Analyzing Challenges in Hospitality, Leisure & Travel during COVID-19

This essay examines the multifaceted challenges that the hospitality, leisure, and travel industry faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, covering operational and financial impacts, and mitigation strategies. It analyzes how companies reacted, both positively through technological adoption and strategic management, and negatively due to lockdowns and travel restrictions. The essay further provides recommendations for solutions, including adapting to external changes, establishing governance structures, re-evaluating business practices, and employing advanced marketing techniques. It concludes that despite the adverse conditions, the industry has shown resilience and potential for recovery through innovative strategies and technological advancements, emphasizing the importance of proactive planning and adaptation for future success.

Challenges of
hospitality leisure and
travel industry during
covid-19

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................2
What is the issue.....................................................................................................................2
How companies are reacting – positively or negatively.........................................................2
Recommendations for solutions.............................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Hospitality, leisure and travel industry can be defined as the industry which provides the
products and services related to the accommodation in hotels along with the pubs and restaurants
which is followed by the travel and tourism and also the sport and gaming activities. Food and
beverages along with lodging and recreation are also a part of this industry. Some of the
hospitality and travel companies such as the Minoan group company, Accor company, zonal
private company, vest jet airlines and many more. This industry employs a different range of
workforce in order to facilitate the activities which are related with the Leisure and tourism
activities along with the hospitality services which are basically away from the home
environment. such services include the accommodation and adventure along with the attractions
which is followed by the events and conferences and also the travel trade and many more
(Mandel, Veetil, 2020). The following essay is based on the challenges of hospitality and leisure
along with the travel industry during the covid-19 pandemic. The discussion is made on the
issue faced by the companies in this industry along with the reaction of such companies either in
a positive or negative manner which is followed by the recommendations for solutions that can
solve the specified issue with proper findings and conclusion.
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MAIN BODY
What is the issue
There are different types of issues which the industry has faced and the different domains
such as the impact of operational and mitigation on the industry along with the financial impact
as well. operational impact and mitigation states that the industry has failed the extended cash
flow forecasting in the coming six months. They have faced scenarios which are very much
critical to understand the cash points and any of the breaches related to the lending covenants.
Operators face difficulties in managing the payments to the suppliers because a company starts
minimising the operational and capital expenditure due to the low income and start considering
and postponing the maintenance so that the other capital expenditure where possible can save the
cash. Companies have started using the revenue management systems so that they can respond to
the pricing models in order to market development quickly (Romagosa, 2020). Financial impact
states that the company has forecast the different types of funding requirements and also assesses
the equity and debt funding available as a source. The company has started to be transparent
towards the existing lenders and the people who are involved in the mitigation procedures and
the plans of continuity. Another financial impact is the alternative lenders which have moved
quickly to provide short-term funding which results in the higher interest charged and the fee
structure. also the companies have to face the tax defined along with the financial relief
measures. These impacts are specified in the terms of financial and operational impact which are
associated with the management of the companies and some of them are positive and some of
them and negative impacts on the industry. The basic impacts which the company has faced
during the covid-19 pandemic are such as the lock down situation which has created the no travel
policy and the people had stopped travelling so this has resulted in no revenue for the companies
and were facing the expenses in their organisation without any profits. Although there are a lot of
negative impacts, positive impacts are also available in order to support and recover the negative
impacts as mentioned in the financial impact (Thams, Zech, Rempel and Ayia-Koi, 2020).
How companies are reacting – positively or negatively
Companies are reacting in a positive manner because of the advanced technology adopted
by them and they know how to make the management strategies and implement the same with
the help of their employees and all the stakeholders of the organisation. Such as for investors the
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company knows how they have to operate and how they are affected along with the identification
of the types of contracts which are applicable in terms of lease or management. The company has
discussed this with the help of brainstorming methodology with the operators and other
stakeholders in order to create expectations about the impact on the performance the company is
having in the industry (Krueger, Uhlig, Xie, 2020). Company has assessed the impact on
occupancy and created the strategic plan to mitigate the risk in their operations and Management.
Companies understand the losses they are facing but they know that it is not permanent but this
just delayed and therefore they have understood the impact on the operating fees as well. Again
the companies have started discussions with the suppliers and finders along with the project
developers and contractors in order to manage the expectations and maintain their confidence on
the industry and their working so that we can better plan their future with the help of strategic
