The influencing role of social media in the consumer’s hotel decision-making process Free

With the proliferation and expansion of social media and increased access to user-generated content (UGC) by tourists, the traditional sources of hotel information have been gradually substituted in the consumer’s hotel decision-making process (Browning and Sparks, 2013; Fotis et al., 2012). Earlier, travellers had inadequate and limited resources to get information on travel products and services (Hu and Wei, 2013), and purchases related to boarding and lodging were made available through traditional sources, i.e. pamphlets and brochures provided by the local travel agents or through government tourism boards (Baruca and Civre, 2012). Today, social media plays a progressively significant role in planning the travel needs of tourists and as a source of information (Xiang and Gretzel, 2010) including a wide range of pre and post travel-related activities such as purchase of tourism products and services, reading and submitting travel reviews, sharing and connecting with other travellers and collecting prior destination information (Zeng and Gerritsen, 2014). Travel blogs are found to be more reliable when travelling to an unfamiliar destination compared to advice from relatives and friends (Tan and Chen, 2012; Lee and Gretzel, 2014).

The tourist’s hotel decision-making process has been dramatically transformed with the proliferation of ICT and Web 2.0 in the tourism sector (Buhalis and Law, 2008; Gupta, 2019; Gohil, 2015; Neuhofer et al., 2012). As with developments in the social media segment, there are differences at the consumer level that impact on the consumer’s hotel selection behaviour. Limited leisure time, lifestyles changes and pursuit of value for money products have led to a new class of tourism consumers: more independent, more informed and more individualistic. Given this, it is important to understand the role of social media platforms in the consumer’s decision-making process with regard to tourism products. However, the present literature on how social media affects the consumer’s decision-making process and the usage patterns of social media platforms by tourists in the hospitality industry is still scarce and limited in scope (Ayeh et al., 2012; Cox et al., 2009; Gohil, 2015). Moreover, to-date, no specific research has been conducted to find out the stakeholder’s (i.e. hotel employees) perspective with regards to the effect of social media on the consumer decision-making process.

In view of the above, this study has the following broad objectives:

• to examine the role of social media on the tourists’ hotel decision-making process;

• to uncover the factors that most influence the tourists’ hotel decision journey while searching, identifying alternatives and selecting a hotel in India; and

• to summarize the characteristics of the hotel search process, its pros and cons and the level of trust in social media platforms during hotel information search.

To begin, the article will review the role of social media in the hospitality and tourism sector and its usage and impact on the travel decision-making process.

According to Jones (2009), social media platforms in the tourism domain can be categorized in different ways and include social networks and microblogging sites (e.g. Facebook and Twitter), tourist review sites (e.g. TripAdvisor and Yelp), social sharing sites (e.g. YouTube) and purchase/review sites (e.g. Amazon and Travelocity). Constantinides and Fountain (2008) offer five main categories: social networks, blogs, forums, content communities, bulletin boards and content aggregators. In the tourism domain, previous studies have explored the broad use of social media for various tourist activities including consumer reviews and rating websites (e.g. TripAdvisor), microblogs (e.g. Twitter), and internet forums (Ayeh et al., 2012; Chung and Koo, 2015; Gohil, 2015; Hudson and Thal, 2013; Xiang and Gretzel, 2010).

In the Indian hospitality sector, especially hotels, social media platforms and Web 2.0 have been extensively used for information systems (ICT), product marketing, analysing consumer behaviour and for tourism literature (Kim et al., 2010; Sigala et al., 2012; Xiang and Gretzel, 2010). They are also acknowledged as important electronic tools that transform the conventional advertising and marketing scenario (Sigala et al., 2012), linking an array of tourism stakeholders (Sigala et al., 2012; Xiang and Gretzel, 2010) and providing users with a common platform for content sharing, interaction, and online discussions (Leung et al., 2013).

