Taking into account the growing importance of social media marketing for luxury hotels and lack of any research about social media marketing for luxury hotels in Russia, the following research aim and objectives were proposed:
Research aim: To reveal the approaches to social media marketing Russian luxury hotels use before, during and after the trip, find the patterns of using social media and aggregator websites by their clients and provide recommendations based on the collected data.
Research objectives:
1) To reveal and critically evaluate how Russian luxury hotels implement social media, user-generated content and aggregator websites in their marketing activities:
a) By interviewing specialists on social media marketing in Russia in the sphere of travel and tourism, including those working for outsource agencies;
b) By interviewing the representatives of Russian luxury hotels.
2) To reveal and critically evaluate how the customers of Russian luxury hotels use social media and aggregator websites by surveying 40 frequent customers of Russian luxury hotels.
3) To provide recommendations on how to increase the effectiveness of implementation social media by luxury hotels in Russia during the three stages of luxury hotel's customer experience: before, during and after the trip:
a) By reflecting on the information about the prominent foreign case studies;
b) By analysing the recommendations of the specialists on social media marketing in Russia in the sphere of travel and tourism;
c) By synthesising the information revealed from the analysis of the data collected for objective 1 and 2 and information from the prominent foreign case studies.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1. Justification of research
1.2. Academic and industry background
1.3. Research aim and objectives
2. Literature review
2.1. Definition of social networks, social media and social media marketing
2.2. Adoption of social media marketing by hotels
2.3. Social media management in hospital industry: major areas of research.
2.4. Social media and three main stages of trip
2.5. Social media and luxury hotels
2.6. Research Questions Stem from Literature Review
3. Methodology of research
3.1. Philosophy of research
3.2. Approach
3.3. Methods, Data Collection
3.4. Sampling
3.5. Ethical Considerations
3.6. Research Analysis, data analysis methods
4. Presentation of findings
4.1. Interviews with the representatives of Russian luxury hotels
4.1.1. General online marketing activities, SEO, web-design and issues beyond social media marketing
4.1.2. Russian luxury hotels and third party booking and aggregator services
4.1.3. Social networks Russian luxury hotels focus on
4.1.4. People/agencies responsible for social media marketing in Russian luxury hotels
4.1.5. Approaches to measuring the effectiveness of social media marketing by Russian luxury hotels
4.1.6. Profile of customers came from third party booking websites and online books services
4.2. Implementation of social media strategy: prominent foreign case studies
4.2.1. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
4.2.2. Ritz-Carlton
4.2.3. Trump Hotel Collection
4.2.4. Hilton Worldwide
4.2.5. Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group
4.3. Survey of the Clients
5. Conclusions
6. Recommendations
6.1. Recommendations based on the interviews and survey
6.2. Recommendations for Russian luxury hotels
6.3. Recommendations for SMM agencies and Social Networks popular in Russia
7. Final Chapter
Research Objectives and Themes
The primary aim of this research is to investigate how Russian luxury hotels utilize social media marketing across different stages of the travel customer experience (before, during, and after a trip), identify customer patterns in using social platforms and booking aggregators, and develop actionable recommendations based on these insights.
- Analysis of social media marketing implementation in the Russian luxury hotel sector.
- Evaluation of hotel interaction with third-party booking and aggregator platforms.
- Investigation of social network usage habits among luxury hotel customers.
- Assessment of current SMM management strategies and measurement challenges in hotels.
- Benchmarking of Russian practices against successful international luxury hotel case studies.
Excerpt from the Book
2.4. Social media and three main stages of trip
Euromonitor International (2011) suggests that social media management can be divided on three areas based on their usage by the premium and luxury and even mass travellers.
