Exploring the impact of social media platform image on hotel customers’ visit intention

Purpose Many tourism-related industries, such as hotels, use social media as a marketing tool for promotion and distribution. This paper aims to use a model that explores the impact of social media platform image (SMPI) on customers’ visit intention (VI) in a hotel context, using hotel image (HI), motivation (Mot) and anticipated service quality (ASQ) as mediators. The objectives of this study are then: to understand the interactions between the two brand images, to test the mediation effect of HI, Mot and ASQ and to investigate how this interaction contributes to customers’ VI to hotel. Design/methodology/approach This study used a convenience sampling method that targeted respondents who are willing to book a hotel using a social media platform such as Facebook and a hotel reservation website (Agoda, Airbnb, Booking.com, Hotels.com and Trivago) that have forums that allow customers to share their experiences. The survey was conducted through various social media platforms, with 349 responses being collected. Findings This study finds that SMPI contributes to Mot largely through HI, Mot partly mediates the relationship between HI and ASQ and Mot contributes to VI mostly through direct impact and a small part through ASQ. The findings also indicate that SMPI is less potent in terms of contributing to the later constructs if HI is low. Practical implications This research provides practical implications for marketers serving the hotel industry, and social media sites, and establishes the interrelationship between them. This research also offers insight to the hotel managers for using social media platforms to attract potential visitors because social media platforms in recent years have become significant contributors to customers’ decision-making process of booking and visiting a hotel. Originality/value This study provides results on how social media platforms can be caused to become a more effective hotel promotion channel.