Available online at www.sciencedirect.

com

ScienceDirect
IFAC PapersOnLine 55-39 (2022) 66–69
Social
Social Media
Media Marketing
Marketing in
in Hospitality
Hospitality Industry
Industry and
and Its
Its Effect
Effect on
on Consumer
Consumer
Behavior in
Social Media Marketing in Hospitality Kosovo
Behavior inIndustry
Kosovo and Its Effect on Consumer
Behavior in Kosovo
Marigona
Marigona Qenaj*.Qenaj*. Gonxhe
Gonxhe Beqiri**
Beqiri**
*University for
*University for Business
Business and and Technology
Technology
Marigona Qenaj*.-- UBT,
UBT, Pristina,
Pristina, Kosovo
GonxheKosovo
Beqiri** (e-mail: mq46719@ubt-uni.net)
(e-mail: mq46719@ubt-uni.net)
**University
**University for
for Business
Business and
and Technology
Technology -
- UBT,
UBT, Pristina,
Pristina, Kosovo
Kosovo (e-mail:
(e-mail: gonxhe.beqiri@ubt-uni.net0
gonxhe.beqiri@ubt-uni.net0
*University for Business and Technology - UBT, Pristina, Kosovo (e-mail: mq46719@ubt-uni.net)
**University for Business and Technology - UBT, Pristina, Kosovo (e-mail: gonxhe.beqiri@ubt-uni.net0
Abstract: The
Abstract: The aimaim ofof this
this research
research was
was to to analyze
analyze thethe importance
importance of of social
social media
media marketing
marketing on on hospitality
hospitality
industry
industry and
and its
its effect
effect on
on increasing
increasing consumers
consumers interest
interest and
and reservations.
reservations. This
This research
research was
was conducted
conducted with
with
aAbstract:
sample The
of 120 aimparticipants,
of this research wasintoseveral
clients analyzehotels
the importance
in Kosovo. of The
social media marketing
research findings on hospitality
were based on
aindustry
sampleand of its
120effect
participants,
on clients
increasing in several
consumers hotels
interest in Kosovo. The
and reservations. research findings
This research was were
conductedbased on
with
primary
primary data
data analysis
analysis survey
survey method
method using
using the
the questionnaire
questionnaire as
as a
a measurement
measurement tool.
tool. The
The questionnaires
questionnaires
a sample
were ofon120 participants, clients in several hotels in Kosovo.questions
The research findings were based on
were based
based
primary data
Likert
Likert scale.
onanalysis scale.
survey
The
The first
first part
method part
using
contained
contained
the
demographic
demographic
questionnaire as aquestions and
and the
measurement the second
second
tool. The
part
part contained
contained
questionnaires
questions
questions on
ononthe importance
theLikert
importance of
of social
social media
media marketing
marketing and
and consumer
consumer behavior
behavior relationship
relationship in
in hospitality.
hospitality.
were
The based
coding and output scale.
of the The first
results was part contained
done through demographic
SPSS version questions
23 and
software, the second
continued part
with thecontained
multiple
The coding
questions on and output of
the importance the results was
of frequency done
social media through
marketingSPSSandversion
consumer 23 software,
behavior continued
relationshipwithin the multiple
hospitality.
regression
regression method
method and
and through
through frequency analysis.
analysis. The
The main
main research
research question
question of
of the
the paper
paper was
was based
based on
on
Therelationship
the coding and output
between of the results
interest was done through
rate/reservations of SPSS version
clients and how23 much
software, continued
effect have withsocial
some the multiple
media
the relationship
regressionsuch between
methodrates/reviews,interest rate/reservations
and through frequency analysis. of clients
The main and how
research much effect
question have some
of the offers. social
paper was media
based on
activities
activities such asasbetween
rates/reviews, advertising,
advertising, promotional
promotional prices,
prices, and
and package
package (family)
(family) offers. Based
Based on
on the
the
the relationship
findings it was concluded interest
that rate/reservations of clients and how much effect have some social media
findings
activitiesitsuch
was asconcluded that social
rates/reviews, social media
media marketing
advertising, marketing
promotional
activities
activities
prices,
have
have affected the
the way
way consumers
affected (family)
and package consumers
offers. Based
approach
approach
on the
the
the hospitality
hospitality industry
industry and
and social
social media
media advertising
advertising is
is an
an extremely
extremely useful
useful promotion
promotion tool
tool and
and positively
positively
findings
affects it
the was concluded that social media marketing activities have affected the way consumers approach
affects the increase
increase
the hospitality
of
of bookings
industry bookings
and social
and selection
andmedia
selection of
of hotels.
hotels.
advertising is an extremely useful promotion tool and positively
Copyright © 2022 The Authors. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
affects the
Keywords: social
increase media,
of
(https://creativecommons.org
Keywords: marketing,
bookings
social media, marketing, and consumer
consumer behavior, advertising,
selection of
/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) behavior,
hotels. advertising, hospitality
hospitality
Keywords: social media, marketing, consumer behavior, advertising, hospitality

