Social Media and Crisis Communication: Managing or Creating a Crisis? Lessons Learnt from Hotel Amarilis

Operating in a highly vulnerable context, tourism and hospitality companies should be able to manage crises in effective ways. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has reconfirmed and strengthened this need as well as provided numerous examples and lessons learnt about crisis management and communication. By drawing on various theories (including crisis management, social media and crisis informatics, crisis communication, corporate social responsibility and brand authenticity), this case study provides a theoretical framework for developing knowledge and critical skills in designing and assessing the implementation of crisis communication strategies and practices. The case is based on a fictional hotel, but it is also inspired by true industry facts to make it more realistic and practical. The case study aims to (1) acquaint the students with relevant theoretical frameworks that can be used for developing and assessing crisis communication strategies and practices (2) provoke the students’ critical and analytical skills for understanding the role and impact of social media on crisis communication and (3) highlight the need to use social media for crisis communication but also align and coordinate the former with other business operations, such as customer service, corporate responsibility and branding strategies.