Development of a Conceptual Framework for Relationships between Social Media Marketing and Intentions to Stay at Five-Star Hotels

Abstract

Data shows that social media users continue to increase worldwide, particularly in Indonesia, and the time they spend accessing social media. There are 191.4 million active users of social media in Indonesia. The average time spent accessing social media is 3 hours 17 minutes per day, which is higher than the world average, i.e., 2 hours 27 minutes. Research has been conducted on using social media as a marketing tool in the hotel industry. Still, no study assessed the star hotel consumers'' perceived usefulness and trust of social media marketing activities, including the celebrity effect of endorsers and intention to stay or buy services provided by star hotels (purchase intention). Celebrity endorsers are a new phenomenon in social media marketing. By looking at this phenomenon, this research aims to investigate: (1) the factors that influence the relationship between social media marketing and the intention to stay at the hotel and (2) the social media marketing concept framework that influences hotel stay intentions. This study uses a combination of Sequential Explanatory research methods. In the first stage, quantitative methods were used to draft a Conceptual Framework for the Relationship between Social Media Marketing and Intentions to Stay at Star Hotels. In the second stage, qualitative methods were used to validate the conceptual framework. Findings reveal that all indicators, i.e., advertisements, celebrity effects, customization, e-WOM, entertainment, interaction, trendiness, perceived trust, and perceived usefulness, are relevant and relate to purchase intention to stay in a hotel.