decision making on the current basis and issues having on them. They have opened up the
discussion with their suppliers on discount along with the rent and many more. We have
discussed breach covenants and spoke to the lender in order to see the short term issues so that it
cannot impact an adverse Manager on the company. companies have focused on their human
resource management along with the talent and communications so that they can provide the
clarity to their workforce on maintaining the engagement and morale in this difficult time not
only with the customers but also with each other as well. Moreover, the company has managed
their guests with different options in terms of cancellation so that they can retain the customer for
a long term. (Davahli, Karwowski, Sonmez and Apostolopoulos, 2020).
Recommendations for solutions
The above issues mentioned for the hospitality industry are adverse and have impacted
negatively on the company's but it is researched that the company has reacted in a positive
manner to fight against such issues due to covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, it is recommended that
although the company knows that it is a dynamic and fast moving environment and hence they
must make sure that they should keep abreast of changes to any of the circumstances and impacts
that we can have (Baum and Hai, 2020). It is recommended that they must be prepared to quickly
respond to the changes from the external environment so that they can modify their normal
operations and business processes accordingly. The companies require a separate governance
structure which is mainly for the decision making and communications along with the
implementation process. This situation can help the business in re-evaluating their business along
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with the training and development of their employees so that new products and innovative
services can be invented in order to become flexible and also look for the new opportunities. It is
important for the companies to prepare the recovery plan from financial and operational along
with the marketing standpoint. companies must hold their new investments in the situation in
order to anticipate the market developments. It is also recommended that the company must start
planning the strategies off new promotional and marketing techniques not only in the traditional
way of marketing but also the online marketing so that they could have the wider reach to the
customers and better interaction systems and feedbacks which can help the company in
maintaining the long-term relationships and loyalty among the customers. Moreover, they must
focus on the advanced technology that they can adopt so that the customers can get attracted
towards it which can prove the better future planning for the company because now a day it is
impossible for the business to survive and therefore it is important to plan and implement the
advanced technology so that the operations and management along with the servicing of the
customers can be managed successfully. All these are the recommendations and suggestions that
the companies can adopt in such situations in order to face such circumstances in a more positive
manner for better opportunity in the future (Ocheni, Agba, Agba and Eteng, 2020).
CONCLUSION
It is concluded that hospitality and leisure along with the travel industry is highly impacted
in both positive and negative ways and the companies have reacted so that they can grow the
business even in the covid-19 pandemic situation. They have adopted the various management
strategies which are important to implement so that such adverse situations can be sorted out in
an appropriate manner effectively and efficiently. This industry has proved one of the most
growing industries not only in terms of providing the best services to the customers but also
adopting the advanced technology in order to comfort the customers in every possible way.
Although they have faced many difficulties in this covid-19 situation, as per the research it is
investigated that soon the company will recover all the losses they have faced in this pandemic
and start rising with their innovative strategies. Before covid-19 pandemic there was not much
invention of the advanced technology which helped in the management but because of the covid-
19 the invention of advanced technology to place which has helped the industry not only fighting
with this pandemic but also for the future use as well. The above report covers the issues faced
by the industry and how the companies are reacting in a positive or negative manner along with
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the recommendations for solutions against the issues specified. Hence this essay covers all such
areas in order to better understand the conception of challenges faced by the hospitality and
travel industry.
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REFERENCES
Books and journal
Baum, T. and Hai, N.T.T., 2020. Hospitality, tourism, human rights and the impact of COVID-
19. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Davahli, M.R., Karwowski, W., Sonmez, S. and Apostolopoulos, Y., 2020. The hospitality
industry in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic: Current topics and research
methods. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 17(20).
p.7366.
Krueger, D., Uhlig, H., Xie, T., 2020. Macroeconomic Dynamics and Reallocation in an
Epidemic, Working Paper 27047. National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge
available on. https://www.nber.org/papers/w27047.pdf. visited 19 August 2020.
Mandel, A., Veetil, V., 2020. The economic cost of COVID lockdowns: an out-of-
equilibrium analysis. Econ. Disasters Climate Change. https://doi.org/10.1007
/s41885-020-00066-z.
Ocheni, S.I., Agba, A.O., Agba, M.S. and Eteng, F.O., 2020. Covid-19 and the tourism industry:
Critical overview, lessons and policy options. Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary
Studies. 9(6). pp.114-114.
Romagosa, F., 2020. The COVID-19 crisis: Opportunities for sustainable and proximity
tourism. Tourism Geographies. 22(3). pp.690-694.
Thams, A., Zech, N., Rempel, D. and Ayia-Koi, A., 2020. An initial assessment of economic
impacts and operational challenges for the tourism & hospitality industry due to COVID-
19 (No. 2/2020). IUBH Discussion Papers-Tourismus & Hospitality.
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