1.
1. INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Digitization is an
Digitization is an1. important important
INTRODUCTION marketing tool
marketing tool for
for all
their all
their satisfaction.
satisfaction. ThisThis hashas enabled
enabled the the staff
staff toto bebe more
more
businesses
businesses in a
inisa an world
world tremendously competitive.
tremendously competitive. With
careful
careful
With toward
toward costumer
costumer services.
services.
Digitization
digital marketing,
marketing, all important
businesses,marketing
whether small tool orforlarge,
small their
This all
satisfaction. Thisin has
the enabled the staffthe to literature
be more
digital
businesses in a all
world businesses,
tremendously whether competitive. or This paper
paper
large,
With
careful toward
is
is divided
divided
costumer
main categories:
in services.
the main categories: the literature
have aa similar
have similar tool tool they
they cancan useuse to to compete
compete in in larger
larger
review
review related
related to
to the
the topic
topic of
of interest,
interest, methodology
methodology and
and data
data
digital marketing,
industries. In the all businesses,
hospitality whether
industry, smallmedia
social or large,
This paper
has
analysis thatisprovide
divided in the
information mainlinked
categories:
to the the literature
main purpose
industries.
have a In the
similar hospitality
tool they can industry,
use to social media
compete in analysisrelated
has
larger
review that provide
to the information
topic of linked
interest, to the mainand
methodology purpose
data
become aa source
become source of of digital
digital marketing
marketing of of products
products that
that aa hotel
of hotel
of the
the study.
study.
industries.
can offer In the
such as hospitality
rooms, food,industry,
spa, andsocial media has
environment analysis
in that provide information linked to the main purpose
can offera source
such as rooms,marketing
food, spa,ofand environment in 2.
become
general. of digital products that a hotel 2. A
of the study. A LITERATURE
LITERATURE REVIEW REVIEW
general.
can
Howoffer
How doessuch
does social
social
as rooms,
media food,
media help in
help
spa,marketing
in and environment
hospitality
marketing hospitality
in
Hospitality
Hospitality marketing
2. marketing
A LITERATUREcan be analyzed
REVIEWas
can be analyzed as aa cycle,
cycle, which
which
general.
products? The The platform
platform serves
serves as as aa bridge
bridge between occurs
between users
users with anan assessment
assessment of of existing
existing andand potential
potential markets
markets
products?
How does social media help in influenced
marketing occurs
hospitality with
Hospitality marketing can be analyzed as aAn cycle, which
and potential visitors who can be by for
for hospitality
varioushospitality products
products within
within aa country.
country. An important
important
and potential visitors
products? who can asbea influenced by various
occurs with an assessment of existing and potential markets
marketing The
marketing tools.platform
tools. Nowadays,
Nowadays,
serves
for all bridge
for all businesses
businesses
between is users
it is
it
element
very
element
very
of
of the
the marketing
marketing cycle
cycle is
is the
the formulation
formulation of
of the
the
and potential visitors who can be influenced by for
varioushospitality
product type products
and its within a
development. country. An
With important
sufficient
important
important to interact
totools.
interact online
online withwith their consumers and listen
product type and its development. With sufficient
marketing
to their information Nowadays,
and opinions.fortheir consumers it
all businesses andis listen
element
very
information of theabout
marketing
the cycle is the
market, formulationcan
management of the
be
to their information
important to interact and opinions.
online with their consumers and information
product
listen type about
and the
its market,
development. management
With can be
sufficient
Digitization also also made
made itit easier
easier for
for people
people around
around the determined
the world
world for
determined forabout the specific
the specific market segment
market segment (Goryushkina,
(Goryushkina,
Digitization
to their information and opinions. information the market, management can be
to plan
plan andand decide
decide around
around the the location
location of of hotels Shkurkin,
hotels because
because
Shkurkin, Petrenko,
Petrenko, Demin,
Demin, &
& Yarovaya,
Yarovaya, 2016).
2016). In
In this
this case
case
to
Digitization also made it easier for people around the determined
world for the specific market segment (Goryushkina,
they have the opportunity to see images of the social
products media
social media marketing
marketing can play
can play a greate role.