Social media platforms have become a vital aspect of tourism by transforming the entire way in which travellers search, evaluate, rank, purchase and consume tourism products and services on the internet (Buhalis and Law, 2008; Gohil,2015; Hudson and Thal, 2013; Zeng, 2013). With an extensive range of social media types across the web, the most commonly used platforms in the Indian hospitality and tourism sector include Facebook, TripAdvisor, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Trivago and MySpace (Ayeh et al., 2012; McCarthy et al., 2010). Previous literature also suggests that social media plays its most important role in the pre-travel stage, during which travellers use social media for planning, data search and decision-making (Cox et al., 2009; Verma et al., 2012). This seems to have a key role in re-shaping the way tourists search, spot, read, trust and exchange information during the pre-travel stage (Sigala et al., 2012).

UGC acts as a trustworthy source for prospective tourists and balances traditional/conventional sources, i.e. travel agents, tourism portals, etc., enabling people to comprehend prior traveller experience and involvement in a travel destination (Del Chiappa, 2011; Fotis et al., 2012; Litvin et., 2008). Cox et al., (2009) additionally emphasized that almost 78 per cent of travellers use social media for travel purpose and the majority of them consult online tourist reviews before making a travel purchase decision (Murphy and Chen, 2014). Thus, it can be said that social media plays a significant role in support of the consumer’s decision-making process (Zeng, 2013).

Various models and theories have been proposed to explain the consumer decision-making process in the hospitality industry. The EKB model (Engel et al., 1968) is perhaps the most well-known consumer decision-making model consisting of five-steps that are the need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase and outcome. Howard and Sheth (1969) further refined this model and highlighted the importance of inputs to the consumers’ purchase decision-making process and implied how consumers will order outputs to make their final purchase decision.

Hoyer and MacInnis (2010) added that “the process of making consumption decisions involving four stages: problem (need) recognition, information search, decisions making, and post-purchase evaluation (behaviour)”. McKinsey and Company (2009) created the “consumer decision journey” model which is still used widely. This integrates a “loyalty loop” within the model to reflect the fact that consumers who are re-purchasing the same product don’t need to go through all the stages as with the first time they purchased the product or service.

Hotel attributes are important to stakeholders so that they can better understand their customers (Chu and Choi, 2000). Yusoff and Abdullah (2010) investigated the important attributes that have a significant role in the consumer decision-making process and these were classified as: location, price, cleanliness and hygiene, security and hotel facilities. The consumer’s hotel decision-making process starts with the pre-travel stage when the consumer begins a four stage consumer decision journey (CDJ), i.e. considering; evaluating; purchasing and enjoying (Court et al., 2009). In this process, the consumer considers the most favourable travel choices from those available (Ayeh et al., 2012). In the current scenario, hotel service providers are no longer the only professionals in relation to the features and quality of hospitality products on offer and social media plays an important role in the consumers’ product evaluation phase, by providing positive and negative reviews and indirect customer-to-customer communication through review sites and travel blogs (Hudson and Thal, 2013). Although it is accepted that social media has the potential to effect travellers in the final purchasing decision (Ayeh et al., 2012; Fotis et al., 2012), the details of consumer selection behaviour is less known.

Hotel reviewers are used to form a “deliberation tool” of probable choices (Singh and Torres, 2015) and therefore, consumers’ hotel selection decisions are often affected by the positive and negative reviews of customer experiences and can alter their attitudes towards making hotel choices (Vermeulen and Seegers, 2009). (Verma et al., 2012) further explains that a hotel attracting negative comments is less likely to be booked by prospective tourists, while (Almana and Mirza, 2013) validate that higher review ratings tend to play a pivotal role in purchase decisions making. Prior research confirms that there is an inadequate understanding of the distinctions that silhouette the consumer decision journey, especially in the “evaluation phase” and the purpose of UGC in the travel behaviour and decision-making process is only partially researched (Cox et al., 2009).

Although, a wide body of previous literature (Gretzel et al., 2007; Murphy and Chen, 2014; Vermeulen and Seegers, 2009) has observed the impact of online reviews and blogs on consumer decision-making, there is still a scarcity of research that has taken into consideration the impact of social media on the consumer decision journey. This research aims to address this by exploring the impact of social media on the consumer decision journey, and how it affects the consumer’s ultimate hotel decision-making process (Constantinides and Fountain, 2008).

