Social media, not search, is now the springboard to travel discovery
By A.D. Thompson
Hotel research used to be highly active, said Cassady Quintana, but in 2026, as cross-generational guests scroll their social media feeds, the process has evolved considerably.
“They’re saving things – destinations, hotels, restaurants – months before they book a trip,” she said. “They’re not even thinking about going to that place, but they saw something, a Reel, a TikTok of a destination they’ve never been and want to check it out.”
So, they save it.
Quintana, brand ambassador for Travel Media Group, acknowledges this is where hotels gain opportunity.
“They now have the ability to influence those future travel decisions long before the planning even begins.”
Travelers today are increasingly turning to social media to seek inspiration, find hotels, and yes, book stays. Platforms are morphing to meet consumer demands and savvy hoteliers are adapting, too, creating strategies to convert random scrollers into paying (and even repeat!) guests.
Things have shifted quickly in the feeds said Erin Fischer, director of marketing at GCommerce, an online digital advertising agency with a strong focus on boutique and independently owned and operated properties.
“And even quicker in the past few years,” she noted. “With new tools on the platforms and the emergence of AI, the booking journey is no longer linear.”
Dial it back a few years: If someone wanted to go to somewhere, they’d simply Google places to stay, things to do, where to eat.
“Now, the customer journey is starting with inspiration first, especially when it comes to social channels. It becomes an aspirational video on Instagram or TikTok. Something attention-grabbing: A person having a cocktail at a rooftop bar.”
I want to be there, they think. Where IS that? And then it’s off to the races.
“They see it’s in Boston. Or Los Angeles. ‘Oh, it’s a hotel. Let me go to their page….’ Suddenly, they’re researching all this information when they hadn’t even planned to,” Fischer said. “The post, the inspiration leads the way before they’re hopping onto Google and doing that traditional search – price matching, reading reviews, checking online travel agencies.”
Bridging the Gap
There’s more than one way to do it, but what many hoteliers miss, said Amy Draheim, is paid social advertising.
Draheim, president and founder of ABD Creative, specializes in hospitality marketing.
“You could spin your wheels all day doing organic posts,” she said, noting that some hotels want to post six or seven times a week – and that this is an outrageous number.
“Cut that in half and let us spend a little bit of money on social ads so that we can create inspiration organically, but use the ad to try to close them, to try to convert them, get them to take some action.”
The power of Instagram’s “Stories” option is also oft misunderstood, with clients paying too much attention to their 24-hour life cycle.
“We try and get our hotels posting Monday through Friday on Stories, because 5 billion people are watching these every day,” she explained, noting that their fleeting nature may be precisely the reason why.
But unlike traditional, evergreen posts, on Stories, add-on stickers and buttons allow users to click over to a website or other hotel-based content and leave the Instagram app altogether.
“Check out our summer guide! See our local girls’ getaway in Atlanta!,” she said, giving examples of breadcrumbs to lead potential guests closer to the close. “We can actually entice people to come over to our website.”
Hotels can sometimes treat social media like a billboard, she continued. But that’s another way to miss out on the power inherent.
“Using Instagram to repost your sales flyers is a kiss of death,” she said. “It’ll give people the ick and they’ll unfollow you.” Instead, create content that’s on-brand, alluring.
“The website is much more buttoned-up,” she explained. “Instagram is where we get to let our hair down, show a little more personality, and have fun – but always within the brand parameters.”
Some properties don’t even have a presence yet, but that might be due to bandwidth.
“There are companies like Travel Media Group and other agencies that want to help hoteliers have that presence, even if it’s just consistently posting,” said Quintana, noting that content doesn’t need to be Four Seasons-level.
“You might be a property on the side of the highway,” she said, “but there is always something you can talk about, post about, something that can show some of your hotel’s personality.”
A staffer with an iPhone, she noted, can pave the way to something really special with a little effort.
“It doesn’t need to be so polished … Most people, right now, are craving authenticity more than anything.”
