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When the community member actively sharing
their information and experience at hotel brands in
the Facebook fan page it will give good impact to
the hotel itself. Muniz and O'Guinn (2001) stated
that, members' active participation enhances their
knowledge regarding brands and products. Flavián
and Guinalíu (2006) noted that active member ena-
bles them to offer suggestions to solve problems
with product usage and help others in making pur-
chase decisions.
seek for entertainment e.g., playing games, and
contests. Kang (2011) concluded that if participat-
ing in an online community is perceived as fun or
entertaining, members are more likely to visit the
community and to spend more time visiting it.
In hospitality research, monetary benefits have
been considered as part of individualized services
that fulfill consumers' specific needs (i.e., special
treatment benefits) (Lee, Ahn & Kim, 2008). To
attract new members and online community mem-
bers, these businesses tend to offer special promo-
tions and coupons (Treadaway & Smith, 2010).
By promoting special rates of rooms in hotel
brands Facebook fan page, the marketers are able
to attract community member to participate and
increase the room sales.
2.2
Motivational functions
Functional benefits: According to Peter, Olson,
and Grunert (1999), functional benefit is one that
increases the ease and/or efficiency of completing
transactions (i.e., purchasing products and serv-
ices) and exchanging information (i.e., informa-
tion gathering and sharing). Interaction with other
community members in simplifying buying deci-
sions is one of the functional benefits of an online
community (Armstrong & Hagel, 1996). Because
the information is stored and available within
online communities, members can search for and
exchange information more efficiently (Wang,
et al., 2002). For that reason, social media ease
consumer to get information about hotels brand
conveniently and efficiently.
Social benefits derived as networking, collabo-
rating and forming relationship with other com-
munity members for various product—related,
personal or professional reasons (Dholakia,
Blazevic, Wiertz & Algsheimer, 2009). In addi-
tion Dholakia et al. (2009) stated that retaining
interpersonal connectivity denotes social benefits
by establishing and maintain contact with other
people (e.g., social support, friendship and inti-
macy). When online community recognizes that
they share common interests with other members,
they tend to increase the number and length of
visits to hotel brand's Facebook fan page, and to
actively participate in online community activities,
(Hwang & Cho, 2005).
Psychological benefits are derived from feel-
ing connected to community members (include
an identity expression through the community), a
sense of belonging to the community, and a sense
of affiliating with other members (Bressler &
Grantham, 2000). As members gain such knowl-
edge about their online communities, they come to
understand the community and feel a strong sense
of belongings and affiliation, which in turn devel-
ops a permanent sense of identification (Wang &
Fesenmaier, 2004).
Hedonic benefits Hedonic benefits bring the
participant positive reactions and enjoyment
(Nambisan & Baron, 2007). In this situation, com-
munity's members do not seek for information but
2.3
Brand commitment of online community
members
Brand commitment is defined as a strong and pos-
itive feeling of attachment to a brand (Beatty &
Kahle, 1988). Online communities are also found
to affect customer loyalty and purchase intention
(Kim, et al., 2004). In year 2006, Massari and Pas-
siante suggested that satisfaction and commitment
are indicators of brand loyalty. Consumers who
are highly committed to a specific brand evaluate
competing brands less positively or avoid consid-
ering competitors' brands when making purchas-
ing decision (Ahluwalia, Burnkrant & Unnava,
2000). They tend to defend their favorable atti-
tudes toward brands when perceiving a threat such
as unfavorable information about their preferred
brands or favorable information about competing
brands (Chaiken, Liberman & Eagly, 1989). Con-
sumers who perceive such threats tend to secure
their positive attitudinal position toward their pre-
ferred brands by searching for favorable informa-
tion about their brand (Jain & Maheswaran, 2000).
In other words, consumers want to see evidence
that their preferred brands are different from other
brands (Chaiken, et al., 1989).
3 ISSUE
In June 6, 2013, the Grand Blue Wave Hotel's fan
page gained only 760 likes compared to the com-
petitor hotel, Concorde Shah Alam that received
3,693. This shows that their numbers of fans are
distinctively different from their competitor, prob-
ably due to lack of online community participation
from Facebook user.
The manager of Grand Blue Wave Hotel, Mohd
Gazali Sayed Ibrahim (2013) pointed out “Grand
Blue Wave has no sales goals through social media.
But only by promoting the brand and to have the
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