Impact Of Web 2.0 And Social Media On Hospitality Industry: A Case Study

Web 2.0 as the latest version of the internet

Discuss about the Critically evaluate the use of Social Media in a hospitality business.

In today’s world, each and every person is an active part of the internet. The latest version of web 2.0 has made the internet a place of enjoyment for an individual. Any type of information and ideas could be searched and shared from any part of the world at any time. Along with this, the introduction of social media has made it even more blissful not just for an individual but also for businesses. Hospitality industry can use this opportunity in a very well manner. In the report below the discussion with regard to the latest version of the internet and its benefits are done. The theories with respect to social media in context to the case study are elaborated. A case study on The Kimberly Hotel, Hong Kong is done which shows the effective use of social media and also how social media made it difficult for Kimberly to increase the footfall of tourist in their hotel. The drawbacks of the strategy made by the team are discussed and proper recommendations which could help them in regaining its visitors and get a positive response from the customers online.

The web is nothing but a system of internet server. This server supports the only particular type of formatted documents. It identifies only those documents which are in HyperText Markup Language. Web 2.0 is the currently used online technology in comparison to previous ones. It is stage 2 in the development of the internet. Earlier in Web 1.0, the web pages were static, but in this latest version the web pages are dynamic and display user-generated information. This version of the web provides greater collaboration among the user of the internet (Becker, 2013). In the initial version the user was allowed only to view and download a document, whereas in this latest version, the user can give more of its input into its nature and scope.

• Wikis
• Web apps, clouds computing and software as a service
• Mobile computing
• Mash-ups
• Social Networking
• User generate contents
• Unified communications
• Social Curation

The technologies used in providing web 2.0 are rich. Some of these are Microsoft Silverlight, Adobe Flash and Java. It is based on the concept of decentralized downloading in which the downloader itself is a server. This technique shares the workload and the content which is heavily in demand becomes more accessible.

Social Media is a technology that provides the user to facilitate the information creation and sharing of the same. Such facility of creation and sharing is not just restricted to information but also ideas, career options, study materials and any other form of expression. Usually, the user has access to the social media through computers, laptops and tablets or through mobile phone by downloading the applications from the server (Chiu, 2009). It is also a platform where the user has an opportunity to interact with each other. Consumers are increasingly using this tool to share information. Such sharing was earlier done through Word of Mouth where the review and comments were shared by individuals in person. Discussions, sharing of information and ideas are done between the users. It is observed that many businesses have used this platform as a marketing tool also. As the owners and customers are available at the same level, easy interaction in connection with the product is done. This has increased the reach of an individual across the geographic boundaries (Choi,. 2016). There are some special characteristics of social media which are discussed in the report below:

Social media as a technology for information creation and sharing

Participation: Social media encourages the bridging of the gap between the company and the customers. It gives everyone an opportunity to contribute their ideas and suggestions along with any feedback (Lorio & Corsale, 2014). The individuals have complete right to enter into a conversation with any big entity across the globe.

Powerful visual and creative tool: It is a well-known fact that a video has a greater impact than a written document. According to a survey, it is observed that the users of social media are these days more indulge on Instagram rather than Facebook, Twitter or any other social media sites. This is because Instagram has provided a powerful visual impact on the users which has attracted them the most (Fermoso, 2015). Various businesses have started floating their photographs of the facilities provided to give a real impact to the viewers.

Notifications: The latest available facility for the web users is push-notification. This keeps the users updated with the activities that are updated on the websites in which the customer shows interest. This increases the interest of the user towards the details of the activities posted.

Creates Groups: Social Media is an open platform which provides an opportunity to meet like-minded people. It is observed that an individual will show interest in building relationships with someone who he feels is of similar nature (Madasu, 2013). This provides a path to an individual to create groups of such people and discuss things of interest. This increases the growth of an individual as a person in whole.

