Domestic and International Hotel Use of Twitter to Connect with

Businesses and Tourists Across the Globe.

Sarah Beaty, Paige Poth, Katelyn Garcia, Karley Hardin, Katelyn Cummings, and
Jennifer T. Edwards (faculty advisor)

Tarleton State University
































Domestic and International Hotel Use of Twitter to Connect with
Businesses and Tourists Across the Globe.

Abstract
The hospitality industrys use of social media is on the rise. Internet channeling allows
the industry to connect with consumers in ways more convenient for them as well as
customers. In our research, we analyzed how two hotel chains utilize U.S. and
international Twitter accounts to connect with consumers in different areas of the
world.





Domestic and International Hotel Use of Twitter to Connect with
Businesses and Tourists Across the Globe.

Problem Statement

Social Media allows you to establish a relationship with your customer
like no other media has previously allowed. It enables you to establish a
relationship where you are getting regular feedback on how your
customers are reacting to your marketing messages. (Nassar, 2012,
p.82)

Many businesses today rely on social media for marketing. In a recent survey of
1,700 Internet users, Nielsen Online reported that 73% users engaged in social media
at least once a week (Woodcock & Green, 2010).

An increasing amount of tourists today rely on internet based sites to connect
with the hospitality businesses. International hotel chains not only have to keep up
with the social media sites to connect with consumers, but also have to provide a
culture-friendly environment in the virtual world to successfully interact with a
diverse group of people. Many of the businesses are only using content that is relevant
to their culture instead of creating content that will spark interest of a variety of
cultures.

Purpose Statement

To look into this problem further, we sought to accomplish the purpose of our
study which is: to find out how the hospitality companies Four Seasons and Marriott
promote themselves via Twitter to different parts of the world based on their
locations of London and New York.

Research Questions

To accomplish the purpose of our study, we will seek to answer the following research
questions:

1. How do Four Seasons and Marriott differ in their promotional strategies through
Twitter?
2. How do Four Seasons and Marriott differ in their marketing campaigns in the United
States and in Europe?

Review of Literature

Background of Social Media
Today, Twitter, along with social media in general, is viewed as much more
than a website connecting people from around the world. In 2010, 79% of the worlds
largest companies were using social media to connect with their clients (Rocha,
2013). Many people view this as the new and upcoming marketing strategy. In one
fast food chain restaurant, their VP of marketing commented on how social media was
an obvious strategy when they founded their restaurant (Kooser, 2013). Social media
has become such a common routine for businesses, along with millions of people
across the globe, that adding it as a tool for marketing is natural for many businesses.
The reason social media has become so effective is because it is a new form of word
of mouth marketing. It allows direct contact with regular consumers, personal
contact that leads to loyalty, it asks and answers question, brings excitement to the
table, and offers great referral mechanism (Stagg, 2012).
In our economy today, many businesses are using social media, Twitter is a
major tool, simply because its free. Interacting no longer has to be face-to-face and
you no longer have to sit in meetings and talk about strategies that can help your
business. Social media creates gateways to interact with people from around the
world. The simplicity of Twitter is what makes this social media site so popular.
Companies are actively leveraging social media to create brand communities and
crowdsourcing models, gain consumer insights, enhance product/brand awareness, to
communicate across languages and companies (Singh, Lehnert, & Bostick, 2012, p.
683).
Social media is used to access the perception of guests, helping hotels improve
their qualities. Twitter is a great way for hotels to identify guest needs, creating
unforgettable customer service. Twitter was founded in 2006 and in 2012 had 517
million users worldwide - 142 million of them in the United States alone (Rocha,
2012). Due to its limit of 140 characters per Tweet, companies have to give brief
snippets of information about what they are wanting to promote. If wanting to add
bigger amount of information, such as an article, companies must insert a link in the
Tweet to show consumers the information.

Social Media and Hospitality Industry
London restaurateur Jamie Barber tells an audience that Twitter was the most
exciting tool trade he had seen and goes on to state that strategy is dead, the big
idea is dead and marketing as we know it at the moment is buggered (Stagg, 2012).
Connections are more important than impressions- most of our guests are
communicating with friends, family and colleagues online (Lanz, Fischof, & Bostick,
2010, p.1). Social media is changing how businesses do everyday business and provide
customer service. Twitter has upgraded and personalized customer service, by not
only changing the way people interact with each other, but how businesses interact
with their customers. Social media lets employees engage with their guests before,
during, and after their vacation experience. The article express examples by how
social media is changing the way hotels do business such as, allowing the opportunity
of access to guests, creating a two-way communication (Lanz, Fischof, & Bostick,
2010). The article also explains that with social media, hotels are able to reinforce
their message to embrace and protect each property, making the brand real.

