Why Chinese travelers use WeChat to make hotel choice decisions: A uses and gratifications theory perspective

WeChat, a Chinese multi-purpose messaging, social media, and mobile payment app, is an emerging media platform that has been integrated into the daily lives of people, including travel. However, despite growing proliferation surprisingly, little attention paid to gratifications obtained by travelers when using WeChat in travel-related decision-making. Adopting well-grounded Uses Gratifications Theory (UGT), this exploratory research paper aims address void prior literature identify why how millennial use make hotel choice decisions. Findings stemmed from semi-structured interviews combination purposive snowball sampling approaches with eighteen users reveals decisions through are influenced various social, process, content gratifications. As indicated our findings, hotels China should be aware stimulating them utilize selection process. Further, study contributes extant UGT emphasizing it specific relevance given more prominence within tourism, hospitality, literature.