Samenvatting

Over the last decade, social media platforms have transformed the hotel industry. Companies such as Facebook and Tripadvisor have changed how hotels attract and communicate with (potential) customers. The Paleis Hotel is a boutique hotel
with 20 rooms situated in the city centre of The Hague. Currently, the hotel is not very active on social media. The current owner of the Paleis Hotel, Marja Hillebrand, wants her business to profit from the new opportunities that social media
platforms offer.
The purpose of this report is to create a social media strategy for the Paleis Hotel. The central question of the report is: ‘How can the Paleis Hotel attract more customers by implementing a social media strategy?’. Firstly, the objectives of having
a social media strategy were examined and the current social media audit of the Paleis Hotel was investigated. Consequently, a SWOT-analysis about the social media capacities of the hotel was administered. In addition, target groups were
identified and chosen and the behaviour of direct competitors of the Paleis Hotel were inspected. Lastly, a social media content plan was drafted for the Paleis Hotel to function as the guideline for their social media strategy.
The preliminary research showed that the Paleis Hotel shares fewer messages on social media than its competitors. Furthermore, it appeared that the social media users tend to prefer informative messages rather than commercial messages. The
most important aspect of the mission and vision of the Paleis Hotel is to deliver a perfect customer service. The owner of the hotel requested that a social media strategy should be in the interest of customers instead of being profit-driven.
Concerning domestic tourism, target groups were chosen using data of the municipality of The Hague. These groups are adventurous adults, sophisticated elderly and creative and inspiring adults because they are likely to choose the location of
the hotel and the services that the Paleis Hotel has to offer. Regarding international tourism, the focus should be on tourists from Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom since these are the biggest market segments with the highest growth
potentials.
The main recommendation for the Paleis Hotel is to implement the social media content plan that was created in this report using data and advice from an online marketer. Research showed that the hotel should use Facebook as its main social
media platform. Facebook is the most popular social media for the target groups of the Paleis Hotel and it offers numerous possibilities to attract and communicate with customers. On the review site Tripadvisor, the Paleis Hotel is advised to
continue to stimulate customers to write reviews and react on these comments in a positive manner. Finally, it is recommended that the hotel should not send out commercial messages because social media users do generally not appreciate this
and it is not compatible with the hotel’s mission and vision.