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Can An Authentic Social Media Vibe Overcome Traveler Mistrust?

A Social Media Challenge for Hoteliers

By Carrie Trimble Associate Professor of Marketing, Millikin University | November 2024

The overwhelming majority of global travelers (80% surveyed ) want to book an entire trip online. They also go online to find trip inspiration and consume more than five hours of online travel content in the days leading up to booking a trip. Most (75% surveyed) admit that social media posts lead to planning trips to specific destinations.

After spending that much time looking at travel content, consumers base their decisions about accommodations on four leading factors: reviews from other travelers, WiFi availability, accommodation facilities, and room photos. It’s no surprise that online reviews are the leading factor in consumer decision making as more than 90% of consumers claim to read reviews before making a purchase and over 75% claim to trust online reviews.

For the final two leading factors , what’s important to note is that travelers consider those room photos almost as important as the facilities themselves (22% identifying photos as the leading factor compared to 23% naming the facilities themselves). Even corporate travelers claim that online photos and videos are critical factors in their booking decisions. The importance of presenting a hotel’s amenities and facilities as appealing can not be overstated. Travelers report three presentation or perception-based “deal breakers”--bland hotel rooms, non-aesthetic food photos, and boring content presentation.

At the same time, consumers are losing trust in the hotel industry and generally worrying about the accuracy and authenticity of the information they access online. In the last five years, the number of Google searches for “legit” have doubled as consumer queries like “is [Brand X] legit?” and “is [app Z] legit?” increase in number. Similarly, nearly half of consumers report abandoning an online purchase because of legitimacy concerns with an e-commerce site. So what should hoteliers do if travelers want to book entirely online but are likely to mistrust the industry and online information?

Authenticity as a Remedy

Even before consumers consider abandoning an online shopping cart or deem food photos as non-aesthetic, their skepticism can lead to consumer tune out and general avoidance of branded messages. As media scholar and journalist, Michale Serazio, says in his 2013 book Your Ad Here: The Cool Sell of Guerilla Marketing , “The more obvious [advertisers’] efforts to influence, the more we screen out their messages” (p. 16). Social media influencers and brands alike have tried to use authentic or real appeals to differentiate themselves from the artificial, overly-produced, heavily airbrushed and high gloss look of print and web marketing. In this sense, the concept of authenticity borrows from the world of antiques and antiquities, where experts verify a painting is an original Cassatt and not a forgery or that a jade figure is an Imperial piece from the Qing dynasty and not a reproduction.

Consumers’ willingness to respond to claims of authenticity speaks to our general desire for something more to believe in than financial gain. Feminist media scholar Sarah Banet-Weiser writes in AuthenticTM: The Politics of Ambivalence in Brand Culture that “we need to believe--that there are spaces in our lives driven by genuine affects and emotions, something outside of mere consumer culture, something above the reductiveness of profit margins, the crassness of capital exchange” (p. 5). Academic researchers argue that brands need to understand what consumers see as authentic and then successfully recreate authentic messages in order to overcome consumer cynicism.

Consumer Concept of Brand Authenticity

Researchers argue that cynicism interferes with consumer interpretation of the potential authenticity cues that consumers encounter through various customer touch points with a brand. Some touch points, like advertising and website content, are mostly under the control of the brand, while others, like hearing a neighbor recount the story of their stay at a hotel or a news article about two storied chains merging that crosses a consumer’s social media timeline, are mostly outside of the control of the brand. Potential cues include a range of customer touch points like employee behavior, news stories and scandals, and branded messages like social media content and advertisements. Ideally, consumers would respond to those cues and perceive a brand with an established history full of symbolism, integrity and credibility.

Specifically, there are four antecedents to consumer perceptions of authenticity. Those factors that can help overcome lack of trust in the industry and online information are:

continuity
credibility
integrity
symbolism

Continuity

Consumers seem to perceive a brand to be authentic when it has continuity or a known history that survives the trends and times. That sense of continuity may come from a history of product use on the part of the consumer or from branded messages and social media content that focus heavily on the longevity of the brand. Hotel brands can incorporate consumer desires for photos and videos when travel-planning with the brand’s messages of continuity, if the social media, website, and app content offer photo and video cues of the brand’s history and longevity. For example, a social media campaign during hurricane season might include pictures of past storms weathered to show how the property has withstood the times and vagaries of Mother Nature. (Pun fully intended.)

Credibility

Additionally, brands that are perceived as credible are also more likely to be seen as authentic. Consumers reference honesty, lack of betrayal, and keeping promises as evidence of credibility. Employee behavior that matches the claims from branded messages helps reinforce consumer beliefs of credibility and authenticity. Therefore, careful employee selection and strong training practices that instill in employees the need to interact with guests in a manner that fits the brand’s image go a long way in helping consumers perceive the brand as authentic. Promoting this factor is more about guest experiences than curated photos, but online content that features stories of guest favorite staff members can also signal how employees’ behaviors are aligned with brand values.