In accordance with the travel and tourism industry, social media plays an important role. The advantages that the industry can obtain for this platform are as under

Awareness: For the small and medium-sized business enterprises, visibility is an important factor. Such visibility can be increased by postings of the business briefs on social media (Matias, 2012). It would increase the awareness of the customer in relation to the working of such business.

Cost Effective: Social media is one of the most cost-effective took for showcasing the business of travel and tourism. It is considered as the cheapest mode of promotion and advertising tool as compared to the traditional methods of marketing (Mason, 2015).  The cost associated with publicity through social media is minimal.

This platform gives an estimate of the customers who clicked on their websites. The traffic which got attracted to the posting could be evaluated easily.

Advantages of social media for the travel and tourism industry

Customer Interaction: The customer services have improved to a large extent with the use of social media. Online chats and communication are possible with the help of this tool. This increases the confidence of the business owner and the trust of the customer towards the services provided by the industry (Palacios, Merigó  & Soto-Acosta,  2015).

After observing the advantages associated with social media, some disadvantages which are analyzed are as under:

Cyberbullying: In the past few years it is observed that the children who are active on social media are the targets of cybercriminals and are bullied on regular basis.

Hacking: This is one of the most dangerous parts of social media when some else have the access to the in-depth details of business accounts and documents without permission. The information shared on the social networking sites are prone to hackers and could be misused at any time.

Frauds: With the point of view of the travel and tourism industry it is observed that there might be chances that some fraudulent activities are associated. Such activities could be initiated from either side of the desk, which is either the business owner or the customer. A complete investigation is needed to be done before any commitments.

There are different types of Medias that are shared by the use of social media sites. Depending on the use of such media, different types are explained in the report below:

• Social Networks: Mainly connects individual and businesses. This is the most commonly used networking system in which the individuals meet and connect with each other. The advantage of this network is that it gives a wide platform to portray the working of the travel and tourism industry and could reach directly to the target customers (Telfer and Sharpley, 2015). On the other hand, this network is most likely to be affected by fraudulent activities and break of trust. E.g. Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, etc.
• Media Sharing Networks: Used to share photos, latest videos ad any other type of media including a document file. Such networks have benefited in giving a visual impact of the services provided by the industry and attracts the majority of the customer. The flaw in such network is that the photographs and videos shared could be hacked and misused by the hackers for their advantage. E.g. Instagram, Snapchat, etc.
• Blogging and publishing networks: It helps in publishing the contents of the workings of a business or an individual. The advantage given by such type of network is that it gives an in-depth knowledge of the services provided. The blogs published are on the basis of personal experience and are most likely to be true. This helps the customer to understand the quality provided in detail (Viken & Granas, 2016). Whereas, there might be changes that the information and the updates of the blog are misleading and faulty.
• Interest-Based network: Networks which provides data related to one’s interest or hobbies.
• E-shopping network: The latest in trend, the online business of sale and purchase of products.
• Discussion Forum: Shares the latest updates on the current affairs and news.

Information and communication technology (ICT) have shown the tremendous impact on all the industries. The facility of communication and information sharing has made it easy for the business owners to reach to the customers. It had made the life of the customers and business owners a lot easy (Kim & Kim, 2016.).

When it comes to travel and tourism, ICT has shown its impact in a very fruitful manner. One of the biggest advantages that were experienced by hospitality industry was online reservation services. This had made it very convenient for the customers as well as for the business owners to manage their reservations (Duhme, 2012). This had reduced the cost that would have incurred if a manual system of reservations would have set up.

Social Media plays a major role in the online marketing of products. The hotel industry has come up with shining colours through the medium of social media. Most hotels have their own websites or there is a use of other links by various hotels (Hudson and Thal, 2013). Social media has directly or indirectly affected the business of hotel industries such as – marketing, selling and reach the customers, easy reach to the direct clients, advertising, etc.

