Is Social Media Working for the Hotel Industry?

In late 2013, little known Sydney hotel 1888 was featured in news articles around the world for their latest promotional strategy: they would be the first hotel to give out free stays to guests with over 10,000 followers on Instagram.  Everything about The 1888 - from the name (the year Kodak released its first box camera) to the decor (printed Instagram pictures) - reflected their photo-focus and their promotion quickly gained attention across Instagram's 150 million user base (as of September 2013).  Their original post garnered a whopping 72% engagement and rocketed the small boutique hotel to the #1 Sydney hotel on TripAdvisor.

Over the subsequent years, hotels have continued to embrace increased opportunities to interact with guests via social media.  Other boutique hotels have mimicked 1888's strategy, like the Sol Wave House in Spain that conducts nearly all its guest operations - from reservations to check-in to the concierge - over Twitter.  The hotel itself is peppered with hashtags and their Twitter presence sees regular customer engagement.

And it's not just the little guys that are jumping on the social media bandwagon.  Hilton Hotels launched an incredibly successful multi-platform campaign titled "Our Stage. Your Story." that integrated posts across Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and awarded free stays to posters every week.  I got to experience the impact of social media myself when staying at the Waldorf Astoria's Arizona Biltmore hotel.  After tweeting about a trail map left next to my running shoes, The Biltmore staff responded by leaving an array of "post-run snacks" in my room.

This is adorable. The @WaldorfAstoria @ArizonaBiltmore saw my running shoes and put a trail map with them in my room pic.twitter.com/EZn9EJ0mYD

— Carly Weil (@CarlyWeil) December 2, 2015

Traveling for work is rough, but not when @arizonabiltmore makes you feel like you're at home! Most adorable series of events I've had at a hotel. #allmyfavoritesnacks #arizonabiltmorehotel #happycustomer #businesstravel

A photo posted by Carly W (@carwheel88) on Dec 2, 2015 at 5:40pm PST

The jury seems to still be out as to how much social media engagement has really delivered in terms of increased patronage.  But it's clear that hotel chains can enrich their brand awareness by embracing new social channels and allowing their customers to interact with the company in new ways.  Social media in the hotel industry seems to be most successful when positioned as a customer engagement tool that bridges across social platforms and across the virtual/physical space.  

So how has social media strategy worked out for The 1888?  They still embrace photography culture, and were acquired by Ovolo Hotels this year.  It seems The 1888 - now known as the Ovolo 1888 Darling Harbour - still honors the offer of a free stay for high profile Instagramers, though it has been scaled back to only one free night.  Yet the Ovolo 1888 Instagram account itself only garners 695 followers, not enough to buy a night at their own hotel, and the various hashtags associated with the hotel barely manage more than a couple posts a week.  #1888hotel, which feeds directly to a screen behind the hotel's check-in desk, has only 2,745 posts.