Integrity

Consumer perceptions of integrity are tied to the moral principles and values expressed by the brand as well as indications that a brand cares about its guests and gives back to them. Any news stories about brand scandals are highly detrimental to consumer perceptions of integrity and authenticity. The integrity factor is complicated because hotel brands can promote their values through branded messages, but if a story breaks in the news media of brand behavior that contradicts the promoted values, the backlash can be quite strong . Perceptions of integrity are also tied to service recovery. When guests perceive their issues to be ignored or unsatisfactorily resolved, that can lead to guests questioning whether the brand overstated their values and to guests viewing the brand as lacking integrity and authenticity.

Symbolism

The final factor that goes into consumer perceptions of brand authenticity is the most amorphous. Researchers have suggested that consumers who believe a brand adds meaning to their lives or helps connect guests with their real selves is successfully using symbolism to signal authenticity . Another way to define this factor is to say that if a hotel guest believes that their interactions with the hotel brand are a strong reflection of the type of person that guest wants to be then the guest will see the brand as authentic.

For example, if the guest sees themselves as environmentally responsible, they will want to stay at hotels with strong eco-friendly practices. Similarly, if a hotel guest believes that they are an adventurous traveler, they’ll find hotel brands that connect them with out-of-the-way locations and thrill-seeking excursions to fit their own self image and, therefore, be authentic to who they are. Cues for symbolism can easily include the aesthetically-pleasing digital content that online consumers crave if the brand understands how their guests envision themselves.

^{Google Trends graph of 5-year trend of searches of the word "legit"}

Signaling Authenticity in Online Messages

For hotel brands that want to use authenticity to grab the attention of online consumers trying to plan their next trip, there are three tactical considerations beyond the factors of continuity, credibility, integrity, and symbolism. Generally speaking, consumers are more likely to perceive branded messages as authentic if they feature experiences over specific products, don’t use overly polished social media practices, and focus on an intrinsic motivation for the work.

Experiential

The research on sharing experiences instead of material purchases suggests that consumers see experiences as more authentic , especially over multiple posts like a social media campaign. Whether this tactic is used for influencer posts on social media or a planned campaign by the hotel brand that features guests experiencing the hotel amenities, the results should be similar. When the posts are focused on the experience and the emotions the influencer or guests feel, the posts will be seen as more authentic than a post that talks about goods that were purchased.

For hotel restaurants, in particular, there is a critical difference between showing guests tasting and enjoying fine-dining and showing guests choosing expensive labels of wine or liquor. Both portrayals can signal the luxury of the dining experience, only the former is a signal for authenticity. Similarly, a guest can be shown to luxuriate in fine linens in a hotel suite to signal status and authenticity as long as the focus is on how the guest feels or sleeps; once the focus is on the material good (thread count or brand name), the post is no longer perceived as authentic.

Spontaneous social media posts

It should come as no surprise that if authenticity is often seen as the antithesis of overly-produced branded messages that spontaneity can be an authenticity signal. Specifically, researchers have found that Instagram Stories are perceived as more spontaneous and more authentic. Instagram Stories are fleeting; they only last 24 hours from when they are posted. That temporary nature likely contributes to the perception that the content is not overly-produced and, therefore, more authentic than a planned campaign of posts. While consumers are able to identify seemingly authentic posts as well as Stories, the first impression of Stories is that they are more authentic.

This is a tactic that brands should be careful when using because there are cases where the fleeting nature of Stories make them seem less sincere. Celebrities who use Stories for apologies are seen as using the temporary nature as a way to prevent their image from being continually associated with the bad behavior that led to an apology. So if the intent of using Stories is to convey authenticity, then hotel brands need to make sure that the Stories incorporate some of the antecedents of authenticity or one of the other two tactics described here.

Intrinsic Motivation

Perceptions of brand authenticity are often dependent on consumers believing that a brand is motivated by more than financial gain . Hoteliers that focus on a product orientation--providing the best hotel experience possible for the guest--or who demonstrate a love for the business are thought to have an intrinsic motivation for being in the hotel industry. As soon as a guest feels like profit is more important than reputation or guest satisfaction, the guest will perceive the hotel brand to be inauthentic. This is another area that can be helped by proper training of hotel staff so that guests consistently feel like a top priority for the hotel.

Consumers are not naive; they know that hotel brands need to make money to stay in business. However, perceptions of authenticity rely on guests seeing that external motivation of profit as a lesser motivation than pride in a job well done or the mutual satisfaction of a problem solved. Consistently demonstrating that guests are a priority while travel planning and during a hotel stay is possibly the most crucial of factors or tactics to perceptions of authenticity. Much of consumer skepticism is triggered by the belief that brands, in general, will say almost anything to make a sale. So, if a hotel brand can show a guest that their satisfaction is paramount, a major hurdle to being seen as authentic has been successfully cleared.

