Hashtags – a keystone of Instagram in the hotel digital strategy. An Iberian case study

ABSTRACT One of the ways hoteliers can gain a competitive advantage is by increasing their digital footprint, which includes a hashtag strategy. In fact, hashtags have become an integral part of social networks, but are often not properly implemented in the hotel sector. The purpose of this study is to explore the importance of hashtags as an effective tool for a hotel’s online marketing strategy, with a particular focus on Instagram. The objective of this research is to provide an in-depth analysis of the hotel chains’ Instagram accounts with the most followers in Portugal and Spain. To such end, ten hotel chains were analyzed in both countries. Desk research was carried out to identify the sample and to consider metrics such as: number of mentions, hashtag reach, likes, comments and followers. The hotel with the most Instagram mentions is the Ushuaia Beach Hotel in Spain and the Six Senses Douro Valley in Portugal. By means of this last example, results showed that the average of likes, and comments increased significantly with the use of hashtags. Therefore, it is possible to ascertain that the use of hashtags increases the engagement of followers with the hotel brand.