This study applied an in-depth qualitative approach to evaluate consumers’ decision-making process in a hotel industry context and expand upon the impact of social media platforms in the evaluation phase. It included 32 non-random, individual, in-depth face to face interviews with the users of social media platforms for hotel-related bookings. The sample size is considered to be adequate compared with similar studies related to consumer decision-making in service industry settings (Harrigan et al., 2017; Gupta et al., 2018; Gupta et al., 2019). The participants in the study were selected based on four key criteria, including: having taken a journey during the previous two years; had been accommodated in a hotel during their journey; were regular social media users (minimum usage defined as one hour per day); and have used social media platforms for trip-related enquiry and decision-making. The instrument used for interviewing was based on previous literature and mainly covered important factors - especially the role of social media in influencing the consumers’ hotel decision-making process (Ayeh et al., 2012; Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010).

Interviews were conducted in Delhi and interviewees were between 18 and 62 years of age. A purposive sampling approach was applied to identify and recruit probable interviewees as it offers maximum response rates and is speedy, easy, readily available and cost effective (Henry, 1991). Interview scripts were prepared in English and translated orally into Hindi when required. The entire process of interviewing took five weeks to gather the response script from 32 interviewees. The profile of interviewees suggests that most were males (59.37 per cent) and in the age range 25-32 years (40.63 per cent) followed by 33-40 years (28.12 per cent), 18-24 years (25.00 per cent) and 41 and above years (2.25 per cent). The conclusions are drawn from a restricted sample size, but the results can be used for entities of a broader population and part of a younger age group indicated by the implementation and use of social media platforms (Lennon et al., 2012) in daily life and for trip purposes.

This study applied the Miles and Huberman’s (1994) factor approach in which the factors influencing the consumers’ hotel decision-making were identified through the literature review and the individual factors were examined and explained in the results of the study along with respondents’ quotes. The factors used in the interview questionnaire included age, gender, budget/price and travel type on the following themes: types of social media platforms and rationale for their use in hotel selection and decision-making; influence of hotel information provided on websites; influence of online review ratings – both positive and negative; and authenticity of online reviews.

The results disclose numerous factors that elucidate the impact of social media on the consumers’ hotel decision-making process. Within the broader theoretical framework of the consumer decision journey, this research, prompts distinctions relating to the evaluation stage. The evolving factors were framed as “Consumer’s hotel information search behaviour: then and now”, “Pros and cons of social media use and the trustworthiness of social media”, and the “Influence of social media on the consumers’ hotel decision-making process”. The results provided a novel dimension to the theoretical framework of the consumer decision journey and offered a focused viewpoint by providing an improved notional and practical knowledge of the evaluation stage. The concluding part of the study considers the consumer decision journey with reference to three customer situations that illustrate how social media’s influence on the hotel consumer decision journey process occurs.

Interviewees were asked about the different types of social media platforms used by them and their rationale for using them in the hotel selection and decision-making. The majority of interviewees between in age range 18-40 were found to prefer social media sources while older interviewees above (40) still preferred conventional sources for hotel bookings. Interviewees described a comparison between their hotel search behaviour “then” (hotel selection behaviour before the use of social media) and “now” (hotel selection behaviour after the use of social media). They emphasized that in the pre-social media period, they usually find the relevant travel related data and information from conventional sources, such as local travel agents, or by calling the hotels directly to gather the details or to make hotel reservations. On the basis of their responses relating to “then”, other significant data sources were found to be word-of-mouth from friends, peers and relatives, government travel directories and local tour guides and the use of hotel websites.

Interviewees also explained the hotel selection behaviour after the use of social media and validated the use of Web 2.0 platforms to perform an inclusive hotel search, with TripAdvisor being the most noteworthy social media platform, followed by Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. This was found to be in tandem with earlier studies (Ayeh et al., 2012; McCarthy et al., 2010) observing the use of diverse social platforms for a definite purpose. Although TripAdvisor seems to persist as the most significant social media platform, this research discovered that amongst the young social media consumers interviewed, Instagram plays a more important part in the hotel decision-making process. This is an interesting outcome, as Instagram has not previously been viewed as a reference source for travel information, and it is slowly gaining attention amongst consumers (Harrigan et al., 2017). Instagram provides consumers with relevant access to images, videos and links related to their forthcoming travel, and in so doing, this platform is playing a more prominent role in the young consumer market.

