📌 The TikTok Playbook for Hospitality Leaders
Guests now plan trips on TikTok before Google or TripAdvisor. See what this means for your venue.
🌞 Welcome To This Week's Newsletter
TikTok is now the main way guests discover hospitality venues. Guests who booked after seeing TikTok content spent an average of £1,389 per trip, almost £400 more than those who did not use TikTok (Phocuswire, 2024). People are finding venues, booking experiences, and spreading the word through short videos, changing the industry at every level.
Since its launch in 2016, TikTok has accelerated to 1.94 billion users by July 2025 (Exploding Topics, 2025). By January, ads on the platform reached 1.59 billion people — nearly one in five adults worldwide (Phocuswire, 2024). In June 2025 alone, 37 million new downloads made it one of the most installed apps globally.
This edition answers three questions operators are asking:
Who is really on TikTok?
How is the buyer journey shifting?
What signals should you be watching now?
Future issues will go deeper into content systems, collaborations, and scaling.
📄 On the Menu this week
The TikTok Iceberg → Understand the deeper layers of discovery, decision-making, and loyalty signals that shape guest behaviour.
TikTok for Hospitality → Guests who book after seeing TikTok content spend nearly £400 more per trip.
🔒 TikTok Content Creation System → A structured approach to turn daily service into content that drives consistent visibility.
🔒 VIP Action Plan → How to align your TikTok content to the buyer journey so you stay present at every decision point.
Let’s Check In ☕
Share this with in your team:
Revenue Manager – to judge whether TikTok belongs in demand forecasts and Q4 channel mix.
Marketing Lead – to align content and ad spend with where discovery is actually happening.
FOH Manager – to track how guests mention TikTok at booking, ordering, and feedback stages.
🌐 TikTok Iceberg
For hotels, restaurants, food service providers, spas, and event venues, TikTok has become essential. Many operators focus only on the surface elements—viral dances, quick trends, and playful content. However, the real opportunity lies deeper. TikTok drives discovery, bookings, and loyalty for all types of hospitality businesses. It is increasingly becoming the platform where important decisions are made.
🎶 TikTok for Hospitality
From finding a new restaurant to choosing a hotel, or even deciding which delivery app to order from, TikTok now influences where people spend their time and money.
For Gen Z and Millennials in particular, TikTok is already replacing traditional search, with 48% of users opting to use it instead of Google for travel planning (Adobe, 2024).
For hospitality operators, this means the buyer journey is no longer confined to search engines, OTAs, or review sites. Guests are making decisions from menu choices to booking preferences based on what they see in TikTok’s feed. Every stage in the Hospitality Buyer Journey requires its own unique content strategy.
The Hospitality Buyer Journey
✨ Dreaming
Almost 74% of TikTok converters say the platform serves them travel content they would not have searched for on their own (Phocuswire, 2024). This makes TikTok particularly effective at generating demand that guests might not have previously recognised.
72% of users discover new products on the platform, and 81% report that it helps them find topics or trends they did not know they liked (TikTok, 2025).
40% of diners have tried a new restaurant after seeing food photos online, and 86% say they will post if a meal looks visually appealing. That creates a constant loop of discovery as guest-generated content attracts the next wave of visitors.
📝 Planning
For Gen Z, TikTok already dominates the planning stage. Nearly 58% of Gen Z travellers use it for planning or sharing their trips (TikTok, 2025). When asked why they prefer TikTok over traditional search engines, consumers said:
44% find the short video format more informative and digestible
34% enjoy the storytelling aspect of TikTok videos
31% value the personalisation of content
29% say the information feels more current (Adobe, 2024)
Guests expect interaction, and brand responses to comments are part of the platform culture. 68% of users say brands should use them to understand their audience (TikTok, 2025).
Nearly 73% of diners will choose a competitor if a restaurant does not respond to messages, and 43% say responding to comments is very important. (TikTok 2025)
To convert engagement into bookings, use comments as conversion prompts: thank guests for their interaction and guide them toward your services. A mini-script, such as 'Thanks for the love, here’s the booking link,' can empower social media managers to act on this insight immediately and effectively.
