Social Media and Crisis Communication: Managing or Creating a Crisis? Lessons Learnt from Hotel Amarilis

Abstract

Operating in a highly vulnerable context, tourism and hospitality companies should be able to manage crises in effective ways. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has reconfirmed and strengthened this need as well as provided numerous examples and lessons learnt about crisis management and communication. By drawing on various theories (including crisis management, social media and crisis informatics, crisis communication, corporate social responsibility and brand authenticity), this case study provides a theoretical framework for developing knowledge and critical skills in designing and assessing the implementation of crisis communication strategies and practices. The case is based on a fictional hotel, but it is also inspired by true industry facts to make it more realistic and practical. The case study aims to (1) acquaint the students with relevant theoretical frameworks that can be used for developing and assessing crisis communication strategies and practices (2) provoke the students’ critical and analytical skills for understanding the role and impact of social media on crisis communication and (3) highlight the need to use social media for crisis communication but also align and coordinate the former with other business operations, such as customer service, corporate responsibility and branding strategies.

Teaching Note

Case Summary

This case study reviews various theories (including crisis management, social media and crisis informatics, crisis communication, corporate social responsibility and brand authenticity) in order to identify theoretical frameworks and concepts that one should consider when developing and implementing crisis communication in tourism. The case study describes the crisis communication strategies and practices adopted by a fictional hotel during the COVID-19 crisis but which are also inspired by true industry facts. Students are required to critically reflect on theory and practical insights in order to evaluate the crisis communication strategies and practices of the hotel and identify good and bad elements of its design and implementation. The theory and case study emphasise the need to embed and use social media in crisis communication. The case study reveals various issues that social media in crisis communication should critically consider (e.g. monitor and appropriately respond to UGC, manage online transparency and the interrelations between brand activism, marketing and brand authenticity). Finally, the learnings from the case study enable students to understand that crisis management and communication require a synergetic and coordinated approach amongst various business operations and considering all affected company stakeholders.

Teaching and Learning Objectives

The case study provides students with the following opportunity to:

• Develop the knowledge and understanding of appropriate theoretical frameworks for designing, executing and evaluating crisis communication strategies and practices

• Elevate an understanding and critical skills in relation to the use and implications of social media on crisis communication

• Develop capabilities in using and managing social media for crisis communication.

• Strengthen critical and analytical skills by identifying and debating bad and good practices as well as proposing better actions in relation to crisis communication, social media and multifunctional coordination between crisis communication and other business operations.

Target Audience

This case study is appropriate for both undergraduate and postgraduate students in hospitality and tourism programs. The case study helps students to better understand theoretical frameworks and concepts in crisis communication and social media as well as see their practical validity and implications in a ‘real world environment’. Specifically, for postgraduate students, the case study provides a fruitful context in order to develop their critical and leadership skills by reflecting on the interrelations and implications of crisis communication with important nowadays concepts, such as company purpose, brand activism and authenticity, corporate social responsibility and ethical/responsible leadership. In this vein, the case study is also suitable for class courses and/or topics related to: crisis management/communication, social media marketing, corporate social responsibility, cause /social marketing, ethical leadership and brand activism.

Teaching Approach and Strategy

It is recommended that at least two class sessions be dedicated to this case study.

The first session can focus on theory and practice related to crisis communication and social media, aiming to help students understand the theory and its practical application. The students would need to reflect on theory in order to identify and debate good and bad practices of crisis communication and social media and then brainstorm ideas for improvements addressing any limitations identified by the hotel insights. To better assess the hotel practices and generate ideas for improvements, the students can be guided to look at the additional examples of crisis communication that destinations and tourism companies have adopted during COVID-19 (included in Further Readings).

The second section can concentrate on the interrelations of crisis communication with other business operations and strategies and their implications on consumer behaviour (e.g. damage to brand authenticity and brand trust, company boycotts). Students would subsequently need to debate how to develop crisis communication that synergises with other business concepts and does not jeopardise the company, its customers and its brand image and reputation. References provided in ‘Further Readings’ can provide extra reading material for students to understand and critically reflect on this aspect.