The study observed that in the consumer decision journey, interviewees appear to blend and mix between conventional websites and social media platforms on a regular basis. While social media platforms might have become established as the prime platform for information and data search, this source is supplemented by local Web searches, visits to hotel websites and usage of hotel booking websites, such as Trivago.com to find relevant information and make choices before booking a hotel and vice versa:

Interviewees also explained the influence of hotel information provided on websites i.e. location, price, level of cleanliness, pictures, etc. on their decision-making. They validated the fact that the essential information on the hotel website provides answers to consumers’ individual questions through a combination of ratings, pictures, reviews, comments and videos, thus solidifying the complete decision process. While hotel websites are still used to search for hotels, social media offers a rich array of information by facilitating search for explicit aspects that might be hard to acquire through conventional information channels, such as data about the location, price, cleanliness, and the proximity of a hotel to prominent places. The amalgamation of assorted platforms enables consumers to gain access to UGC from fellow users who have previously stayed in certain hotels, compare hotels from each other and draw on an impartial and reliable summary of the deals offered at that time:

Although Baruca and Civre (2012) contend that lodging purchases were largely made though brochures provided by local travel agents, this study adds to the existing body of literature that a combined usage of Web 1.0 and social media sources seems to take place. Interestingly, a “swapping process” occurs, through which it is possible to collate an assortment of information and switch between websites and user-generated social media content to validate early indicators of an optimal hotel decision.

In the second theme emphasized by the consumers, it was found that though they label themselves as tech-savvy, some consumers were not skilled social media users. That said, interviewees rated social media as an extremely valuable information foundation in terms of relatively objective information on hotels, compared to less dynamic and often obsolete information available from conventional travel platforms. Interviewees perceive social media as valued tools providing a convenient, easy and rapid way to obtain essential hotel information, with TripAdvisor rated as a crucial channel to relate and compare between the substitutes during an “ideal” hotel search:

Interviewees further stated the worth of UGC, which offers them a broader understanding of a hotel, via comments, reviews, pictures and videos leading to a rich picture of a hotel. This finding was found to be significant among mostly young (18-32) and middle aged (33-40) social media platform users. Social media platforms were additionally acclaimed as an “unbiased content source”, that provides “actual” and “identical insights on both positive and negative” features:

Although all the interviewees said that they had extensive social media experience in relation to the hotel assessment and evaluation process, a few respondents said that they felt apprehensive about the reliability of online content. They were anxious that some of the available online content might be “fake or dubious” and, given the innumerable choices, uncertainty can increase the time needed to select an hotel:

The findings of this study were consistent with recent studies (Sigala et al., 2012; Zeng, 2013), signifying that social media assists consumers to gather information about tourism products and services, assess substitutes, save their valuable time, help facilitate their travel decisions and choose the most suitable accommodation. Moreover, this study validates the fact that the use of social media demonstrates numerous encounters, which may limit the helpfulness of social media at times. However, there was agreement among the interviewees, that although negative characteristics exist, the positive benefits over shadow the negative characteristics of consuming social media while taking decision on choosing a hotel. The majority of interviewees regardless of their age, gender, income or travel needs stated they would “continuously select social media” for their hotel data search, without going back to outdated data sources:

Accuracy was found to be a significant factor during the hotel decision-making process (Lopez and Sicilia, 2014) and emerged in three aspects of the study:

• trustworthiness of social media over conventional media sources;

• issues related to the trustworthiness of social media platforms; and

• the association between the content sources and trustworthiness.

Most of interviewees said that they usually rely on social media content when choosing hotels, seeing them as an “unbiased” and “authentic” source of information. Respondents also stressed that they are more likely to trust the information from social media than content of equal proportions from any other conventional sources (e.g. newspapers, pamphlets, brochures, magazines, etc.), which might be less impartial and biased and or commercially motivated. Dependability and trust is a vital factor in the respondents’ hotel information search and decision-making process. However, the multiplicity of facts and the presence of dubious or fake content on social media was a serious concern shared by most of the respondents. They stated that this could generate complications at particular points, when there is a doubt that the data might be forged or dubious, fashioned by establishments themselves to showcase authenticity, or misrepresented by market competitors:

