How COVID-19 Changed Crisis Management in Hospitality Industry

This essay evaluates the impact of COVID-19 on crisis management in the hospitality industry, identifies opportunities for improvement, and reflects on lessons learned. It discusses how COVID-19 changed crisis management in the organization, including the impact on the hospitality industry, and the opportunities for improvement that can be used for future crises.

Essay

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY.............................................................................................................................3
How covid 19 changed crises management in the organization............................................3
Identify the opportunities for the improvement of organization that can be used for the
future crises............................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Crisis management refers to the process where strategies are made by an organization
in order to identify the threat or an uncertain event to the business and stakeholders. The
crises has been considered as series of sudden disturbing event that can harm the
organization. The crisis can be fall for any of the reason such as any technological failure
occur to the business or any breakdown of the machineries that can lead to the disasters
(Magno and Cassia, 2021). The report has focused up the organization which is a Hotel name
is The Goring Hotel that is five star hotel in London. The report will cover the crisis in
management that has occurred due the covid 19 pandemic on the various industries such as
hospitality and so on. Further it will discuss the opportunities for the improvement of such
crises that may occur in future.
MAIN BODY
How covid 19 changed crises management in the organization.
Covid 19 pandemic has ruined the global businesses and disturbed the economy of the
nations as the gross domestic products fell down due to lockdown that were imposed by the
government for maintain the social distancing in order to prevent such pandemic from
spreading. In such crisis management situation, the organizations are dealing to manage the
impact of the covid 19 outbreak so that their strategic goals can be met with the demand of
the customers. After such pandemic the business has come with increased regulation at the
workplace and with travel restrictions. The crises management prepares the organization for
the unexpected development that can be occurred any adverse condition.
Hospitality industry has been impacted most by the impact of Covid19. It has
impacted the operational functions of many airline businesses, hotel and accommodation
businesses by cutting jobs of thousands of employees leading to unemployment. Also, it has
witnessed significant changes in the way jobs should develop. The hotel businesses are also
coping with crisis as they were the first to be closed in the states and countries, some of
which have been closed permanently (Seyitoğlu, Costa and Malta, 2022). For hotel
businesses, the recovery to pre-covid19 levels could take until 2023. After facing covid19
impact, they are strengthening their crisis management. In context with UK hospitality
industry, the international tourists visit got down by 205 to 30% in 2020 as compared to the
year 2019. The cancellation hotel bookings got risen by almost half that led to major business

losses to the hotel businesses. To be back to the normal position they are taking precautionary
measures in terms of crisis management.
In the hospitality industry, the management teams of the businesses are taking
effective steps for crisis management after the impact of covid19 so as to avoid any further
disruption in operations and profitability measures. They are taking consultancy with local
health authorities, restaurants, catering, hotel and tourism administration to form an action
plan to prevent covid19 transmission in accordance with local government recommendations
(Joshi and Gupta, 2021). For example, The Goring Hotel has reduced the occupancy rate
where physical distancing could not be achieved. It has used the physical barriers by
maintaining a minimum 1 meter distance between staff and clients. It has incorporated the
process including supplies, for cleaning and disinfection of any of rooms occupied by the ill
persons. Further, the hotel has also incorporated the policies for teleworking and a screening
process for the personnel coming to work with the policies for their safe returning.
As part of their crises management, the hospitality businesses have also allocated
adequate resources for effective implementation of the action plan. The crises team that
involves members of every respective department has supported the management in the
execution of action plan and identification of required adjustments that include training and
information to the staff for the measures to be adopted to protect their health i.e. staying
home, taking medical attention on identifying the symptoms of covid19. The management is
also updating the staff on new developments. Their training also include for specific
procedures like Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in the case of isolation of any suspected
case when they are waiting for any ambulance transfer, disinfection or any other measures
(Morrone and et. al., 2021).
The Goring Hotel has also adopted the promotion of hand hygiene i.e. 20 seconds
using alcohol-based hand rub and 40 seconds with soap and water, as part of its crises
management. It also includes respiratory hygiene, physical distancing of at least 1 meter and
medical masks etc. it has also used in and outside the premises, the official leaflets containing
basic hygiene practices and covid19 in various languages so as to make it understandable for
its different employees belonging from different parts of countries. Taking into consideration
the precautionary measures, it has made the reception desk to contain the contact numbers of
health and medical authorities, public and private hospitals etc. The other hotel and
hospitality businesses have also used natural ventilation and HVAC systems for effective

