The growth of social media has made a major difference in how people make travel decisions. For example, consumers may come across new travel destinations by browsing their social media feeds. We are also seeing an increasing number of younger travelers who base their travel decisions on how “insta-worthy” a destination is.‍

The Role of Social Proof In the age of social media, consumers now prefer to source information from third-parties that they deem to be objective and reliable. Consumers also look for information from people who are just like them. Consequently, the most popular content related to travel is generated by users themselves or influencers.

To stay relevant in 2020, it is now necessary for hotels to supplement conventional marketing tactics with strategies that provide social proof (such as influencer marketing or user-generated content campaigns). To ensure a consistent stream of such content, hotel marketing teams may find it useful to use UGC and influencer marketing platforms such as Pixlee.

‍How Can Hotels Benefit from Influencer Marketing? More and more hotels are choosing to collaborate with travel influencers in order to boost their brand awareness and increase bookings. You can use an influencer platform to identify influencers who operate within the specific niche that you would like to target.

Influencers who specialize in travel are perceived to be highly reliable sources of information, advice, recommendations, and inspiration. This credibility means that their fans are likely to act on any endorsements that the influencer makes. As such, a well-done influencer marketing campaign has many benefits for hotels including online PR, enhanced brand awareness, greater engagement, and more sales.

Read through this infographic from The Europe Hotel & Resort. This interesting guide offers an insightful take on the subject with key statistics, a summary of benefits, strategy tips, and much more.

Mary Smith works as a marketing executive with Killarney Hotels, a hotel group based in the South-West of Ireland. She takes an avid interest in all thing tourism-related and closely monitors marketing trends as part of her work.