Status, Stories & Stays: How Influencers Turn Luxury Hotels into Must-Book Destinations

This study examines how influencer-promoted luxury hotel content influences consumers’ willingness to pay a premium. Using a single-stimulus online survey with 302 social media users, we measure perceptual differences rather than content effects. Drawing on signaling theory and persuasion knowledge theory, a survey-based study was conducted in which 302 social media users viewed influencer check-in images at a five-star hotel and evaluated luxury perceptions, social interpretations, and pricing responses. Structural equation modeling revealed that stronger perceived luxury attribute value was associated with lower perceived status-signaling value, indicating that luxury signaling may operate differently in influencer-mediated contexts. Although higher luxury attribute value lowered perceived manipulative intent, the direct effect of perceived manipulative intent on willingness to pay was not significant. Perceived social visibility exerted a strong direct positive effect on willingness to pay but did not moderate the status-signaling relationship. Because the design is correlational, findings should be read as perceptual associations, not causal effects. Overall, the findings suggest that luxury signals communicated through influencers may generate social evaluative concerns that weaken, rather than enhance, premium acceptance, highlighting the context-dependent role of influencer marketing in luxury hospitality.