This study confirmed the findings of Leung et al. (2013) who stated that diverse variations of trust levels exist with respect to the travel-related social media content available on the internet. It is argued that the greatest trust level is established when it is generated by known individuals. It was found that majority of middle-aged interviewees (33 and above) appear to generally believe and are predisposed by the social media content provided by their own peers and friends, including family members. They presume it to be more supportive and trustworthy, as it is originated from these users, who they personally know and it tends to influence their decision-making process. Another reliable social media source relates to random unknown users. This offers an assortment of thoughts and information that is hypothetically dependable, whereas a company’s UGC on social media tends to be viewed as the least reliable, as it may underplay negative aspects:

This study suggests that there is a distinction between the reliability and accuracy of social media information during the consumers’ hotel decision-making process.

The last theme of this study discussed the distinctions between social media use that effect the consumers’ hotel decision-making process. Most of the interviewees affirmed that the information provided by social media plays a vital role in deciding which hotel to choose. Therefore, this research recommends that respondents differentiate three key levels of social media content, which affect them in their hotel decision-making, including positive, negative, inappropriate and deficient content.

Interviewees stated that “positive level of content”, includes positive and optimistic reviews, comments, tall ratings and striking images that have a positive impact and trigger them to deliberate and choose hotels in the final “evaluation stage”. Most of the respondents agreed that positive social media content influences them to “select” a hotel almost instantaneously. However, positive social media content is not at all times an “absolute factor” that leads to hotel decision-making. Hotels with high ratings and positive comments are considered only if they are situated at a “convenient” place for the consumer and if it is available at “reasonable cost”. Moreover, the majority of interviewees also stated that sometimes they just select their hotels and keep them in their wish-list on the basis of positive reviews. Finally, based on the best of best choices they might make their purchase decisions. This further suggests that “positive social media content” only acts as a “supportive factor” but not as the “decisive factor”.

Negative content on the other hand makes the potential guest feel rather hesitant in choosing a specific hotel. The majority of interviewees stated that negative social media content has an all the more commanding impact on them than positive content. While a hotel with positive social media content might be considered as an option, a hotel with negative content is much more likely to be excluded from the list of probable selections. It was also observed that negative content is critical in making a “solid decision fairly easily”. In terms of the type of content, it seems that negative comments and reviews, low ratings and shabby images, that convey a negative image of a hotel, appear to affect respondent’s perceptions the most. The following remark highlights how customers are persuaded to reject a hotel based on negative social media content:

Some of the interviewees said that they don’t normally exclude a hotel solely on the basis of negative reviews or comments. However, the way the review is related or significant to an individual’s travel needs/type determines the influence it will have on decision-making. For example, a negative comment on a situation which is not personally significant to a consumer does not influence his/her decision-making process. However, if a negative comment is individually significant (e.g. bed type, cleanliness, mini bar, etc.), respondents said that they would refrain from booking that hotel.

The findings also indicate that deficient and in-appropriate content on social media also plays a key part in influencing the consumers’ hotel selection behaviour. Interviewees said that if a hotel does not have an adequate quantity of UGC, based on which an inclusive assessment can be made, they would not consider it. As a substitute, they would favour a hotel with an adequate amount of content to verify its genuineness on the social media platforms.

By discussing three different social media content levels, this study points out the fundamental drivers that effect a hotel decision-making process. In essence, that positive social media content leads to selection, while negative content leads to the rejection of a hotel. Moreover, the results point to the importance of portraying a circumstantial influence of social media on hotel selection, based on the content source; the accuracy of content; and the level of content, i.e. positive, negative, inappropriate and deficient content.

The hotel consumer decision journey through the social media model was formulated from the themes developed by the qualitative in-depth interviews. Drawing on the consumer decision journey model framework, the study provides an improved knowledge about the evaluation stage, in which hotel data search and choice through social media occurs. Further, it broadens the evaluation phase and sheds light on the consumer’s individual framework of how he/she is affected by social media in the hotel selection process. It differentiates the fundamental motives for the use of social media, related to pros and cons, switching between Web 1.0 and 2.0 sources, information trust and accuracy levels concerning the source of data and the type of content, and reveals the impact of varied level of content on the ultimate decision-making process.