Social Media and Hotel Chains
Hotel chains use social media not only to view what their guests are saying
about their property, but also what their guests say about their competitors as well.
Reviews play a role in consumer-decision making (Parks & Allen, 2013). Guest
comments on social media about hotels are visible to everyone, as well as
competitors, making it important for hotels to create a good experience for each and
every one of their guests. David Godsman quotes, social media is very powerful
customer service and communication vehicle, where our brands and customers can
come together to have open and honest conversations (Lanz, Fischof, & Bostick,
2010, p.14). Companies can post engaging questions to its followers such as What do
you always forget on a trip? so that the experience of future guests can be enhanced
(Jacques 2012).
Social media is not only about bringing people together and trading ideas and
opinions, it can also portray a compelling role in marketing. Social media in general is
seen as an important mechanism for promoting brands (Parks & Allen, 2013). Social
media enables hotels to post links to release special room packages or discount codes
for guests, which can influence guest attitudes toward particular brands or chains.

Tourism Trends
As globalization increases, the tourism rate is quickly rising. According to the United
Nation World Tourism Organization, by 2030 the world will have a tourism demand of
about 1.8 million tourists (Gustavo, 2013). Europe still remains a top destination for
tourists but as previously less developed nations are developing, there has been a
higher travel rate to Western European countries, the Middle East and Asia. This
development has spurred hospitality companies to expand their businesses
internationally.

Theoretical Framework
Social Presence Theory
In our study of hotel chains and Twitter we will use social presence theory as
guide for our research. Social presence theory is defined as the perceived presence
of another person in a mediated environment (for example, Facebook or telephone)
(Short, Williams & Christie 1976). In addition to this theory, Garrison, Anderson and
Archer (2000) add that social presence is a persons ability to project their personality
and characteristics to the community (p. 89).
Aragon suggests over 12 different ways are in order to establish social
presence. This includes but not limited to, incorporating audio and video virtually,
posting introductions, and frequent feedback (Aragon, 2003). Similar to our case,
researchers have found that many people use Twitter as a way to establish social
presence (Dunlap & Lowenthal, 2009). With our research being focused solely on
social media, all interaction and communication will be through a computer
communication channel. According to Short, Williams, and Christie (1979), one way
to establish social presence is for consumers and companies to communicate through
a computer mediated communication channel. Customers will find the virtual
communication a more friendly experience and still sense that face-to-face
communication (Ji Hee, Hollenbeck & Zinkhan, 2008).
In this study we use the social presence theory to identify how Four Seasons
and Marriott in London and the United States are communicating with different
cultures via Twitter.
Research Methodology
In order for our research team to achieve our purpose, we used the grounded-
theory analysis to help us identify how hotel chains are utilizing Twitter to effectively
communicate with different cultures and tourists around the world. For this specific
method, we studied each tweet carefully for each hotel and categorize them into
groups based on their content.
After identifying the different types of categories we used in our study, we
sorted the tweets from each group into categories. Also, we evaluated which tweets
would received the most interaction (favorites, retweets, or replies). Using this
method allowed us as researchers to understand and relate the different content of
tweets. It also allows us to understand what content was interactive and what
content was conversation friendly.

Context of the Study
Each of the hotels chosen for our study have Twitter accounts that allow
consumers all over the world to stay informed of current hotel updates, events, news
and special deals. These accounts allow interaction and constant communication
between the hotel and client. Twitter creates easy access for clientele to reach out
to the hotel chain for customer service needs. At the same time, the Twitter accounts
allow the hotel to update to service information to the public via social media.

Hotels Involved in the Study
In our study, we included a luxury hotel and a generic hotel in two different
locations, to find out how these hospitality industries market themselves via Twitter
to different parts of the world based on their locations of New York and London.
Originally, we sought to research four different brands of hotels. However, we chose
to only limit our research to only two brands of hotels due to our limited time frame.
We chose New York and London, based upon the locations of one another and the
cultural differences each destination encounters. The luxury hotel brands that we
chose to study is Four Seasons, New York and Four Seasons London, England. We chose
this particular five-star hotel branch, because Four Seasons is known for its
impeccable service. With an amazing hotel branch like this, Four Seasons New York
City and Four Seasons London, England Twitter feed both have a high number of
followers. We will follow each brand of hotel for three weeks and collect data from
this past summer, using the months of June, July and August. The generic hotel brand
that we are researching is Marriott London, England and Marriott New York, New York.
The Marriott is known for its comfortable rooms, amenities and putting people first.
We felt that researching these two different hotels will give us insight on how
different hotel brands are able to market to consumers.