a greate role. Social
Social media
media
they
to have
plan and the opportunity
decide around to
the see imagesofofhotels
location the products
Shkurkin,
because Petrenko, Demin, & Yarovaya, 2016). In this case
offered, this
this possibility
possibility is is considered
considered time time and cost has
has changed
cost effective changed the
the marketing
marketing strategy
strategy and businesses
andSocial
businesses
offered,
they have the opportunity to see imagesand of the effective
social
products media marketing can play a greate role. media
for the consumers. regardles
regardles of
of their
their activity
activity and
and sector.
sector. Businesses
Businesses are
are using
using
for the consumers.
offered, this possibility is considered time and cost has
effectivechanged the marketing strategy and businesses
Moreover, hospitality
hospitality businesses
businesses have have undergone social
undergone aa
social media
media platform
platform to
to target
target bigger
bigger audiences,
audiences, interact
interact
Moreover,
for the consumers. regardles of audiences
their activity and sector.effectively
Businessestheir are using
tremendous change with the advent of computers. with
with larger
Thislarger audiences and manage
andtarget
manage effectively their time
time
tremendous
Moreover, change withbusinesses
hospitality the advent have of computers.
undergone This
social media platform to bigger audiences, interact
means
means that hotel
that hotel management
management staff find
staff find it much
itcomputers.easier
much easier toa
(Beqiri
(Beqiri
to
&
& Bello,
Bello, 2021).
2021).
tremendous change with the advent of with
TheThislarger audiences and manage effectively theirreview
time
organize data
organize
means
data regarding
that are
regarding consumers.
hotel management
consumers. It It is
is also worth
find also
staffmedia itplatforms
much easierThe monitoring
worth noting
notingmonitoring
(Beqiri
to & Bello,
of
of performance indicators
performance indicators
2021).
and their
and their review
that there digital and social is
is the
where
the last
last element
element of
of the
the marketing
marketing cycle.
cycle. In
In order
order to
to
that theredata
organize areregarding
digital and social media
consumers. It is platforms
also worth where
The
notingmonitoring of performance indicators andintheir review
consumers, in in addition
addition to to giving
giving ratings
ratings about
about products, provide
products, areare
provide a
a basis
basis information
information for
for the
the changes
changes in the
the market
market
consumers,
that there are digital and social media platforms is the lastpolicies,
where elementtheofcomparison
the marketing cycle. In orderwith
to
very important
important tool tool to
to measure
measure the the consumer
consumer behavior and
and hotel
behavior and hotela policies, the comparison of the
the actual
ofchanges
actual results
results with
very
consumers, in addition to giving ratings about products,and
provide
are basis information for the in the market
the
the baseline
baseline plans and
plans the the
the budget,
andcomparisonbudget, the evaluation of the
the
very important tool to measure the consumer behavior and and hotel policies, of the evaluation
the actual resultsofwith
2405-8963 Copyright © 2022 The Authors. This is an open access article underthe
thebaseline
CC BY-NC-ND plans license
and the . budget, the evaluation of the
Peer review under responsibility of International Federation of Automatic Control.
10.1016/j.ifacol.2022.12.012
 Marigona Qenaj et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 55-39 (2022) 66–69
effectiveness of the marketing activities is completed
(Frolova, 2014). The hospitality industry occupies an
important place in the economy of most countries (Talabi,
2015). A study about marketing in the hotel industry by
(Goryushkina, Shkurkin, Petrenko, Demin, & Yarovaya,
2016) has drawn conclusions that it is very important for
hotels that each service offered corresponds to the
expectations of the consumers whom the hotel hopes to
attract. This is why marketing makes every employee, both
administrative and support staff think about the consumer
and make everything possible to build and maintain
consumer representation, letting them know that the
consumer represents the greatest value in hospitality
industry and whose needs must be met in the best possible
way. The importance of identifying consumers needs is
essential and therefore businesses have to invest as much as
is necessary in creating the proper image presented to their
consumers. The importance of marketing includes the
success of the overall operation of the enterprise.
Understanding, handling and meeting consumer needs is at
the heart of marketing. The competitive advantages of
companies for a long time were clasified in technology and
