Social Media (web 2.0) and the Hotel Sector | By Hilary Murphy and Julia Holzgreve

Despite the hype of the social media phenomena, there is little evidence of the impact of the collective thoughts and publishing of the social media communities on hotel buyer behaviour. A recent survey at EHL was conducted through an online questionnaire link sent out by e-mail and published on several social networks, receiving 512 fully completed responses. This study focused on the impact of pre- purchase (i.e. do they read and review comments to guide their search) and post purchase (i.e do they post and comment after stay) behaviour in the context of hotel purchase and represents a first, exploratory approach to the topic and reveals several implications for hotel marketers. Selected results and a brief discussion of the implications of this investigation are discussed here.

The bar chart reveals the breakdown by age groups of the various influences and determinants of the social media community on various hotel- related buying behaviours

It is clear one of the highest ranked drivers of hotel selection for all age groups is a friend’s positive comment which have the strongest positive influence, varying from 3.6 to 4 (on a scale of 1- low to 5- high) for all age groups . A stranger’s comments are also of significant importance when influencing selection of hotel. At the other end of the scale, hotels (as a general topic for discussion) are far less important for all groups, though the data reveals that social networks have increased the respondents knowledge and interest about hotels and the way that they would search for hotels. Interestingly, most age groups actively engage (i.e publish comments and photos) about hotels in their social media networks.

Several other noteworthy results emerge from the study. People who classify themselves as “hotel experts” are more likely to publish their opinions online and therefore , in terms of volume of output, may be regarded as a critical mass in terms of “positive” word of mouth.

Unsatisfied customers who feel strongly about their negative experiences are more likely to try to vent their anger online or even purposely seek revenge on the hotel !

Business travelers were found to be more engaged in word of mouth on online social networks than leisure travelers. This may represent a source of useful customer feedback, competitors’ information and product suggestions, which may be worth the time to review and monitor regularly.

People who express brand preference are found to be significantly more likely to voice their opinions online. For the hotel sector, brand proponents should be encouraged to provide feedback and that this feedback should be made easy to discover!

Even though no direct impact of gender on the key questions was found in this study, men were significantly more likely to publish information about brands, products or services online than women. Furthermore, they are more likely to communicate with ”strangers”, which increase their marketing potential as both proponents and consumers of online media communication about hotels’ products and services.