Millennials’ Hotel Restaurant Visit Intention: An Analysis of Key Online Opinion Leaders’ Digital Marketing Content

Abstract

Social networking sites (SNSs) are popular platforms for people to share and exchange information, especially for the millennial generation. This research uses Hong Kong as a case to study millennials’ SNS usage behavior and the impact of online key opinion leaders’ (KOLs) reviews on millennials’ restaurant visit intention. Using a mixed method, this study first develops a KOLs online presentation framework, then investigates the relative importance of different elements in a restaurant review on buying intention. The findings reveal that Instagram, Facebook and YouTube are the top three most popular SNSs used by millennials in Hong Kong. In restaurant reviews posted by KOLs, photos of food and ambiance, ratings and opinions on food quality, and price are found to exert a significant and positive impact on millennials’ restaurant visit intention. This research not only extends the study of online opinion leadership in the context of hospitality, but also provides practical recommendations for hotel and restaurant managers.