Engagement and Experience Co-Creation: An Analysis of Hotel Instagram Profiles in Porto

Authors

  • Marta Andrade-Cunha University of Seville, Seville, Spain & Higher Institute of Business and Tourism Sciences (ISCET), Porto, Portugal & Department of Tourism and Marketing, Polytechnic University of Cávado and Ave (IPCA), Barcelos, Portugal https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6880-1213
  • Ana Irimia-Diéguez Department of Financial Economics and Operation Management, University of Seville, Seville, Spain https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1931-3544
  • David Perea-Khalifi Department of Economics and Business Administration, University of Malaga, Malaga, Spain https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3110-8922

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29036/3xhbty24

Keywords:

Engagement analysis, Instagram, Accomodation, Co-creation of experiences, Tourism, Porto, Portugal

Abstract

This article aims to delve deeper into tourists’ interaction with content uploaded to the Instagram social network by hotel profiles. Several research questions are stated regarding hotel characteristics, the co-creation dimension, and the type of media posted on Instagram that affect use, activity, audience, and engagement. Our work performs an engagement analysis of the Instagram profiles of 171 hotel establishments in Porto (Portugal). We examined 10,017 Instagram posts from the accounts' inception to July 2022, representing the entire dataset. Using complete and unfiltered data is crucial to perform robust and reliable analyses. Data were collected using Instaloader, an advanced Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) technique, widely validated in recent research. From the hotel's perspective, the results demonstrate carelessness in communication and little importance given to planning interaction and co-creation on social networks. In line with previous research, star-rated hotels and those with larger capacities tend to have a more active presence on Instagram. Regarding higher levels of engagement, focusing on quality over quantity in posts is recommended. Reinforcing content that includes photographs of the destination and hotel simultaneously (a holistic perspective of co-creation) seems to enhance engagement. Hotels should encourage customers to provide feedback to improve their experiences and leverage quality images to obtain higher engagement. More empirical research is needed in engagement analysis on social media. From a theoretical perspective, the study contributes to understanding the role of tourists in co-creation, reinforcing the need to foster engagement between tourists and hotels through Instagram. From a practical view, the methodology can be replicated by companies to analyze which content generates higher engagement and to develop better strategies for co-creating experiences and enhancing brand value. To our knowledge, this is the first work applying engagement analysis to hotel Instagram profiles in relation to post characteristics and co-creation.

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Author Biographies

  • Marta Andrade-Cunha, University of Seville, Seville, Spain & Higher Institute of Business and Tourism Sciences (ISCET), Porto, Portugal & Department of Tourism and Marketing, Polytechnic University of Cávado and Ave (IPCA), Barcelos, Portugal

    Email: martaecunha@gmail.com; marandcun@alum.us.es

    Doctoral student in Tourism and Researcher in Tourism and Co-creation at the University of Seville (Spain). Assistant professor of Tourism and Marketing in ISCET, Porto (Portugal) and in the Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave, Barcelos (Portugal). Consultant in tourism and marketing.

  • Ana Irimia-Diéguez, Department of Financial Economics and Operation Management, University of Seville, Seville, Spain

    Email: anairimia@us.es

    Associate Professor of Finance. She received a Ph.D. in Business Administration in 2002, with her research and teaching focus on Value Creation, Risk, Fintech, and Tourism. She has participated in several funded projects, including Action Cost TU1003: Megaproject - The Effective Design and Delivery of Megaprojects in the European Union. She has authored or co-authored various books. Some of her research papers have been published in Financial Innovation, Research in International Business and Finance, Journal of Business Research, Review of Managerial Science, and many others.

  • David Perea-Khalifi, Department of Economics and Business Administration, University of Malaga, Malaga, Spain

    Email: david.perea@uma.es

    David Perea-Khalifi is an assistant professor of the Department of Economics and Business Administration of the University of Malaga (Spain). He holds a PhD degree with an international mention in Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) on the corporative disclosure of public administration from the University of Huelva, Spain. His research was developed at the Research Center in Accounting and Taxation of the University of Aveiro (Portugal) and at the research group in New Technologies and Accounting at the University of Huelva (Spain). His main research interests are in the field of data analysis, big data, qualitative analysis, and engagement. Some of his research papers have been published in journals such as Government Information Quarterly or International Journal of Accounting Information Systems.

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Published

2025-05-30

How to Cite

Andrade-Cunha, M., Irimia-Diéguez, A., & Perea-Khalifi, D. (2025). Engagement and Experience Co-Creation: An Analysis of Hotel Instagram Profiles in Porto. Journal of Tourism and Services, 16(30), 143-164. https://doi.org/10.29036/3xhbty24