Hotel 1- Marriott: London, England
Located in London, England, this Marriott Twitter account has over 9,000
followers , follows over 800 accounts, and has over 4,700 tweets.

Hotel 2- Marriott: New York, New York
Located in New York City, the Marriott Marquis Twitter account has over 300
followers, follows over 700 users, and has over 200 tweets.

Hotel 3 - Four Seasons: London, England
Located in London, England, this Twitter account has over 8,025 followers and
has uploaded more than 294 pictures of hotel activities. The London Four Seasons
started their Twitter account September 6, 2010 and have 2,460 Tweets.

Hotel 4 - Four Seasons: New York City, New York
Located in New York City, New York this Twitter account has 7,835 followers
and has uploaded more than 115 pictures of the hotels activities. The New York Four
Seasons started their Twitter account on August 2, 2012 and has 6,159 Tweets and
counting.

Data Collection and Analysis
During the last week of September, we accessed tweets from all four hotel
companies involved in the study. We then downloaded the Twitter information within
the months of June, July, and August. This allowed us to view tweets over the
summer since tourism is popular during that time period. We entered these tweets
into an Excel spreadsheet to see our content in an organized manner. Data collected
included the number of followers, number of accounts followed, number of tweets,
comments, favorites, and retweets.
We used the grounded-theory analysis and separate these tweets into the
categories we formed earlier in the study. Another aspect we analyzed in this study is
the followers and who the accounts follow.

Results and Discussion
In this study, we analyzed how two hotel chains located in two different
countries interact with their Twitter followers. Altogether there were a total of 1,281
tweets, 508 favorites, 706 retweets, and 690 comments during the time frame of June
1st through August 30th. After analyzing all the tweets by each hotel included in the
study, we formed different extending categories to better understand what
suggestions for further research we can add. The two extended categories are
interactive/outreach and enhanced tweets.
The extended category interactive/outreach formed three subcategories
which are congratulations, food/beverage, and events. The final extended category is
enhanced posts which formed three categories: photos, links, and videos.
Table 1
Hotel Chains Twitter Accounts - Posts, Favorites, Retweets, and Comments
Number of
Posts
Favorites Retweets Comments
Marriott
London
150 35 131 63
Marriott NY 80 122 41 13
Four Seasons
London
188 69 113 205
Four Seasons
NY
863 282 421 409
Total 1,281 508 706 690

The society that had the most posts, favorites, retweets, and comments was
Four Seasons NY.

Outreach/Interactions
In the interactivity/outreach category, the four hotel chains from our study
included 469 frequencies. The tweets in this category formed three subcategories:
congratulations, food/beverage, and events. (Table 2).

Table 2
Frequencies in Outreach/ Interactions
Congratulations Food/beverage Events
Marriott London 7 9 26
Marriott NY 0 16 12
Four Seasons
London
3 31 67
Four Seasons NY 10 80 208
Total 20 (4%) 136 (29%) 313 (67%)
Total Frequencies 469

Most of the tweets were put into the events category with 313 frequencies.
Most of these tweets included events hosted at each hotels. The hotel with the
highest numbers was Four Seasons NY. The tweet The Bollinger is on ice
@FourSeasons @FSLondon for the Bollinger afternoon tea on the terrace had the
most activity with one photo included, 8 favorites, 3 retweets, and 1 comment.
Another tweet from Four Seasons NY quotes, Only in New York!! Priceless views from
our Penthouse. 800 ft above the city that never sleeps. This tweet had 2 favorites, 4
retweets, 1 link, and 2 comments. The second highest subcategory was
food/beverage. These tweets included photos or information about the food at each
hotel. Four Seasons NY had the most tweets about food and beverages. The tweet
New bar food @fsnewyork. Shrimp and Romesco with grilled country bread received
1 retweet, 1 comment, 1 interaction with a follower, and 1 picture was uploaded
about this tweet. Another tweet in this category from Four Seasons NY is, Have you
tried our stuffed french toast w/ hammonton blueberries & nutella? Brunch with us in
#TheGarden. This tweet received 2 favorites, 2 retweets, 1 link, and 1 question.

Extended Category: Enhanced Tweets
In the enhanced tweets category, the tweets, from the four hotels included
in our study, resulted in 893 frequencies. From these tweets, we formed three
different subcategories: photos, links, and videos. (Table 3).

