Hotel Social Media Statistics 2026: Travelers and Brands

Over half of travelers (61%) now find trip ideas on social platforms, up from 35% in 2022. Wakefield Research measured this for Expedia Group’s 2025 Traveler Value Index, surveying 11,000 adults across 11 markets. These hotel social media statistics set that traveler demand beside what hotel brands post, collect and answer on social platforms.

Sprout Social’s Q3 2025 Pulse Survey found 69% of consumers anticipate using social to plan travel in the next year. Travel and hospitality brands respond to only 6% of incoming messages and comments per day, per Sprout’s 2025 Travel & Hospitality Content Benchmarks Report. Marriott Hotels has 3.73 million followers but a 0.02% engagement rate, per Rival IQ’s live benchmarks.

Key Takeaways

• Over half of travelers (61%) find trip ideas on social platforms, up from 35% in 2022, according to Expedia Group’s 2025 Traveler Value Index.
• 73% of travelers say influencer recommendations have influenced their decision to book a trip or travel component, and 84% of travelers under 40 report that influencer recommendations have impacted their booking choices.
• 87% of Gen Z consumers anticipate using social to plan travel in the next year, against 69% of all consumers in Sprout Social’s Q3 2025 Pulse Survey.
• Steamboat earns a 0.69% engagement rate on 352,000 followers, while Marriott Hotels earns 0.02% on 3.73 million, per Rival IQ’s live benchmarks, a rate gap of 34.5 times.
• Travelers shared 31.1 million reviews and 38.1 million photos and videos via the Tripadvisor website and app in 2024, according to Tripadvisor.
• Travel and hospitality brands respond to only 6% of incoming messages and comments per day, and 73% of social users in the 2025 Sprout Social Index would choose a competitor if a brand didn’t respond on social.
• Instagram is used by 50% of US adults and 80% of adults ages 18 to 29, per Pew Research Center’s 2025 survey.

Editor’s Choice

• Meta family daily active people, June 2026 average: 3.60 billion.
• Posts per brand per week in Rival IQ’s live travel landscape: 8.5.
• Fraudulent reviews Tripadvisor stopped in 2024: 2.7 million.
• Travelers who trust hotel staff as a travel planning resource, Hilton survey: 70%.
• Consumers who say review-platform feedback influences booking, Q3 2025: 55%.
• Americans using the app where TikTok GO launched: more than 200 million.

Hotel Social Media Statistics: How Travelers Plan Stays

• Over half of travelers (61%) now find trip ideas on social platforms, up from 35% in 2022.
• The 2025 Traveler Value Index surveyed 11,000 nationally representative adults aged 18+ across 11 key markets, with fieldwork between February 14 and March 3, 2025.
• 69% of consumers anticipate using social to plan travel in the next year, according to the Q3 2025 Sprout Social Pulse Survey.
• Travel and hospitality brands respond to only 6% of incoming messages and comments per day.
• Three-quarters of travelers are willing to pay more for lodging with better reviews.

Source: Expedia Group 2025 Traveler Value Index, Sprout Social 2025

The Expedia figures come from fieldwork in early 2025, so they are more than 12 months old; the Sprout figures date from 2025 as well.

About This Data

Compiled from 9 sources: 5 company releases, 1 Pew Research Center fact sheet and 3 Sprout Social and Rival IQ analytics reports. Sources date from March 2025 to October 2026. Only publishers of their own survey, platform or benchmark data qualified; market-research sellers were excluded. Figures are reviewed on a rolling basis and updated when sources publish new editions.

Social Media Travel Planning by Generation

• 87% of Gen Z consumers anticipate using social to plan travel in the next year, compared with 69% of all consumers.
• Travelers under 40 are more heavily swayed by social media: 84% report that influencer recommendations have impacted their booking choices.
• 80% of younger travelers are willing to pay more for lodging with better reviews.

Three of the newest data points arrived in the past three months.