ventilation to maintain respiratory hygiene (Chen, Huang and Li, 2022). In a nutshell, as part
of their crisis management, the hotel businesses have put their employees’ well-being on a
priority.
Apart from this, they are taking steps to determine the effects of crisis that include
impact on budgets and business plans due to the operational disruptions as a result of
covid19. The Goring Hotel has also strengthened its crises management by identifying and
repairing the broken links in the supply chain and preparing for the unexpected events. So. In
this way, covid19 has changed the crises management in hospitality organizations.
Identify the opportunities for the improvement of organization that can be used for the future
crises
Covid19 has drastically reduced the contribution of hospitality industry to UK
economy. It has disrupted the operations and lowered down the profitability of many
businesses. Particularly, the tourism sector has to suffer a lot as the main source of income is
arrival of tourists who bring foreign capital in the economy and raise the GDP of nation. The
domestic and international flights were also banned due to the covid crises as a result of
which tourism businesses were unable to attend the customers of businesses. Covid19 has
impacted the crises management of hospitality organizations as a result of which they are
taking precautionary measures so as to be prepared to meet up the uncertainties of any future
crises.
Although crises pose many threat to the businesses but most crises offer an
opportunity to identify the deviations or gaps in the organization’s crisis management
planning. For example, the covid19 crisis may be the ultimate test of businesses’ previous
planning efforts to that can be seen by those organizations that have strong crises
management or those organizations that have identified the opportunities associated with
crises by implementing a strong action plan. There are many opportunities for the
organizations to be prepared for the future crises and to bring improvement in the
organization’s operational processes. Some of the opportunities are described here.
Hospitality businesses like The Goring Hotel have an opportunity to be used to deal
with the crises of future that include communication and consultancy that are the enabling
activities for risk management so as to ensure their contribution to the decision-making
process. Another opportunity for future crises management is improvement of the supply
chain (Ozdemir and et. al., 2021). Companies have an opportunity to use the effective

technology and deploy it to their best potential so as to communicate with the clients and
suppliers of hotel businesses in virtual mode to maintain positive relations with them and
develop business relationships.
A large supplier base will enable the company to procure required materials from
worldwide while ensuring safety precautions as per the action plan set by them. They will
have the opportunity to consider the alternative supply chain channels. They have an
opportunity to strengthen their employee base by adopting the safety measures for them that
will help in developing a positive and healthy environment in the organization as a result of
which organizational culture will also get improved (Shostak and Yakovleva, 2021). When
the human resource management of the company will be strong, it will be able to effectively
deal with the crises management. So, the crises also provide the opportunity to the company
to identify the deviations of their crises management and risk policies to be prepared for the
future uncertainties.
CONCLUSION
The above report has dealt with the concept of crises management in the hospitality
organizations. It has thrown a light on the impact of covid19 on tourism businesses and how
an organization respond to the negative impact of pandemic by following an effective crises
management. The report has been discussed in context with the UK based 5 star hotel i.e. The
Goring Hotel. It has been identified that the effective crises management can be followed by
preparing an action plan and by effective deployment of resources. It can be followed by
adopting safety measures especially for the human resources as they are the main assets of
the organizations that contribute more to the organizations’ success. Further, the report has
also explained the opportunities for the improvement of organization that can be used for the
future crises.

REFERENCES
Chen, H., Huang, X. and Li, Z., 2022. A content analysis of Chinese news coverage on
COVID-19 and tourism. Current Issues in Tourism, 25(2), pp.198-205.
Joshi, V.A. and Gupta, I., 2021. Assessing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on
hospitality and tourism education in India and preparing for the new normal.
Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes.
Magno, F. and Cassia, F., 2021. Firms’ responses to the COVID-19 crisis in the tourism
industry: effects on customer loyalty and economic performance. Anatolia, pp.1-3.
Morrone, D., and et. al., 2021. Digitalisation in the hospitality industry: Motivations, effects
and role of COVID-19. International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic
Tourism, 3(3-4), pp.257-270.
Ozdemir, O., and et. al., 2021. Quantifying the economic impact of COVID-19 on the US
hotel industry: Examination of hotel segments and operational structures. Tourism
Management Perspectives, 39, p.100864.
Seyitoğlu, F., Costa, C. and Malta, A.M., 2022. Dimensions of (post-) viral tourism revival:
actions and strategies from the perspectives of policymakers in Portugal. European
Planning Studies, 30(4), pp.608-626.
Shostak, M.A. and Yakovleva, M.A., 2021. Modeling The Influence Of The Hospitality
Industry's Specific Factors On The Hrm.