production, in recent years have been replaced by marketing
strategies (Ramadani, 2019). Hotel marketing is a series of
basic methods and techniques developed for research,
analysis and solving tasks set to best meet the needs of
tourists, as well as determining rational ways (from a
financial point of view) of doing business by hotel
enterprises and this form of marketing should make the
hotel businesses aware about the importance of integrating
different kind of online platforms such as social networks to
interact with their consumers (Lakha & Vaid, 2021).
According to another study conducted in a Mexican city, it
is said about marketing strategies in the hotel industry that
a mistake made by many hotels has been that during the
structuring of marketing plan they were focused too much
on the operational side such as: advertising, design,
catalogs, and strategic approaches such as: consumer
orientation and brand value creation have been neglected
(Rendon, Martinez, & Ramírez Flores, 2014). The
characteristics of hospitality marketing result from the
characteristics of the variety of products.
One of the characteristics is the inconsistency of quality.
Hospitality services are variable, and their quality depends
on who provides them and under what conditions. The state
of the service provider at the time of its production can
greatly affect its quality. The same person can serve a
consumer today and much worse tomorrow for a variety of
reasons. It is considered a challenge to attract consumers
and to engage them in social media and virtual platforms
(Lim, 2010).
In addition, some of the other features of hospitality
marketing that are considered as a challenge include:
 Simultaneous production and consumption
 Inviolability
 The impossibility of creating products that can be
stored
67
A hotelier who wants to achieve success must know
marketing in detail and know how to combine the different
marketing elements such as price, product promotion and
distribution.
Digitization. This is a factor that historically represents the
greatest opportunity for hotels to compete with similar
industries and even large enterprises (Rendon, Martinez, &
Ramírez Flores, 2014)
In the hospitality industry social media has become a source
of marketing for various hotels to promote their products
such as, rooms, food, spa and many other conveniences for
the consumer. Social media acts as a bridge between users
and visitors or viewers, it also helps to interact with
everyone online to share their information and opinions
about hotels (Shaik, Moyeenudin, Sahayadhas, Anandan, &
Janahan, 2018). Even in 2006 (Reid & Bojanic, 2006)
argumentet weather marketers in traveling agencies and
hotels businesses would change their consumer approach
strategy by addapting to new online platforms, such as
online reservations and other web based activities.
Therefore, according to (Jatashankar, 2016) “the Internet is
growing so fast that people now find it easier to plan their
vacations online than in person”.
Moreover, online hotel reservation sites are considered as
the most common methods used by consumers to provide
feedback about the level of satisfaction, where they freely
contribute with different opinions on how well the services
were performed and estimate the degree of satisfaction of
the hotel services (Yae & Kim, 2022).
3. METHODOLOGY
The methodology used for this research is based on primary
data analysis. The research was conducted through survey
method using questionnaire as measurment tool. According
to statistics from the Kosovo Agency (ASK, 2020), in 2020
there were 490 hotel units in Kosovo. The total capacity of
these units at country level was 7,368 rooms and 11,572
beds. According to these statistics, in the first quarter of
2020, the number of domestic visitors was 21,859, while the
number of nights they stayed was 35,119. Therefore, the
sample of this research was based on stratified sampling and
on the random selection of participans. In total 120
participants, clients in several hotels in Kosovo answered
the survey.
The questionnaires were biuld based on Likert scale. The
first part of the questionnaire contained demographic
questions and the second part contained questions in order
to evaluate the importance of social media marketing and
consumer behavior relationship. The model used to test the
main hypothesis and data interpretation was possible
through multiple regression analyzes related to the
differences of averages such as independent t-test and
simple t-test to identify the importance of social media
marketing and the impact on consumer behavior. Data
processing and research analysis was done with the latest
SPSS software version 23.
68 Marigona Qenaj et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 55-39 (2022) 66–69