Be Yourself, Sell the Experience
Room tours notwithstanding, it’s that aforementioned rooftop cocktail that’s more likely to garner interest.
“People are traveling for the experience,” said Fischer.
This means images or video of that sunset rooftop cocktail, that pool day, that on-site or day-out itinerary in your destination that gives viewers a sense of what to expect.
“It’s about trying to showcase something authentic, so someone can really picture themselves there,” she said, “whether that’s organically or through paid advertising.”
And what is authentic in these days of poreless, perfect influencers? Is your guests’ content more valuable? The pros say properties can strike a nice balance.
“A hotel advertising for itself on the channel is one thing,” said Draheim, noting that organic social media posts are top funnel. “We try not to oversell it, to show viewers a slice of life, but we do use influencers and content creators, letting them share their points of view and stay perspectives.”
That’s doubters be damned.
“People say ‘it must be paid’ or see a collaboration hashtag, but there are still a ton of people who don’t really know or care about the difference. They’re not suspicious. And it’s extremely valuable for hotels to get that word-of-mouth. If an influencer’s audience is the right size and demographic, it’s like advertising on steroids.”
It has to be. It works on Draheim, too.
“My hair curler? I heard about from an influencer. The vitamins I take? Saw them on Instagram,” she laughed.
Visual content, she noted, has never been more important, video in particular.
“This is what really draws up emotions,” she said, “and you can do it in 15 seconds. You have to. Because attention spans are so short. Increasingly, we’re creating content that teases, that doesn’t tell the full story, because you can’t in 15 seconds, but it’s still very rich. Very intriguing.”
From the Guest’s Perspective
Guest-generated content can be priceless. Literally and figuratively.
A sign at check-in with a prompt to tag the property and/or use a hashtag allows those in charge of marketing to track what guests are doing, enjoying, documenting while also building community.
“Incentives are huge,” said Fischer. “Who doesn’t want that free drink or an opportunity to win something?”
These things – a logo ballcap or bathrobe, a free meal or night – don’t cost the hotel much, but the one-two punch of marketing and relationship building is potent. Hotels shouldn’t let these opportunities slide. “Someone should be reposting or sharing that guest content,” she said. “The more you do that, other people will see that you’re actually using the content … You want to be very public and very engaging with your guests on social media.”
Guests who share content should be thanked and replied to. Hotels should put it on their Stories or send a direct message.
Keep in mind, too, that the customer journey doesn’t end at check-out.
“You want to be nurturing those relationships,” said Fischer. “Ads sent to past guests don’t need to be salesy … but you can still promote things like loyalty benefits or programs or notify them of special offers.”
And what if the experiences aren’t so great?
Fast action and accountability are everything in the social media space, where negative reviews can spread like wildfire.
“The more you are quiet, the more you dismiss it, the better the chance that it gets amplified,” Quintana said. “Travelers want to see empathy and care. They know that things can happen, stuff can break, things can be closed or loud during renovation.”
Reputation management, she noted, isn’t just about damage control.
“It’s also about showing, in a public forum, that you’re committed to guest satisfaction.”
Savvy media types can even spin bad into social media gold.
At one of Draheim’s Oregon properties, a simple menu change had guests up in arms online.
“We called it Picklegate,” she laughed, noting the past-guest ire when a restaurant switched from a standard spear to pickled vegetables.
“We brought back the pickle, of course … and you can play things like that up and use them to your advantage.”
As trends like TikTok GO and other emerging platforms continue to change the social media landscape, hoteliers just gearing up can create simple plans to get a system in place.
Quintana created a social media calendar she then shared with hoteliers through LinkedIn.
“I mapped out the entire year with national holidays and content ideas, so they’d have things they could plan to post about.”
When staffers are short on time, and budgets don’t allow for outside agency help, something that simple can keep the team creating content ahead of time to drop when it needs to.
“It can be overwhelming for hoteliers, because they worry that it has to be polished and perfect,” she said. But, it doesn’t.
“All you have to do is talk authentically about your property, and the people and things that make your property unique and special.”
Image: ant/stock.adobe.com
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