Indicative Answers

• 1. Which would you say are the good and bad design elements of the crisis communication strategy and practices of the hotel?

  Students’ answers should be able to distinguish between strategic and practical design elements (see Table 4.3).

• 2. Was the execution of the crisis communication effective? What worked and what went bad?

  Student answers could be structured and analysed in the following way (see Table 4.4).

• 3. What would you have done differently in order to design and execute a better crisis communication strategy for the hotel?

  Student answers could include the following strategic issues:

  • Development and/or acquisition of human resources to handle social media. At the moment, MD is responsible for everything.

  • Investment in technological capability (e.g. software, technology applications) to monitor and respond timely and appropriately to UGC.

  • Develop an organisational culture but also strategy whereby everyone is co-responsible for crisis management to ensure a match between corporate values, purpose and practices with marketing messages and branding.

  Students should also identify corrective actions in terms of executing crisis communication better. Such recommendations should focus on addressing the bad practices identified in Table 4.4

• 4. What are the benefits and risks of using social media in crisis communication? What should a good strategy consider to effectively use social media in crisis communication?

  Benefits: quick dissemination of multimedia information to handle the crisis in an efficient and global way; two-way communications with customers; using customers as ‘sensors’.

  Risks: information transparency (risks of revealing inconsistency in company practices vs. claims), false/fake information spread (e.g. COVID-19 conspiracy theories spread online), customer value co-destruction (e.g. customers spreading false information).

  Social media requires a specialised/dedicated team of staff, appropriate technology investments and a social media strategy

• 5. Identify and discuss the role and impact of other business operations and strategies (such as social corporate responsibility, company values and culture, branding/advertising and operations such as customer service) on crisis communication.

  The hotel not having the necessary level of staff to deliver on crisis communication strategies; the MD was responsible for everything (e.g. customer communication, bookings, social media).

  Crisis communication messages and goals are not aligned with hotel practices and values.

  Loss of brand authenticity and trust, increase of customer perceptions of corporate hypocrisy, customer boycotts and negative publicity and UGC, decreased employee morale and commitment to the organisation.

Table 4.3 Design examples of crisis communication strategies and practices

Table 4.4 Good and bad practices executed at different stages of the COVID-19 crisis

Further Readings

• Chua, B. L., Kim, S., Baah, N. G., Moon, H., Yu, J., & Han, H. (2023). When hospitality brands go green: The role of authenticity and stereotypes in building customer-green brand relationships. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 1–24.

• Farmaki, A., & Stergiou, D. P. (2022). CSR responses to the COVID-19 pandemic: insights from the hotel sector. Anatolia, 1–4.

• He, H., & Harris, L. (2020). The impact of Covid-19 pandemic on corporate social responsibility and marketing philosophy. Journal of Business Research, 116, 176–182.

• He, Z., Liu, S., Ferns, B. H., & Countryman, C. C. (2022). Pride or empathy? Exploring effective CSR communication strategies on social media. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 34(8), 2989–3007.

• Kordoni, G., & Trakas, T. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 on Greek tourism: Industry experts’ opinion. https://www.hvs.com/article/8792-impact-of-covid-19-on-greek-tourism-industry-experts-opinion [accessed 15 September 2022]

• Shoenberger, H., Kim, E., & Sun, Y. (2021). Advertising during COVID-19: Exploring perceived brand message authenticity and potential psychological reactance. Journal of Advertising, 50(3), 253–261.

• Vredenburg, J., Kapitan, S., Spry, A., & Kemper, J. A. (2020). Brands taking a stand: Authentic brand activism or woke washing? Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 39(4), 444–460.

Web Sources

• Examples of crisis communication adopted by destinations and tourism firms during COVID-19 available at https://crowdriff.com/tourism-community-stories/#crowdriff-use-case (Accessed 15 September 2022)