EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA COMPONENTS ON CUSTOMER CHOICE OF SELECTED HOTELS IN NAKURU TOWN, KENYA

Abstract

In the modern world, social media has emerged to be unavoidable source of information for the various decisions that people make. Social media, through diverse channels and social networks, has given rise to a high level of interactivity and information to hotel customers. Previous studies on customers’ hotel choice mainly focused on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Consequently, there is little information on whether social media components shape customers choice of hotels. Furthermore, little research has empirically investigated the effects of social media components on customer choice of hotels especially in Kenya. Hence, the specific objectives were to investigate the effects of social media reviews, social media interactivity and social media informativity on hotel choice and to assess the importance of social media accounts in the hotels. The study was guided by the social exchange theory and social media components model. Anchoring on both explanatory and descriptive research designs, the study targeted 40 town hotels in Nakuru where 5 hotels were selected and targeted 640 hotel guests and 40 managers. The sample size comprised of 246 guests and 5 managers. The guests were selected using simple random sampling while the managers were purposively selected. Self-administered questionnaires and semistructured interviews were used to collect data from the guests and managers respectively. Multiple linear regression was used to analyze quantitative data while thematic analysis was used for qualitative data. The regression analysis established that social media components explained 59.3% (R2 = .593) of the variance in hotel choice. Further, the results revealed that social media reviews (β =.239, P =.007), social media interactivity (β =.299, P =.001) and social media informativity (β=.277, P=.001) all had a positive and significant effect on hotel choice. Furthermore, findings from interviews conducted revealed that hotels used Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as main social media accounts. The study thus concluded that social media components are important elements of customer choice of hotel. Hence, customers should make the most of the social media reviews that can support their choice. Hotel managers are encouraged to show how visual and inviting their properties are through their social media accounts, or better yet through influencer marketing with online content creators. Finally, hotels should make the most of social media platforms, as their use is only expected to increase