Recent Developments

• September 2026: Hilton’s survey of over 14,000 travelers across 14 countries, conducted with Morning Consult, found 70% of travelers trust hotel staff as a travel planning resource.
• July 29, 2026: Meta reported family daily active people of 3.60 billion on average for June 2026, an increase of 3% year over year.
• October 2026: Rival IQ’s live benchmarks for travel brands show 8.5 posts per brand per week and a 0.18% engagement rate per post in the past 30 days.

Social Media Platforms Travelers Use

• YouTube is used by 84% of US adults, Facebook by 71%, Instagram by 50% and TikTok by 37%, in Pew Research Center’s 2025 survey.
• Instagram use rose from 40% of US adults in 2021 to 50% in 2025, while TikTok rose from 21% to 37%.
• Sprout Social describes Instagram and TikTok as sparking inspiration through visuals and storytelling, Facebook as helping travelers gather recommendations and reviews, and Pinterest as supporting itinerary planning.
• Hospitality and tourism brands post an above-average percentage of video content across channels, and their single-image posts on Instagram decreased by nine points from 2023 to 2024.
• Meta reported 3.60 billion family daily active people on average for June 2026.

Pew surveys US adults only, so these shares describe American reach rather than global travelers. A single year also hides direction, so the next chart tracks the four most-used platforms in 2025 across Pew’s last four surveys.

What are some statistics about social media?

Pew Research Center’s 2025 survey found 84% of US adults ever use YouTube, 71% use Facebook, 50% use Instagram and 37% use TikTok. Broader social media statistics follow the same pattern: a few platforms hold most of the audience that hotels try to reach.

Social Media Platform Use by Age

• Instagram adoption reaches 80% of US adults ages 18 to 29 and 19% of those 65 and older.
• YouTube is used by 95% of adults 18 to 29 and 64% of adults 65 and older.
• TikTok is used by 63% of adults 18 to 29 and 12% of adults 65 and older.
• Facebook is used by 80% of adults 30 to 49 and 68% of adults 18 to 29.
• Pew conducted the survey of US adults from February 5 to June 18, 2025.

Reach is one measure; what hotel brands collect from it is another.

Hotel Brand Social Media Followers

• Marriott Hotels has 3.73 million followers and Ritz-Carlton has 1.95 million in Rival IQ’s travel landscape.
• The average brand in the landscape grew its audience by 0.2% in the last 30 days, and Amanresorts grew faster than everyone else, with 0.7% growth.
• Kiawah Island Golf Resort has 214,000 followers and a 0.19% engagement rate.

Rival IQ links Facebook, Instagram and X accounts for each brand; the follower totals were captured in October 2026 and are not Instagram-only counts. Other chains, such as Hilton, Hyatt and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), sit outside this landscape, and their totals are not covered here.

Hotel Social Media Engagement Rates

• Brands in Rival IQ’s live travel landscape published 8.5 posts per brand per week in the past 30 days, and each post earned more than 540.6 engagements on average.
• The average engagement rate per post in the landscape was 0.18%.
• Steamboat’s engagement rate is 0.69%, Broadmoor’s 0.26% and Amanresorts’ 0.25%; Steamboat’s rate is 34.5 times Marriott Hotels’ 0.02%.
• On Facebook, images made up 64% of the landscape’s posts at a 0.08% engagement rate, while video made up 33% at 0.04%.
• Photos earned 1.5x the engagement of other post types for travel brands on Facebook, and Reels outperformed other post types for travel brands for the third year in a row, per Rival IQ’s Social Media Industry Benchmark Report.

By the numbers: The average brand in Rival IQ’s travel landscape posts 8.5 times per week, and each post earns more than 540.6 engagements, an engagement rate of 0.18% per post. Marriott Hotels, with 3.73 million followers, sits at 0.02%, while Steamboat, with 352,000, sits at 0.69%. Audience size and attention move separately.

How often do hotel brands post on social media?

