Phocuswright surveyed 1,064 leisure travelers and found that 67% of under-55s who used social media for trip planning actually booked something. Even among over-55s, 53% converted. This is not a Gen Z trend. It is a booking channel that works across generations.
61% of travelers have booked a hotel after seeing it on Instagram. 32% have booked accommodation they discovered on TikTok. Portugal has 7.59 million social media users and 6.46 million on Instagram alone (64% of the population). The audience is there. The hotels, largely, are not.
We audited the social media presence of Portugal's 10 largest hotel brands. Six had no TikTok account at all. Most post to Facebook and Instagram as announcement boards with minimal engagement. Of the brands with TikTok, only one (PortoBay) posted regularly.
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The platform mismatch
Most Portuguese hotels invest their social media budget in Facebook and Instagram. The engagement data suggests they are investing in the wrong places.
| Platform | Avg. Engagement Rate (Hospitality) | Where Hotels Invest |
|---|---|---|
| TikTok | 8.74% | Almost nothing |
| 0.47 - 1.41% | Moderate | |
| 0.06 - 0.27% | Most budget |
Engagement rates from Cloudbeds 2026 and Social Insider hospitality benchmarks. TikTok delivers 30-100x the engagement of Facebook for hospitality content.
The gap is not small. TikTok's engagement rate for hospitality is 30 to 100 times higher than Facebook's. Hotels are spending money where engagement is lowest and ignoring the platform where it is highest.
This is not just a Gen Z trend
Hotels often dismiss TikTok and Instagram because "that is not our age group." The data says otherwise.
| Generation | Trust travel influencers | Use social media for travel |
|---|---|---|
| Gen Z (18-27) | 65% | 84% use social media for travel inspiration |
| Millennials (28-43) | 55% | 32% booked from TikTok (higher than Gen Z at 22%) |
| Gen X (44-59) | 36% | TikTok adoption grew from 7% to 44% in this age group |
| Baby Boomers (60+) | 27% | 53% of over-55s who used social media for trips converted |
Trust data from PhotoAid. TikTok age adoption from CivicScience. Booking conversion from HotelAgio.
The most surprising number: 32% of millennials booked a trip after a TikTok influencer post. That is higher than Gen Z at 22%. Your 35-year-old guest with the corporate card is more likely to book from TikTok than the 22-year-old backpacker. TikTok adoption among 35-44 year olds grew 529%, and among the 45+ demographic, it grew over 1,200%.
Millennials and Gen Z are projected to account for 83% of hotel guests by 2030. But even today, the influence extends well beyond young travelers. 52% of all social media users, across all age groups, say friends' travel photos have inspired their own plans.
What works: real examples
This is not theoretical. Hotels are already generating measurable results from social media.
The UGC advantage for independent hotels
92% of travelers trust user-generated content more than brand advertising. Content created by guests, real photos, real videos, real experiences, converts at 4.5x the rate of polished brand content.
This is where independent hotels have a structural advantage over chains. A guest posting a sunset video from your terrace is more authentic and more effective than anything a corporate marketing team produces. You do not need a production budget. You need guests who want to share their experience.
Hotels that feature real guest images see a 15% higher booking rate. The content already exists in your guests' phones. The question is whether you create the conditions for them to share it.
Why this matters for Portuguese hotels specifically
Portugal recorded 32.5 million guests in 2025, a 3% increase year-over-year. International tourism is growing. The travelers arriving are younger, more social-media-driven, and more likely to discover hotels through social media than through a travel agent. With 6.46 million Instagram users and 7.59 million total social media users, Portugal's digital audience is massive relative to its population.
Meanwhile, 6 of Portugal's 10 largest hotel brands have no TikTok presence. Most treat Instagram as a photo gallery rather than a booking channel. The window of opportunity for independent hotels is wide open. A single property with consistent short-form video content on Instagram Reels and TikTok can outperform entire chains that have not yet shown up.
3 things you can do this week
1. Post an Instagram Reel this week.
Short-form video gets 4x the reach of static images. A 15-second room tour, a breakfast spread, or a sunset from your terrace. Use your phone. No editing required. If you already post static photos to Instagram, you are using the platform at half its effectiveness. And if you do not have a TikTok account yet, claim your name today. The same video works on both platforms.
2. Repost one guest video.
Search TikTok and Instagram for your hotel name, your location tag, or your city. Guests have almost certainly already posted content featuring your property. Ask permission (a simple DM) and repost it. One authentic guest video will outperform a professional photoshoot in engagement.
3. Create one "room tour" or "view from our terrace" video.
Use your phone. No editing required. Walk through a room, show the view, show the breakfast spread. Under 30 seconds. The most-viewed hotel TikToks are not polished productions. They are authentic, quick, and show what the experience actually looks and feels like.
This is what SmartHotel does
We help hotels build social media presence that drives real bookings. Using AI video and image generation, we produce ready-to-post content for TikTok, Instagram Reels, and Facebook from your hotel's own photos and footage. Room tours, aerial views, seasonal campaigns, and AI-generated presenter videos, all styled for each platform. See examples of what we produce.
Social media content is one part of what we build. We also monitor your review performance across Booking.com, Google, and TripAdvisor, and track your hotel's visibility across AI platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini. It is all part of every intelligence report we deliver.
The hotels that show up where travelers are searching will capture a growing share of direct bookings. The ones that wait until TikTok feels "proven" will find that their competitors got there first.