Survey reveals travellers want to see more authenticity on social media

The Luxury & Lifestyle Collection of IHG Hotels & Resorts, which includes Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, this week announced the results of a recent global poll on customer perceptions of social media posts from travel brands and traditional travel influencers. More than 4,000 respondents from Australia, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S. participated in a Kimpton survey, and the results showed that there is a huge demand for travel businesses to do more to highlight inclusive and diverse content creators and experiences.

Overall, the poll revealed a significant gap between social media’s current travel content and consumers’ actual preferences, with travellers reporting that the pressure to be “social media-worthy” has a detrimental impact on their trip experiences. The survey’s responses from consumers also show a demand for more diverse social media content from travel companies that is appropriate for all individual travel preferences and representative of all demographics.

The main worldwide and regional conclusions from the survey by Kimpton show:

• 84% of respondents believe that travel brands could do more to support a diverse group of travel creators, particularly those in the U.S. (88%) and millennials (88%), while 85% of respondents believe that social media content from travel industry brands should be more inclusive of all types of travellers.
• 42% of respondents in the UK either don’t know or don’t agree that different demographic groups are represented in social media travel material.
• 90% of U.S. respondents think social media content from firms in the travel industry should include more diverse travellers.