Brands in Rival IQ’s live travel landscape averaged 8.5 posts per brand per week over the past 30 days. Amanresorts published 59 posts in the last 30 days. Rival IQ’s benchmark report found posting frequency for travel brands below median across the board. No captured benchmark sets a fixed posting rule, so measured cadence is the better reference.

Influencer Marketing and Trust in Travel

• 73% of travelers say influencer recommendations have influenced their decision to book a trip or travel component.
• Among travelers under 40, 84% report that influencer recommendations have impacted their booking choices.
• Half of travelers (50%) say they are more likely to trust recommendations from someone with loyalty status than someone without it.
• More than half of travelers (54%) report feeling some sort of pressure to have the perfect trip.
• Social media content ranked fourth, with 29% of the vote, among the factors that influence if consumers book travel with a company.

Source: Expedia Group 2025 Traveler Value Index, Hilton 2027 Trends Report, Sprout Social Q3 2025 Pulse Survey

Key finding: Hilton’s survey of over 14,000 travelers across 14 countries, conducted with Morning Consult, found 70% trust hotel staff as a travel planning resource and 50% are more likely to trust recommendations from someone with loyalty status. For hotels, staff advice competes with creators for the same planning moment.

Reviews are the other half of peer influence.

Hotel Reviews and User-Generated Content

• Travelers shared nearly 80 million contributions in 2024 via the Tripadvisor website and app, a 9% increase from the last report, including 31.1 million reviews and 38.1 million photos and videos.
• Reviews for experiences, attractions and activities rose 45% from the last report.
• 55% of consumers said customer feedback on review platforms influences whether they book with a travel company, in Sprout Social’s Q3 2025 Pulse Survey.
• Three-quarters of travelers are willing to pay more for lodging with better reviews, and positive reviews are a key decision factor for hotels, vacation rentals, activities and cruises.

Source: Tripadvisor 2025 Transparency Report (2024 data)

Tripadvisor released these 2024 totals in March 2025, so they are more than 12 months old. The release does not split them out for hotels alone, so the hotel-only share is not disclosed.

Fake Hotel Reviews and Review Moderation

• Around 9 out of 10 reviews (87.8%) met Tripadvisor’s automation standards for posting in 2024.
• Tripadvisor’s Trust and Safety team moderated 4.2 million reviews, 13.5% of all reviews, either before or after posting.
• Tripadvisor safeguarded travelers from 2.7 million fraudulent reviews in 2024.

Worth noting: Review boosting, where business owners, employees or anyone affiliated with a business posts positive reviews to boost their own rankings, accounted for the majority of fake review submissions on Tripadvisor, 54% of total fraud in 2024. The largest fraud category comes from the businesses being reviewed.

Booking Hotels Through Social Media

• Customer feedback on review platforms influences whether 55% of consumers book with a travel company, followed closely by the quality of social customer care at 42%.
• 73% of social users would choose a competitor if a brand didn’t respond on social, per the 2025 Sprout Social Index.
• TikTok GO lets people in the United States discover and book hotels, attractions and tours directly on the TikTok app, which more than 200 million Americans use.
• Its partners include Booking.com, Expedia, Viator, GetYourGuide, Tiqets and Trip.com.
• TikTok says tens of thousands of new posts are shared each day across accommodations and things to do.

TikTok’s announcement gives no booking volumes, so its reach figure describes the audience, not completed hotel stays.

Conclusion

Over half of travelers (61%) now find trip ideas on social platforms, yet travel and hospitality brands respond to only 6% of incoming messages and comments per day. The average post in Rival IQ’s live travel landscape earns a 0.18% engagement rate. Across these hotel social media statistics, traveler demand sits on social feeds and review platforms. Brand accounts trail on response.

TikTok GO now lets people in the United States book hotels directly in the app. Booking inside social apps turns the response gap from a reputation question into a sales question. The next Rival IQ and Sprout Social benchmarks will show whether hotel brands close it.