The Role of Relational and Exchange Norms in Hotel Chains’ Facebook Engagement

In the digital landscape of hospitality marketing, Facebook has emerged as a vital platform for fostering customer engagement and influencing decision-making. This study explores the digital strategies of leading hotel chains on Facebook, focusing on user engagement patterns and the impact of communal versus exchange relationship norms on interactions and behaviours. Using the Facebook page, data were collected from Facebook pages during the low season following the second COVID-19 lockdown. Additionally, insights from 23 professionals in the hospitality and tourism sectors were analysed to understand the perceived relational norms established by ten hotel chains. Findings highlight the evolving role of social media in shaping customer expectations and loyalty. The results also indicate that digital engagement on Facebook is driven by visual content, with photos generating the highest user interactions, and bilingual posts (in Portuguese and English) being the most predominant. Furthermore, consumer engagement is significantly influenced by relationship norms, with hotels adhering to exchange norms achieving higher levels of interaction than those adopting communal norms. The study concludes with theoretical contributions and practical recommendations for leveraging social media engagement strategies in the hospitality industry, as well as suggestions for future research avenues.