Bhubaneswar, Sept. 27: Social media has a big influence on the hospitality sector and this was discussed at a technical session held during the golden jubilee celebrations of Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) that ended here today.

"Times have changed and the hospitality sector cannot ignore the influence of social media," said hospitality expert from the UK, Ronald Scott.

Chief executive officer of Intellect Data System (IDS) Binu Mathews said: "It is now a fact that new players are doing well in this sector because of the influence of social media."

IDS Next Business Solutions is one of leading software service providers to hotels across India.

Young entrepreneur and Oyo Rooms CEO Ritesh Agarwal said: "Social media is becoming very powerful and it can motivate customers to a great extent. Bookings at a particular hotel with a view increased by 35 per cent after photographs taken from the hotel were posted on its Facebook page."

As a leading user of technology in the hospitality sector, Agarwal added: "In India, seven per cent bookings are now made by mobile application software (app). As the social media users belong mainly to high-end mobile phone users, there is a chance of more bookings by app if the hospitality sector takes up a more user-specific approach."

Founder of Room Central Atul Prabhu said: "Hotels and hospitality companies should do proper research to understand the trends on postings on the social media sites."

Many members of the federation alleged that lots of unverified opinions coming through sites such as TripAdvisor were causing bad publicity for hotels and restaurants. Some even termed it "a blackmailing tool" by the website because there was no information on the opinion maker.

TripAdviser is a leading website that curates reviews of hotels and restaurants by travellers.

TripAdviser country manager Nikhil Ganju said the observations on the site were "personal" ones with privacy clauses attached to them. "If specific complaints are brought to my notice, I can have discuss them," he said.