The small world hypothesis: How social media revolutionized the luxury hospitality industry?

Abstract

Luxury and Internet. While the first one is characterized by scarcity and selectivity, the second is based on large distribution and accessibility. Here begins the paradox of luxury and internet.

Luxury industry being in constant development and looking for opportunities to build a relationship with the customers, the emergence of social media has brought a new way to engage with the audience and be attentive to their needs.

In this framework of this new dynamic, the role of the customer in the service production moves from being passive to active, creating a relational marketing approach that is evolving towards personalized one-to-one relationships.

This bilateral relationship advocated by Eiglier and Langeard considers the customer as an integral part of the service during its consumption and leads to the Consumer Empowerment that recognizes the power of the client in determining the strategies of the companies.

This power has been reinforced by the web which has facilitated access to information and made sharing faster, especially with the advent of social media.

The objective of this article is to analyze how the emergence of social media has reshaped the relationship between luxury brands in hospitality industry and consumers, fostering a shift toward personalized and participatory marketing strategies. The analysis is based on a conceptual review of the literature, aiming to explore the evolving dynamics between luxury hospitality industry and consumers in the context of social media.

Finally, the article clarifies its theoretical grounding by relying on Consumer Empowerment and relational marketing to explain the evolving role of the consumer in the luxury sector.

JEL Classification: M30

Paper type: Theoretical Research