Abstract The current trends within the hospitality industry indicate that modern technological innovations have become an overriding competitive edge within the globalised market arena. The increasing awareness and demand by consumers for better services have made technology the most viable medium of communication. Consequently, emerging themes like interactive social media, mobile phones and shifting travel patterns have challenged the hotel industry players to integrate these forums within their strategic plans. The hospitality industry though adversely affected by the current global recession and turbulence within the EU countries has nevertheless recorded growth from the emerging markets of Asia/Pacific and Latin America, particularly the Middle East, India, China and the South East regions. This paper therefore critically examines the influence of social media as viable tool for the hospitality industry for interacting with hotel clients and other stakeholders as well as marketing products or getting feedbacks from customers. An analysis of the prevailing major themes is studied from the hotel industry foremost website ehotelier.com , in addition to other current writings on the subject from the European Travel Commission, World Travel Trends Report, plus other topical reports and writings on the hotel industry. The results suggest the following:  1. technology has emerged as a critical tool to promote and enhance service within the industry,  2. interactive social media is the most viable tool for marketing and enhancing service to the clientele,  3. bloggers are the major definitive influence within the social media,  4. there is a need to incorporate organization employees in the hotel’s internal social media to generate workplace improvement ideas,  5. shifts in the global travel patterns require fresh strategies to meet these challenges. Introduction Contemporary hotel industry administrators have realized the significance of technological advances especially the internet where social media has emerged as a veritable tool for commerce and customer service. Although other industries have embraced the technology proactively, the hospitality industry that often relies on travel agents and personalized service has not been versatile or quick enough to integrate online forums effectively. Similarly, outlooks indicate declining returns and number of visitors to the US but vast prospects in the emerging markets. This study therefore attempts to explore the future trends within the industry as regards to social media and the emerging travel destinations of Asia and Latin America. The Impact of Bloggers The power of social media on contemporary hospitality industry is typified by the impact of bloggers. They are able to affect a brand through positive or negative blogs. A “State of the Blogosphere 2011″ report from the website tracking directory Technorati , indicates that 38 percent of these blogs are commentaries concerning brands that are either loved or loathed, while 34 percent post concerned goods or service analysis (Figure: 1). This is principally evident amongst the career bloggers keenly analyzing brands for diverse industries. Amongst them, 68 percent of the bloggers were influenced by fellow online bloggers (ehotelier.com, 2011). As firms acknowledge the blogger’s influence, they have wisely chosen not to ignore them and instead proactively engaged them on their blogs or via the target co