Disadvantages of social media for the travel and tourism industry

The benefits provided by social media to hotel industry are:

• Advertising
• Marketing
• Reaching more clients
• Online reservations
• Online bookings
• Maximum information generation and sharing
• Reading the comments of social media from the previously visited tourists, give an insight to the upcoming tourists.

The challenges faced by hotel industry through social media:

• Fraud booking
• Online payment hacks
• Wrong information on the website
• Unavailability showed on the website

Over the past few years, social media have shown a revolutionary change in the hotel industry. The functions that are provided by it to this industry are:

• Promotions: The brand of any hotel is very is to float through the online means of internet. Posting details of the brand on various social networking sites will boost the promotion and publicity of such brand.
• Customer Services: Many businesses in the hospitality industry have used and upgraded the services to a personalized level. Direct communication between the client and the hotel staff could be done through social media.
• Marketing: As discussed above, social media is a great marketing tool that can be used as a display of services and facilities (Leung, Bai & Stahura, 2015.).
• Customer Review: Direct feedback from the customer is obtained through this means of communication
• Distribution: Online business of sale and purchase of product is at boom in today’s time. With this the social media have given them a facility to distribute enormous information about the services and facilities provided by the hotels as a whole.

Micro Theories- Word of Mouth Theory

Before the internet was not used by many users and at the time before web 2.0 was introduced, the review given by the friends and family was considered. The friends and family members, who had visited the place, gave a review of that place which included the pros and cons of the place, commutation, facilities, etc. such review was considered as credible and trustworthy. With the advancement of technology to web 2.0, the emergence of social media took place. With the help of such advancement of internet, the reviews and recommendations are made easily available but not from friends and related but from strangers as well. This was possible with the help of social media out of this travel blogs (Trivago, have gained immense popularity for research over a place (Mikalef, Giannakos & Pateli, 2013).

The concept of exchange of information and sharing of ideas through social media is found to emerge from sociology study which explored the exchange between individuals. This theory is considered to be cost-effective and shows that how strangers develop a bond and relation with each other through the medium of sharing information (Erkan & Evans, 2016).

In this section, we are going to discuss that how we have collected data for the research. Data collection is of two types – Primary Data and Secondary Data. It is observed that the secondary data is less reliable as compared to the primary data. The data for the case study which is a medium sized hotel of Hong Kong is collected from its website, previous records, newspapers, journals, magazines, etc.

Hong Kong is one of the tourist spots and welcomes many visitors during the year long. There are many hotels that are readily waiting for the tourist to stay with them. At such spot which is active during the entire year long, has a variety of hotels available. The hotel industry shows its vibrant colours at such places. The range of the hotels varies a lot. Big and multi-star hotels and a single start hotel are fully occupied during the season (Page, 2014).

In this report, a complete case study of a medium-sized hotel is done. “The Kimberly Hotel”, Hong Kong is a three-star hotel located close to the corporate sector and other commutation stations. The hotel can accommodate 500+ guests at a time. The rooms are divided into four categories which are- standard, superior, and deluxe and suite. The suites are further divided into the junior suite and superior suite.

Different types of media shared through social media

There are plenty of facilities that are provided by the Kimberly which are-

• Wireless internet connectivity
• Air-conditioned rooms with temperature maintenance
• Big flat screen televisions for entertainment at different areas of the hotel
• In-room kitchen facility – fully equipped
• Adjustable beds which can be made sofa and used for sitting purpose
• Food and beverages section
• Three elegant restaurants having dining space with a variety of cuisines
• Two large sized halls for meeting or events and another one for weddings
• Club and spa
• Gymnasium
• Shuttle bus for pick up and drop services

The hotel has 12 tourist spots within walking distance. The website of the Kimberly is very pleasing and helpful for any laymen to understand the facilities provided by them. It is found that the price range of the hotel reservations is also medium. Attractive packages are also available for a longer stay at the hotel (Pathak and Sharma, 2016). There is a facility of online reservation and online payment can also be done to confirm the reservation. The staff of the hotel is readily available on call to serve the customer.

