The Impact of Social Media on the Lodging Performance of Five Star Hotels in Malta

The intention of this study was to find out how five star hotels operating in Malta and Gozo are actually utilising social media and the main focus of usage. Another question posed was whether they are in a position to measure the degree of success in its use to attract more visitors to their establishment. The analysis confirmed some of the trends that are commonly mentioned in literature. However, there were also some conflicting results. While the importance of social media is clearly defined and its importance as a communication medium with the consumers was seen as fundamental, it appears that social media is not being used to its full potential. Moreover, while it does have an impact on the booking behaviour of consumers, hotels are finding difficult to establish a direct link with the occupancy rate. These outcomes suggest that further investment in training in social media use and analysis of the data generated by social media is required. Various analysis tools are available but up till the time of this study, very few were being used to their full potential. That said, it is also clear that further research needs to be done given that the uptake of social media by the hospitality sector in constantly on the increase and some establishments are investing in human resources in order to have the right people with the right skill set in relation to analysis of social media related data.