Impact of Gratification Factors on User Satisfaction of Hotels’ Facebook Pages and Their Visit Intention

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of gratification factors that increase user satisfaction of hotels’ Facebook pages and to determine how user satisfaction affects visit intention of a hotel by applying the Uses and Gratifications (U&G) theory factors (e.g. five motivational factors of information, convenience, entertainment, self-expression and social interaction). Social Network Sites (SNS) have become one of the most popular ways people use to communicate with each other and among them Facebook has acquired a prominent place. Frequently, Businesses and Customers also tend to use SNSs respectively to promote their brands and search information regarding products and services. Currently social media has a strong presence in the hotel industry and especially Facebook pages can be identified as very popular marketing tool they used. As per the previous studies revealed there is an important research area to investigate whether there is an impact of gratification factors on user satisfaction with the hotel’s Facebook pages and whether there is a positive relationship between user satisfaction with a hotel’s Facebook page and intention to visit hotels in Sri Lankan context. This study conducted, as a quantitative study and it extracted data through a questionnaire by using 100 Facebook users who are engaging with the Facebook pages of targeted hotels’ in Sri Lankan context. Accordingly, findings, information, entertainment and self-expression are positively impacted on hotel page user satisfaction and user satisfaction also has positive impact on hotel visit intention.