Based on the consumer decision journey model, this study describes three different consumer decision-making scenarios that provide an overview and implications as to how the consumer’s decision-making process is affected, with the type of social media platform in place:

In this scenario, a tourist uses Booking.com for accessing hotel information. She came across a lot of positive comments and reviews about the hotel and this builds a positive image. In this case, she will be persuaded to book the hotel.

In this scenario a tourist uses Trivago to search for hotels for his next vacation. He goes to the website and begins to book his usual hotel. But this time he saw some negative comments about the hotel. This creates a perception in his mind that the hotel services might have deteriorated. He decides to reject the hotel and start searching for other, better alternatives.

In this scenario, a tourist uses Twitter and Trivago to obtain information about the hotel he wishes to book. While booking the hotel he realized that relevant pictures, comments and ratings are missing about that hotel. He opts to reject the hotel due to insufficient UGC on the website.

It was found that hotel consumers use a variety of social media platforms to share their travel experiences, connect with people from diverse destinations, engage with others, and buy travel products and services via online platforms (Leung et al., 2013). They are affected in their decision-making by social media, as the information and thoughts of fellow tourists can mould, guide and re-direct primary and concluding decisions (Fotis et al., 2012). This research applied an in-depth qualitative approach to comprehensively review how social media affects the consumer’s evaluation stage when making hotel-related decisions. Further it expands upon and clarifies the intricacy of the decision-making process in this stage.

This study provided the following contribution to the literature:

First, it helped in linking together consumer behavioural aspects of tourism and social media studies with the hotel context. It also examines the concept of the evaluation stage of the hotel selection process by the consumers.

Second, it outlines the factors that impact on consumers during the hotel selection and evaluation stage and asserts that the consumer hotel decision-making process is influenced by positive and negative aspects of social media. Further, that its reliability is linked with explicit platforms and their deep-rooted content.

Third, it revealed that social media platforms have a significant impact on consumer hotel decision-making and that the concentration of impact differs between positive, negative and inadequate content. This information could be beneficial for generating quantitative measurement instruments of social media, which are currently quite limited (Leung et al., 2013) to assess the explicit channels, content levels and trust issues.

Finally, it reviewed the impact of social media on several levels, as demonstrated by several scenarios, which help to establish how social media may impact the decision-making of consumers at a practical level.

This study has implications for the stakeholders of tourism and hospitality sectors by providing an understanding of the role and impact of social media on the hotel consumer decision journey. The findings could help hotel industry stakeholders to appreciate consumers’ influences (ranging from source of content and level of content to content type (among others)) during which social media might influence the consumer’s hotel decision-making process. Moreover, it could help them to position their products according to the needs and demands of tourists and, based upon their socio-demographic profiles, i.e. age, gender, income level and travel type the main implications are:

First, realistic scenario setups can assist stakeholders to better comprehend that the social media platforms are not a homogeneous mix of online networks and there is no single method that elucidates Web-assisted decision-making behaviour.

Second, it could help stakeholders to recognize the fine distinctions and intricacies that mould the process of how consumers are affected by social media. This should encourage them to think about the kind of information that is needed to facilitate positive decisions.

Third, it will help the stakeholders to realize that their role has changed from broadcaster (pushing out message to customers), to an aggregator bringing together content, enabling collaboration and building participation in communities.

Fourth, it should help stakeholders to be more aware of the online content provided on social media platforms so that they can assimilate this information in their future marketing strategies and, draw on UGC and real-time scenarios to stimulate positive thinking and action about selecting their hotel.

Finally, the article affirms that stakeholders should take consumer feedback seriously and facilitate real-time posting of guest comments by establishing an appropriate technological set-up (i.e. Wi-Fi access, digital hotel information, etc.) while trying to reduce negative content display online.

Corrigendum: It has come to the attention of the publisher that the article Gupta, V. (2019), “The influencing role of social media in the consumer’s hotel decision-making process”, published in the Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 378-391, has been found to include significant similarities to a source drawn upon, which was not referenced in this article.

This source was: Varkaris, E. and Neuhofer, B. (2017), “The influence of social media on the consumers’ hotel decision journey”, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 101-118. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTT-09-2016-0058.

The author guidelines for Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes state that articles must be original and fully referenced. The authors sincerely apologise for this.