At least 85% of leisure travellers use Google Search and other search engines in planning their Trip; hence come the importance of search engine optimisation (Noone et al., 2011). During the planning of a travel trip, Xiang and Gretzel (2010) reveal that at least 10% of traffic from web search engines goes to social media content, and this share is increasing. Hence comes the increasing importance of the management of social media to influence customers on this critical stage of decision-making process, which should use different approaches and methods compared to general online advertising (ibid). Even luxury travellers pay high attention to decision-making in case of hotels as they are highly priced and are high involvement products. Hence come the necessity of collecting as much information about the product (including reviews of other customers) as possible (Jeng and Fesenmaier, 2002).
Word of mouth (WoM) can be regarded as one of the most important and credible source of information about the travel products (Murphy et al., 2007). User-generated content can be regarded almost as trustworthy as word-of-mouth from friends, since majority of customers believe that the reviews are generated by people without any commercial self-interest (Casaló et al., 2011). However many users are biased, while even small share of fake reviews may result in huge drop of credibility of the source (Varum et al., 2011).
Chapter Summaries
1. Introduction: Presents the justification for the research, highlights the lack of prior academic study on the Russian luxury market, and outlines the primary aim and objectives.
2. Literature review: Defines key concepts like social networks and SMM, explores their adoption in hospitality, discusses the three stages of a trip, and reviews the importance of user-generated content.
3. Methodology of research: Describes the pragmatic research philosophy, the mixed-method abductive approach, and details the data collection methods involving interviews and surveys.
4. Presentation of findings: Analyzes the qualitative interview data from hotel representatives and experts, evaluates foreign case studies, and examines the quantitative survey results.
5. Conclusions: Synthesizes the findings to answer the research questions, confirming the limited necessity of the "three stages of trip" model in real-life Russian hotel practice.
6. Recommendations: Provides strategic advice for hotels, including website usability improvements and targeted advertising, as well as guidelines for SMM agencies.
7. Final Chapter: Summarizes the research as a foundational study for the Russian market and suggests areas for future longitudinal studies.
Keywords
Social Media Marketing, SMM, Russian luxury hotels, Hospitality industry, User-Generated Content, TripAdvisor, Booking.com, Customer loyalty, SEO, Digital marketing strategy, Customer engagement, Online travel agencies, Brand awareness, Tourism management, Generation Y.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research?
The research examines the implementation of social media marketing (SMM) strategies within the Russian luxury hotel sector and explores how hotels interact with their customers at various stages of the travel experience.
What are the primary areas of study within the industry?
Key areas include the integration of social media with general online marketing, the impact of third-party booking/aggregator services, management responsibilities for SMM, and measuring the effectiveness of marketing efforts.
What is the main research goal?
The objective is to reveal how Russian luxury hotels use social media, identify customer behavior patterns regarding these platforms, and provide data-driven recommendations to enhance hotel competitiveness.
Which scientific methods were applied?
The study adopts a pragmatist philosophy using an abductive approach, combining qualitative semi-structured interviews with industry experts and hotel managers with quantitative surveys of customers.
What topics are discussed in the main body of the work?
The main part analyzes current marketing practices in Russian hotels, compares them with successful international case studies (e.g., Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons), and presents survey data on customer preferences.
Which specific keywords define this study?
The study is characterized by terms such as SMM, Russian luxury hospitality, user-generated content, customer loyalty, and online travel agency (OTA) integration.
How do Russian hotels handle the "before, during, and after" trip model?
The findings conclude that the theoretical model dividing SMM activities into these three distinct stages is not strictly practiced in the real-life operations of Russian luxury hotels.
What is the current approach of Russian luxury hotels toward social media agencies?
Many hotels are skeptical and prefer to manage SMM internally to avoid issues with agencies that might use "fake" followers, likes, and artificial engagement tactics.
What is the role of TripAdvisor and Booking.com in the findings?
These platforms are identified as the most prominent third-party services, crucial for customer reviews and traffic, though hotels struggle with the difficulty of measuring direct sales attribution from them.
- Quote paper
- Miraziz Bazarov (Author), 2015, Social Media Marketing by Russian Luxury Hotels. Before, during and after the Trip, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/365537
