DETUROPE - The Central European Journal of Regional Development and Tourism 2025, 17(2):80-95

Social media use in hotel industry. The case of Bulgaria

Radostina Prodanovaa
a University of Economics Varna, Department of Economics of Tourism Management, Address: 77 Knyaz Boris I Blvd., 9002 Varna, Bulgaria

The aim of this study is to investigate how 4 and 5 star hotels in Bulgaria use the social media Facebook and to what extent they have implemented it in their marketing and sales strategies. Based on a framework of 28 criteria, the Facebook pages of 60 hotels were analyzed. The results report that nowadays almost all hotels have a presence on social networks, but still their function is mainly presentational. Incomplete descriptions, episodic posting, weak interaction with users, and insufficient use of the possibilities of the media in terms of distribution and marketing largely characterize their use. At the same time, large deviations are reported between the results of some of the hotels, which can be taken as an indicator of the wider use of social networks in the future. This article extends the research done in this topic. The framework used in the study is a combination of components based on previous studies and can be useful for future research as well as serve as a tool for hotel managers and marketing professionals.

Keywords: Bulgaria, social media. hotels, Facebook, marketing

Received: May 19, 2024; Revised: September 19, 2025; Accepted: December 23, 2025; Published: December 25, 2025  Show citation

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Prodanova, R. (2025). Social media use in hotel industry. The case of Bulgaria. DETUROPE - The Central European Journal of Regional Development and Tourism, 17(2), 80-95
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