The hotel is been using the social media platform in order to increase the attraction of the tourists. The website has plenty of pictures of the hotel in its gallery. The management is using Facebook and Twitter as the path to reach customer online. Another option explored by them is a travel blogging site – Trivago and Trip Advisor.

Word of Mouth theory of social media and have opted as a medium to connect people which provide with the comments of the previously visited tourists. The experiences they have got with the stay at Kimberly are share by them at such blogging sights. By using this theory the review and experiences of strangers from all over the world could be counted. In the earlier times, the new customers were able to get a review of any place only from their friends or relatives who had already visited the place. In those times, a realistic picture of the hotel was not possible (Wang and Pizam, 2011). Now with the increasing use of the internet, review from worldwide visitors of Kimberly could be read by anyone.

Also, the theory of Social Exchange is implemented in the working of The Kimberley Hotel. By using various social networking sites and sharing its information with various online booking sites (Make My Trip, Goibibo, Trip.com, Bookig.com, etc,) the management had made it available at a larger scale. This is an exchange of information on a wide platform where Kimberly has given the maximum information of the business done by them. The pictures added on the website gives a real impact of the hotel in person. As and when the theory was founded, the facility of providing a visual impact on others started (Williams and Best, 2014).  But with the use of social media, photographs and videos uploaded by Kimberly gave a visual please to the customers.

Impact of ICT on the travel and tourism industry

The business has earned with the help of online marketing and social media has helped in gaining the attention of many tourists. Few of the benefits that were attained due to the elaboration of business on social media are discussed in the below section:

• Reaching new customers: With the help of strong marketing team, Kimberly was able to tap a lot of new customers. As the business is promoted through two very famous social networking sites i.e. Facebook and Twitter, many new customers were able to reach to the facilities of this hotel (Reinders and Baker, 2007). Facebook has given the advantage of displaying the facilities available in a visual form to the clients and Twitter made it easy to tweet about any new event or activity.
• Focused Market Approach: In order to tap the target customers focused marketing approach was set. The interest level of the customers online was in mind while posting things about Kimberly online.
• Brand Boosting: It is a very well-known fact that social media is successful in boosting the brand of any business. Same happened with Kimberly. Social media gave an advantageous platform to Kimberly to portray its business online. This boosting helped in reaching to the maximum customers online (Song & Yoo, 2016). There is a wide market which was initially untapped but with the help of social media, Kimberly was able to reach such areas also.
• Increased Direct and Online Booking: Various blogging sites compares different prices of Kimberly and provide the lowest cost available. With the help of these blogging sites, direct link to the booking panel of the hotel. This made it easy for the customers to directly make prior reservations.  
• Hiring Talented Personnel: Social Media was a new concept for the existing management of Kimberly. For an outstanding performance in this digital world, the hiring new staff who is experts in this work was done. The main focus of this team was only on the social media marketing. Hence, due to the evolvement of social media in the industry, new blood with different talents was entered in the staff of Kimberly.    

It is observed that from last few years the Hotel is not getting a good response from its online platform. The clicks by which the views could be calculated have decreased over the period length. It is getting difficult to face such impact of social media by the management of the hotel. Some of the issues that are faced by Kimberly are:

• The experiences shared by the old customers are also getting negative, which is affecting its sale. New customers are not getting attracted to the Kimberly for a stay. For this, the management has started with discounted deals for the customers who would show interest (Sion & Mih?lcescu, 2016). This has decreased the income at the rate of discount provided by them.
• The management staff has been increased in order to manage the online affairs. A separate team is set up for developing the social media platform for the business. This has increased its expenses. Although after the appointment of this team, slight changes in the footfall of the tourist are observed, the turnover is in not sync with the expenses done to retain this special team (Chan & Guillet, 2011).
• With the increasingly negative image of Kimberly, in the hotel industry, the manager is backing out as the staff member of this hotel. The thinking of the managerial staff has been impacted due to the reviews of the old customer. It is getting difficult for the business owners to retain the managerial staff with them.
• Also, a problem related to the data security of data is faced by Kimberly. As it was discussed earlier in the report that the online platform of social media has a drawback also (Yin and Poon, 2016). Kimberly has faced data lost over and over again and is unable to recover it completely. This has consumed a lot of time and no fruitful results are found.

