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 semi-
structured 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% (R 2 = .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.