💳 Deciding
When it comes to conversion, TikTok’s massive reach leads to real spending. Travellers who booked after seeing TikTok content spent an average of £1,389 per trip. That is nearly £100 more than those influenced by other platforms, and almost £400 more than non-TikTok users (Phocuswire, 2024).
This uplift is not just in total spend. It also shifts where guests choose to stay, with TikTok converters showing a clear preference for upscale and luxury properties.
TikTok converters were more likely to stay in an upscale (24%) or luxury hotel or resort (18%) on their most recent holiday than in a mid-tier (10%) or budget venue (12%) (Phocuswire, 2024).
TikTok converters are most likely to act on food and beverages (67%), sites and attractions (62%), and lodging (50%). They also convert strongly on tours and activities (51%), shopping and souvenirs (46%), and transportation (48%). These are the trip elements you should consider weaving into your content mix.
The conversion path is both online and offline. 62% of TikTok users say they follow links on TikTok to discover products on a brand’s website, and TikTok drives 1.8x more online conversions than other media channels (TikTok Business, 2025).
For restaurants, the pattern is similar; 55% of TikTok users have visited a restaurant after seeing its menu on the platform. (Cropink, 2025).
2 in 5 users who discovered a product on TikTok visited a physical location that sells it, with TikTok driving 2.6 times more offline conversions than other media channels (TikTok Business, 2025).
For operators, this means two things.
TikTok users are ready to book premium hotels, restaurants, and experiences.
Conversion only happens if you provide clear pathways. Always include a link in bio, TikTok Shop, or in-video CTA. If you do not, you miss out on revenue.
🤳 Experiencing
Conversion doesn’t end at booking; for hospitality, TikTok extends the guest journey into sharing, where one person’s post can influence hundreds more.
More than 52% of travellers who used TikTok for trip planning also posted about their most recent holiday (PhocusWire, 2024). Sharing is powerful among younger audiences because it multiplies visibility. 56% of Gen Z travellers post content compared with 39% of Millennials, which means every meal, room, or activity has a higher chance of being broadcast.
Each post functions as social proof, validating a venue for peers and fuelling the next wave of bookings.
The same behaviour carries through to food and beverage. 55% of consumers share their restaurant experiences on social media, and they are 71% more likely to recommend a venue that engages with them online.
Visual appeal plays a significant role: 86% of diners say they will post about a meal if it looks good.
At this stage, focus on amplifying the guest voice. When your space becomes content, every guest can be an influencer, no matter their follower count. Every guest who shares a meal, a room, or an experience on TikTok validates your brand for hundreds of others. Thank them for their posts and repost them.
Pro Tip: Use your branded hashtag as the Wi-Fi password, display it on menus, or include it on table cards. This makes it easy for guests to tag your venue and turns TikTok into a structured word-of-mouth tool.
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🤝 Belonging
Belonging is where TikTok stops being a marketing platform and becomes a community. Guests who feel part of your story are more likely to return, spend, and advocate for your brand.
2 in 3 TikTok users were asked for travel advice by others (PhocusWire, 2024). This shows that guests who post on TikTok often become trusted advisers for their peers, spreading your brand through word-of-mouth and influencing future bookings.
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Guests expect brands to respond to requests and feedback. In one QSR example, Wingstop upgraded its Hot Honey Rub to a permanent menu item after overwhelming demand in TikTok comments (TikTok, 2025).
Building a brand community builds and reinforces brand loyalty. Consistent posting, genuine interaction, and responding to community demand turn casual visitors into loyal regulars who keep your tables, rooms, or venues full.
Social listening and brand guardians
TikTok communities move fast. Guests expect brands to hear them and respond in real time. That means monitoring comments, tracking hashtags, and noticing when your venue is mentioned, even if you are not tagged. Assign someone on your team to act as a “brand guardian” Their role is to reply, thank guests for posts, and spot emerging themes.
Strong social listening does 2 things:
Protects reputation by addressing issues before they spread.
Builds loyalty by showing guests their voice shapes your brand.
To keep TikTok content aligned with each buyer journey stage, operators need a structured system that turns ideas into repeatable campaigns.
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