Authenticity for the Win

Hoteliers who want to combat guest skepticism and reach online consumers as they’re perusing social media for future trip ideas can use the antecedents of authenticity and the tactics described here to attract positive attention and influence future guests. Employee training and branded digital messages that help consumers perceive a hotel brand as authentic should produce appealing digital content and online guest reviews that build the reputation of the brand and provide the aesthetically-pleasing photos and videos that guests want about the facilities and amenities. (Just don’t forget to mention the free WiFi.)

Dr. Trimble

Carrie S. Trimble, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Marketing and the Hermann Professor of Business in the Tabor School of Business at Millikin University. She earned her graduate degrees in Communication (M.A. from University of Illinois Springfield) and Mass Media (Ph.D. from Michigan State University) just as brands were beginning to discover how to use digital media resources to reach their customers. Dr. Trimble teaches digital media marketing and business writing courses, and she offers travel courses as often as she can. Through the travel courses, she's introduced students to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Viet Nam, China, Italy, and Walt Disney World. Her research agenda measures consumer responses to cause-related marketing, consumer willingness to create digital communities, and student active learning in travel courses. Extended Biography & Contact Information

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If you choose to purchase a subscription, member subscription payments can be made in U.S. Dollars, as well as a variety of international currencies. Membership terms are Annual Recurring, and Monthly Recurring. The Annual Recurring subscription is an annual commitment and subscribers will be charged each consecutive billing cycle. Annual Recurring subscriptions can be cancelled after the first billing cycle and within 30-days of the billing date for a full refund. Monthly Recurring subscriptions are ongoing and subscribers will be charged each consecutive monthly billing cycle. Monthly Recurring subscriptions can be cancelled after the first month and within 7 days of the monthly billing cycle for a full refund.

12. PAYMENT AUTHORIZATION

Payment for the services provided to you in, at, through or in association with HotelExecutive may be made by automatic credit card, debit card, direct debit, bankwire or Paypal and other approved payment means offered in, at, through or in association with HotelExecutive, and you hereby authorize HotelExecutive and its agents to transact such payments on your behalf.

You hereby authorize HotelExecutive's Internet Payment Service Provider to charge your credit card to pay for your membership to HotelExecutive. You further authorize HotelExecutive's Internet Payment Service Provider to charge your credit card for any and all purchases of products, services in association with HotelExecutive. You agree to be personally liable for all charges incurred by you in association with your access or other use of any content provided by HotelExecutive or any third party in association with HotelExecutive. You acknowledge and agree that your liability for all such charges shall continue after termination of your access or any type of membership arrangement with HotelExecutive.

In the event that you have chosen to have your membership automatically rebilled, unless and until you notify HotelExecutive that you wish to cancel or terminate your membership to HotelExecutive, you hereby agree and authorize HotelExecutive's Internet Payment Service Provider to automatically renew your membership to HotelExecutive on a continuing basis and to charge your credit card (or other payment means you have selected) to pay for the ongoing cost of your membership. You hereby further authorize HotelExecutive's Internet Payment Service Provider to charge your credit card (or other approved payment means you have selected) for any and all purchases of products, services and entertainment provided to in, at, through or in association with HotelExecutive.

13. PRIVACY POLICY

The following is the Privacy Policy for HotelExecutive

We can be reached via telephone, email, or online at our contact page. When you visit our site we do not log any information regarding your domain or email address. Information Sharing: We do not share user information with any third parties other than via press release distribution as described below.

Hotel Newswire is a newswire service that distributes press releases on behalf of our users. If you decide to submit a press release for distribution through our system we will transmit your entire press release including any personal information therein contained to our media contacts and online distribution points including search engines. This is the only redistribution of your information that we engage in. Your submission of press releases through our system indicates consent with this policy. The information we collect during your registration process is used to notify users about updates to our service and inform users of any special events hosted by Hotel Newswire. This information is not shared with other organizations for commercial or non-commercial purposes.

Cookies: Our system requires the use of cookies to enable the user to log back into our website to access information from the newswire, without having to log in each time using the required username and password.

If you do not want to receive email from us in the future, please let us know by following instructions included in our communication with you. Users who supply us with telephone numbers online may receive telephone contact from us regarding their account, or informing them of new products and services available on the HotelExecutive website. If you do not wish to receive such telephone calls, please edit your account and remove your phone number from your account profile. This can be done from your user account menu.

Ad Servers: We do not partner with or have any relationship with any ad server companies. From time to time, we may use customer information for new uses not previously disclosed in our privacy notice. If our information practices change at any time, we will post the policy changes to our website to notify you of these changes and provide you with the ability to opt out of these new uses. If you are concerned about how your information is used, you should check back at our website periodically.

Upon request we provide site visitors with access to all information (including proprietary information) that we maintain about them. Users can access this information by logging in to their account.

Security: We always use industry-standard encryption technologies while transferring and receiving user data exchanged with our site. We have appropriate security measures in place in our physical facilities to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of information that we have collected from you on our site. We do not store credit card information in our systems.

If you feel that this site is not following its stated information policy, you may contact us.