It could be said that the platform used by Kimberly is not that effective as it shows me. Instead of increasing profits the business is facing the problem of reduced earnings

Conclusion:

Social media is a very effective and cost-saving tool that could be used to boost the sale of any business. And when it comes to travel and tourism industry it has vibrant chances to showcase its facilities and services on such platform. Social media although have gained importance in the recent past but was always related to the theories which were immersed with the point of view of society. While presenting this report the relevant theory in relation to the case was discussed. It was observed that The Kimberly Hotel has a downfall in the visit of tourist staying with them even after using social media as a source of marketing. The problems due to which this scenario was established were analyzed and according to recommendations to improve the working are discussed in the next section of the report. To conclude it can be said that internet with the latest version is a gift for the business owners of the hospitality industry. It should be used wisely and no opportunity that is available by this medium should be availed. For Kimberly, it could be said that there are times when the customers are not happy with the services provided and the reason for this is unknown. But with the help of the travel blog commenting options, the reason for the unsatisfied customers is already known. Hence such opportunity to improve the working should be used properly.

In the previous part of the report, The Kimberly Hotel of Hong Kong was analyzed on the use of social media. It was observed that the hotel was actively visible on the social networking sites. It made its way out from two most popularly used social networking site i.e. Facebook and Twitter. Even after showing rigorous efforts of building its business online there was a downfall observed in the sale of the hotel. In order to increase its turnover and footfall of the tourist in Kimberly through social networking sites, some of the recommendations are discussed below:  

1. Stay connected with the customers on travel blogs: It is observed that the team which is handling the social media of Kimberly is not actively participating in the conversation with the customer. If there is any comment, be it negative or positive, a proper reply should be given by the team of Kimberly. In case there is a positive comment a reply showing gratitude towards the visitors should be shown. In case of negative comment apologies for the problem faced and corrective measures will be taken for their next visit should be the reply (Anon, 2018).
2. Proper discussion over the problem: As the problem of negative comments is observed form a long time by the team of Kimberly, a list of the points raised in the comments should be made and accordingly corrective measures should be taken for betterment. It was noted that some comments were related to the maintenance of the property of the hotel (Xiang & Gretzel, 2010). If there is any serious comment which would affect the footfall, immediate action to the correction is to be taken.
3. Show more activities on social networking sites: A system should be developed in which there should is a post in every 3-4 days on the social networking sites. This will attract the customers and will increase their interest in the ongoing process. They will wait for the next update by the team.
4. Use ads on social networking sites: These days the social networking sites have provided with a facility of posting ads which provides a direct link to the reservation or booking segment of the hotel. This option should be availed by the team of Kimberly (Ricca, 2010).
5. Increase SEO- In order to increase the visibility of Kimberly, the team should increase its search engine optimization. This tool helps in increasing the chances of visibility by using some keywords Whenever there will be any search using the keywords selected by the team of the hotel, the link directing the customer to the website will be displayed at the first position of the page. This will increase the visibility of the hotel while searching (Wood, 2017).
6. Stay active on more social Networking sites- It is observed that even after appointing a separate team for boosting the sales through social media is there, Kimberly is only visible on Facebook, Twitter and travel blogs. Although these networks and the most popularly used ones, with the increase in technology, there are many other options available for them. Use of Integra for a visual pleasure to the customer could be used. Also, tie-ups with various apps could be made to pop up an advertisement of Kimberly in between the use of the app.

Benefits and challenges of social media for the hotel industry

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