The model and conceptual framework contains the link ANOVAa

between the independent variables: Sum of Mean
Model Df F Sig.
Squares Square
 Advertisement in social media platform Regressio
0.764 3 0.255 13.661 .001b
 Reviews in social media platform 1
n
 Promotional rates in social media platform Residual 2.161 116 0.019

 Post packs in social media platform Total 2.925 119

And, the dependent variable: a. Dependent Variable: Reservations (by consumers)

 Reservations (by consumers). b. Predictors: (Constant), Ratings/Reviews on SM, Advertising on SM,
The main research question of the paper is: Promotional prices, Family Packs on SM
Q1: ¿Which social media marketing activities effect most
the increase of consumers interest rate and their behavior Coefficients a
toward hotel reservations? Standardiz
The main hypothesis of this research is: Unstandardized ed
Model Coefficients Coefficient t Sig.
H1. Ratings/Reviews on social media, advertisements on s
social media, promotional prices and family packages on B Std. Error Beta
social media have a positive effect on increasing consumers (Constant) 0.748 0.115 7.194 0
interest rate and in their behavior toward hotel reservations. Ratings/Re
views on 0.064 0.06 0.097 1.064 0.009
SM
4. RESULTS Advertisin
0.082 0.051 0.03 3.506 0.001
1 g on SM
Based on multiplie regression model the study analyses if Promotion
0.077 0.081 0.027 2.13 0.001
ratings/reviews on social media platforms, advertisements al prices
Family
on social media, promotional prices/offers and family pacs Packs on 0.062 0.022 0.022 1.064 0.007
influence the increase of hotel reservations. According to SM
the the results: Ratings/Reviews on SM as a predictive
a. Dependent Variable: 1. Reservations (by consumers)
variable for hotel selection, it resulted with (β=0.97, p=009,
p<0.05), advertising in Social Media (Social Networks) as
a predictor variable for hotel selection resulted with
(β=0.30, p=001, p<0.05)) another variable of whether 5. CONCLUSIONS
promotional prices affect the increase in hotel reservations
resulted (β=0.27, p=001 , p<0.05), and the other variable of Social Media Marketing and its categories play an
whether family packages offers in SM affect booking has important role on the way how hospitality industry interacts
resulted with (β=0.22, p=007, p<0.05). Based on these data, with the potential consumers and how they obtain the
hypothesis one (H1) is acceppted. From the data analyses current/loyal ones. Based on the findings of this research, it
there is evident that the influence of 'Advertising on Social was concluded that the relationship between the interest rate
Media' and 'Promotional prices' have the highest of consumers and advertising through social media
significance in conusmer behaviour and their reservations platforms is highly significant. Even more, promotional
approaches toward the hotel inndustry in Kosovo. offers and online reviews and rating are a great group of
reference within consumer behavior especially in various
Figure 1. Regression analyses summarry for the main hotels that were part of the sample of this research.
findings of the research It is recommended for future researcher to continue with the
related analysis to the topic of social media marketing and
Model Summary hospitality industry, specifically in the contest of which
Std. Error categories are more convenient to continue with
Adjusted
Model R R Square of the promotional offers to make more reservations and how they
R Square
Estimate affect the loyalty concept. Further approach should be
1 .511a 0.261 0.242 0.1365 conducted to compare the traditional tools versus internet-
based platforms.
For the hospitality industry it is recommended that the
a. Predictors: (Constant), Ratings/Reviews on SM,
hospitality businesses established in Kosovo should
Advertising on SM, Promotional prices, Family Packs on
continue the use of social media as a new form of promotion
SM
and as a tool to access potential consumers and continue
interaction with the current ones.
 Marigona Qenaj et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 55-39 (2022) 66–69 69

REFERENCES

ASK. (2020). Seria 3: Statistikat Ekonomike. Statistikat e

Hotelerisë TM1 2020. Agjencia e Statistikave të
Kosovës (ASK) .
Beqiri, G., & Bello, K. (2021). The Effect of Social Media
Marketing Compared to Traditional Marketing on Sales: A
Study of Enterprises in Kosovo. WSEAS TRANSACTIONS
on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS, 402-410.
Frolova, S. (2014). The role of advertising in promoting a
product. Centria.
Goryushkina, N. Y., Shkurkin, D. V., Petrenko, A. S.,
Demin, S. Y., & Yarovaya, N. S. (2016).
Marketing Management in the Sphere of Hotel and
Tourist Services. Econ Journals , 206-213.
Jatashankar, T. R. (2016). Hotel Front Office 2E. OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS.
Lakha, R., & Vaid, A. C. (2021). Role of Social Media
Networks in Promoting Hotel Industry.
International Journal of Scientific Research in
Science and Technology, 40-47.
Lim, W. (2010). The Effects of social media networks in the
hospitality industry. Las Vegas, Nevada: UNLV
Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and
Capstones. 693. .
Radojevic, S. S. (2015). Inside the Rating Scores: A
Multilevel Analysis of the Factors Influencing
Consumer Satisfaction in the Hotel Industry.
Research Gate.
Ramadani, N. (2019). Marketingu Nderkombetar. Prishtine:
UBT.
Reid, R. D., & Bojanic, D. C. (2006). Hospitality Marketing
Management. John Wiley & Sons.
Rendon, O. P., Martinez, R. M., & Ramírez Flores, M. S.
(2014). Marketing Strategies for Hotel Industry
Internationalization in Morelia. CyberLeninka,
271-279.
Shaik, J. P., Moyeenudin, H. M., Sahayadhas, A., Anandan,
R., & Janahan, S. K. (2018). Digital marketing in
hotel industry. Google scholar, 288-290.
Talabi, J. (2015). THE ROLE OF MARKETING IN HOTEL
INDUSTRY : Six successful hotel units in Abuja
and Jakobstad.
Yae, K. J., & Kim, H. S. (2022). The Impact of Hotel
Consumer Experience on Consumer.
Sustainability 2022, 14(2), 848;
https://doi.org/10.3390/su14020848.