your current percent of share while providing hi satisfaction levels to you repeat guests so they are able to spread the word to others about how pleased they have been with the concept, and therefore why their friends should also try the concept. Once you have developed your customer base of highly satisfied consumers your marketing costs and marketing efforts will pay for themselves in handsome royalties, as the word about your concept will be spread by others and not as much by your SM- efforts.” The negative effects of marketing occur when “businesses cannot deliver the promise they market, they will end up failing miserably in the eyes of the consumer.” The hardest part about marketing on social media in the hospitality industry is “keeping up with the changing needs of today's consumers for new products and services; today many consumers are highly educated about hospitality services and offerings because the social media allows them to gain information about topics immediately. They come to businesses highly educated about products and services and so their expectations are much higher than those of consumers just 10 to 15 years ago. Loyalty is an issue. New concepts and changes in products by competitors keep hospitality businesses constantly on edge.” When it comes to pop culture Dr. Bonn agrees that it has a huge effect on hospitality and how it evolves “pop culture is specific to generational issues therefore hospitality products and services that are tempting to target the pop culture segment of our society should understand the best ways to deliver those messages through social media. FB, Twitter, etc. work very well but they are also used by pop-culture to slander others which is very dangerous for any business. So, hospitality businesses should be prepared to react to these kinds of comments on social media venues immediately.”

 

According to Simon Hudson & Karen Thal companies are not using social media that engage customers in the most important parts of the decision-making process. They are not interacting with them enough during the pre-experience helpful way. The hospitality industry does not influence the consumer before the customers decide to choose the specific hotel or restaurant. They are failing to do this and failing to make their brand expand on social media and fail to create a loyal customer base. Social media is not being taken advantage of in the hospitality industry because “social media still accounts for less than 1% of an average marketing budget” (Hudson, Simon and Karen Thal) That is too mall of an amount if they want to make any sort of presence in the social media world. Companies can spend more of their budgets on advertising on certain social media site specifically Facebook or Twitter.

 

The importance of social media is continuously growing and having a tremendous effect on the world. Social media is used so many people worldwide it makes it easy to connect to one another even if we’re half way across the world. People around the world use social media to express themselves in what they like and don’t like. They can do this for products, hotels, websites, political agendas, etc. Today, you can go on any social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat and see celebrity figures such as athletes, artists and actors promoting their own brands or brands of products they support. That’s exactly what the hospitality industry is trying to accomplish with their use of social media. They are trying to spread their brand awareness and customer loyalty.

 

 

 

Works Cited

1.  Aluri Ajay, Slevitch Lisa, Larzelere Robert. "The Influence of Embedded Social Media Channels on Travelers’ Gratifications, Satisfaction, and Purchase Intentions." 2015 December 2015., Cornell hospitality quarterly, IS: 1938-9655, Volume: 57, Issue: 3, Page: 250-267, DOI: 10.1177/1938965515615685

 

1. Bansal, Roli. "E-Marketing and the Hotel Industry: Calculating Web Presence Index (Wpi) for the Hospitality Sector." 01 April 2014. International journal of online marketing,2156-1753, 04/01/2014

 

1. Hudson, Simon and  Thal, Karen . "The Impact of Social Media on the Consumer Decision Process: Implications for Tourism Marketing." 04 March 2013.  Journal Of Travel & Tourism Marketing Vol. 30 , Is. 1-2,2013

 

 

1. Korte, Diane, Ariyachandra Thilini  and Frolick Mark. "Business Intelligence in the Hospitality, International Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology, 4(4),

 

 

1.  Lee, Ceridwyn King Hyemi. "International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 28 Is 12 pp. 2675 - 2695

 

 

1. Leung, Daniel, et al. "Social Media in Tourism and Hospitality: A Literature Review." 04 March, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, Vol.30, Iss. 1-2,2013

 

1. Leung, Xi Y., Billy Bai and Kurt A. Stahura. "THE MARKETING EFFECTIVENESS OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE HOTEL INDUSTRY: A COMPARISON OF FACEBOOK AND TWITTER." n.d.

 

1. Linchi Kwok, Bei Yu. "Spreading Social Media Messages on Facebook." 24 September 2012. Cornell hospitality quarterly,1938-9655,2/01/2013. DOI: 10.1177/1938965512458360

 

 

1.  Parikh, Anish, et al. "Motives for reading and articulating user-generated restaurant reviews on Yelp.com.”, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 5(2), 160.

 

 

1. Roger G. Hill. "How is Hotel Design Affected by Pop Culture?" n.d.