Facebook commands a large amount of attention by hotels as a marketing tool, but research by Eviivo suggests it's largely a wasted effort for generating bookings.
The company analysed the data of 5,600 hotel properties it works with and claims that a paltry 3.3% of their traffic comes from their Facebook pages.
Furthermore, just 0.75% of the Facebook-led traffic ended up generating any bookings for the properties.
This, Eviivo surmises, is a waste of time given that six out of ten properties it spoke to for a study said they used Facebook specifically to try and get direct bookings.
The company says that it appreciates how social media is there to create engagement and perhaps trigger booking activity further down the line, but there is a lack of balance and effort being put into Facebook as a channel.
Thomas Messett, Eviivo's CMO, says:
"B&B and small hotel owners are convinced that social media is the way to go and that it is something worth investing a lot of time and money in. But facts and figures don't lie."
Independent hotels and B&Bs in the UK, for example, are now generating around 74% of their bookings from online travel agencies, the company claims.
Messet adds:
"Our research also showed that 87% of B&B’s that have a Facebook page have less than 1,000 fans and the vast majority of these fans are local people who are just keen to know about cultural events happening on their doorstep.
"It’s important to note that while having 1,000 fans sounds like a lot, not every fan will see every update, so a post from your facebook page with 1,000 fans may only reach 20 or 30 people!"