The thesis examines the role of social media influencers in promoting boutique hotels from the perspective of potential guests, thereby addressing a gap in research that has so far focused mainly on the general hotel offer. The study explores how potential guests perceive the involvement of social media influencers in boutique hotel promotion and what role such promotions play in their evaluation of the offer and their willingness to book a stay.
The empirical part is based on a qualitative research approach and combines a case study of six collaborations between boutique hotels and social media influencers with six in-depth interviews with potential guests. The results indicate that influencer marketing in boutique hotels works under certain conditions: (un)favourable attitudes toward the influencer are directly transferred to the perception of the hotel, the collaboration must provide added value, the congruence between the influencer and the hotel is important, while follower count is not a reliable indicator of effectiveness. The influencer offers a subjective experience, the hotel factual information, and both sources are trusted less than personal recommendations from acquaintances. Influencers act mainly as triggers of interest in the early, inspiration-seeking stage of the decision-making process, as the booking itself is most often prevented by a lack of
time or money. The thesis contributes to theory with the findings that an unfavourable attitude toward an influencer can damage brand perception, and that influencers organically reproduce the very characteristics that define boutique hotels, while on a practical level it offers boutique hotels concrete recommendations for selecting influencers and designing joint content.
|
