Social media, civil unrest and fallout for cities and hotels

Abstract

The density of cities has led them to experience various levels of civil unrests which span peaceful protests to violent riots. Triggering mechanism of such events can be economic or political conditions and ideological or religious divides. In recent years we have seen social media (facebook, tweeter etc.) play an increasing role in organizing protests and disseminating information to a broader base, therefore magnifying the potential fallout for a city. From the Arab Spring in Egypt to the riots in England, Turkey and Ferguson/Baltimore in the US social media were used by various groups to expand the civil unrest, with the government in certain cases taking the unprecedented measure of blocking social media. In response to such social media use emergency responders are now trying to monitor such platforms to allow for an effective response to potential violent actions.The paper focuses on the use of social media in triggering civil unrest and the short and long-term effects for cities/countries and their hotel industry. A combination of socioeconomic and hotel performance indicators [Average-Daily-Rate (ADR) and Revenue-Per-Available-Room (RevPAR) for luxury, mid-price and economy hotels] are used to assess the effect of such events in recent years. The preliminary results suggest that more intense civil unrest even within a short period of time has lasting effects for cities as well as the luxury hotels. Longer unrests have additional spillover effects among mid-price hotels.