The use and importance of social networks in the hotel sector from the perspective of those responsible for their management

Abstract

When it started to become apparent how much social networks affect business, many organizations began to take them into account in the development of their management. The use of social networks is especially relevant in tourism companies since they largely depend on the opinion and experience of the client. Thus, this study seeks to gain a knowledge about the use and importance of social networks in the hotel sector through qualitative research based on interviews with the social network managers of ten hotel establishments. The theoretical framework has been taken into account to obtain the different categories and elaborate the research questions. Subsequently, through a content analysis using the Nvivo 11 software, subcategories with common characteristics were inductively obtained and divided into units of analysis by coding the data, thus facilitating the interpretation of the information. In the results, the social network managers interviewed stressed the importance of social media in the hotel sector to interact and interact with users. Therefore, they consider it essential to set their own goals for this area and to develop strategies depending on the social networks in which they intervene. The most prominent advantages identified are visibility, the ease of accessing information and the possibility of having a better communication, relationship and interaction with users.