Table 3
Frequencies from Enhanced Tweets
Photos Links videos
Marriott London 37 25 0
Marriott NY 15 27 0
Four Seasons
London
93 37 0
Four Seasons NY 131 524 4
Total 276 (31%) 613 (68%) 4 (1%)
Total Frequencies 893

Majority of the mosts in the extended category emerged from the links
subcategory with 68%. The second highest subcategory was photos with 31%. Four
Seasons NY uploaded a total of 131 photos during the time span that we chose to
analyze. Four Seasons NY uploaded the most photos among the other Hotels that we
looked at. A tweet from Four Seasons NY is, For a little more info on why
@FSNewYork and I.M Pei are in our Top 50. This tweet had 1 retweet, 1 link, 1
photo, and 1 comment. This image that is shown reflects the interior design of the
hotel. Another tweet from Four Seasons NY is, us too! RT @fourseasons: Paradise!
Wish we could be poolside @FSCostaRica :). This tweet received 3 favorites, 1
retweet, and 1 comment. This photo was taken by a former guest of the hotel,
spending their time at a sister hotel. The image reflects the beautiful scenery of
Costa Rica and is an interaction with guests. Finally the subcategory with the lowest
percentage in the enhanced category was videos contributing only 1%. Four Seasons
NY was the only hotel that uploaded videos in the enhanced category of our analysis.
Through out the time period of our research (the summer months), Four Seasons NY
uploaded four videos.

After analyzing our research on the summer months of May to July, we found
that when hotels post videos they do not get a lot of feedback. More pictures are
followed on Twitter than videos.


Conclusions and Implications
While investigating the problem, our goal was to achieve our purpose of the
study. Stated earlier in this paper, our purpose was to find out how different luxury
and generic hotels in the hospitality industry market themselves via Twitter to
different parts of the world based on their locations of London and New York.
Throughout this study, we analyzed the research and came to the conclusion
that the most frequent categories that these four hotels used in the study utilized
were: enhanced tweets and promotions. The category that was most utilized was
enhanced tweets. Within this category, the hotels had a variety of tweets that
included photos, links, and videos. Four Seasons NY was the winner of each category
with 863 posts, 282 favorites, 421 retweets, and 409 comments. Overall, this hotel
had the highest numbers in every category.

Conclusions for the Social Presence Theory
A large percentage of the tweets were interactive with their followers (number
of tweets). With Twitter, followers and users have the ability to retweet, favorite,
comment, add pictures, images, links, and videos. The total number of posts in our
project was 1,281 among all four hotels. There was a total of 508 favorites, 706
retweets, and 690 comments among the four hotels of our study. We then divided the
tweets into four different categories being; food/beverage, congratulations, and
events. There was a total of 20 tweets for congratulations, 136 for food/beverages,
and 313 for events. The topic tweeted about the most is events throughout the four
hotels. After splitting the categories, we theanalyzeded the photo, links, and videos.
There was a total of 276 photos posted for all four hotels, 613 links, and 4 videos. In
our study, many users did not post videos, however users frequently posted photos
and links. Based on our study, it seems that social presence can be established on
Twitter between hotels and guests.
As we discovered in our analyses, the more times a hotel tweets the more interaction
the hotel gets with their guests. This feature is an advantage for hotels and guests.
Therefore, the social presence theory was established in our study between the hotels
and the individuals.

Implications
In this study, the largest categories that received the most interaction with
consumers or followers was the photo category. Most of these photos included
information regarding events and food/beverage. Our first suggestion is to reach out
and form a pinterest page since this social site is based solely on pictures and link it
to the users Twitter account. This way, you are reaching out to your followers on
Pinterest and followers on Twitter. Overall you are creating a large audience base.

Hotel chains should interact more with their community by forming topics
about events. Our research included hotel chains from England. These hotels could
possibly create content regarding the Royal Baby and the Royal Family. Not only is
this topic trending in England, but worldwide as well. Based on the different events
surrounding the different locations and cultures, the hotels could start conversations
that would engage their followers in discussions.

An audience that these hotels might consider focusing on is business accounts.
Businesses are generally the ones who are in need of hotels for a variety of reasons
(business-related trips, events, etc). By simply following a user, that user may follow
the first user back. This way these businesses see the hotels information and
promotions. Also, using content that causes companies to interact would be
beneficial. One way that hotels could connect with business accounts in particular
would be to hold a Twitter contest that would result in a discount for the winning
business.

Suggestions for Further Research
As a result of this study, we were only able to analyze a season of the year
(summer) which resulted in only analyzing three months: June, July and August. Since
hotels operate all year long and have certain peak seasons such as winter, holiday,
summer, and spring break, we concluded that future researchers may want to
broaden the range of the study. One way to do so would be to analyze the tweets
over the course of a full year. Also, further researchers may want to focus on other
outlets such as Instagram, Facebook or Youtube. Since videos and other subcategories
were low in numbers, the hotel would possibly benefit from promoting these in other
social media outlets. Finally, our last suggestion would be for researchers to
emphasize the interactions from followers on Twitter if hotels engage in daily
promotions.



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