Hotels Use Instagram Communities to Curate Travel Guides for Guests

At a time when buzz words like "local" and "authentic" are used to describe nearly every travel experience these days, marketers are turning increasingly to social media, and to residents themselves, to come up with the very content that enables other travelers to have those very kinds of experiences. Instagram, in particular, is increasingly becoming the channel of choice among hotels, not only for social media marketing opportunities, but as a resource for providing curated travel content for their guests, straight from the locals who live there, as well as from aspiring guests. "Specific to travel, if you look at the travel booking process, especially the discovery and inspiration phase, traditionally that was coming from TV and print," said Tom Jauncey, head of brand partnerships for Beautiful Destinations, a creative tech agency that helps travel brands create social media content for Instagram and Snapchat. "Now, we're in this world of social media where consumer attention