Research Report on COVID-19 Impact on Hospitality Sector: Premier Inn

This research report investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the hospitality sector, focusing on Premier Inn. It examines effective business practices contributing to employment rates, identifies challenges faced by hotels post-COVID-19, and recommends strategies for overcoming these challenges. The study uses quantitative data analysis, including questionnaires and statistical data from the ONS website, to assess the pandemic's effects on employment, GDP, and inflation within the hospitality industry. The research highlights the importance of regaining customer trust through enhanced hygiene and communication, as well as managing costs through strategic sourcing. The report concludes with insights into how Premier Inn and similar businesses can navigate the ongoing challenges and adapt to the new normal.

Research Methods in
Business Practice

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Overview................................................................................................................................1
Research aims and objectives.................................................................................................1
Rationale.................................................................................................................................1
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................1
To examine the effective business practices of hotel that contribute towards the employment
rate..........................................................................................................................................1
To determine the challenges faced by hotel after COVID-19................................................1
To recommend ways by which hotel can overcome suitable challenges in an effective manner
................................................................................................................................................2
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................................2
DATA ANALYSIS..........................................................................................................................2
Questionnaire..........................................................................................................................2
FINDINGS.......................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Overview
Research is the systematic methodology that has a creative and structured approach for the
completion of the work. Research is used to increase the bundle of knowledge and to manage
each objective of the problem effectively. In current business practice there is the huge problem
of the Covid-19 caused to the spread of corona virus (Bajrami and et. al., 2021). This problem
has incurred the huge losses to the business and also impact the operations and functions of the
businesses. Recovering from the consequences of the Covid-19 is highly important for the
businesses and also for the economy. The present report is the research on the major problem of
the Covid-19 that has created some major business problems for the hospitality industry. The
report is based on the secondary quantitative data analysis with the support of ONS website that
has helped in gathering and understanding the data and figures related to the Covid-19. In order
to have deep research and analysis of this problem “Premier Inn” hotel has been chosen. The
hotel is the British leading and largest hotel brand based in Dunstable, United Kingdom.
Research aims and objectives
Research Aim:
The aim of this report is “to determine the impact of COVID-19 over the employment rate of the
hospitality sector”. A study on Premier Inn.
Research Objectives:
 To examine the effective business practices of hotel that contribute towards the
employment rate.
 To determine the challenges faced by hotel after COVID-19.
 To recommend ways by which hotel can overcome suitable challenges in an effective
manner.
Research Questions:
 What are the effective business practices of hotel that contribute towards the employment
rate?
 What are the challenges faced by hotel after COVID-19?
 What are the ways by which hotel can overcome suitable challenges in an effective
manner?
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Rationale
The research is based on the impact of COVID-19 that impact the overall hospitality sector
as a whole and also helps in knowing to overcome and manage the business performance. The
main purpose of this research is to develop their skills and abilities in suitable areas of
discrimination and also find ways which can help in overcoming issues properly.
LITERATURE REVIEW
To examine the effective business practices of hotel that contribute towards the employment rate
According to the Sintayehu Aynalem, 2016, hospitality industry is one of the main industry
which help nation to develop their employment rate. There are various departments within a
hotel like marketing department, front desk department, housekeeping department custom
service department and many others. All these departments require skilled and talented
employees which are hired by hotel managers. In context of most of the hotels, their recruitment
and selection practice of HR manager will help them to hire skilled employees which they
require and this will further contribute to develop employment rate of nation. On the other hand,
customer service of hospitality sector need higher employment (Agarwal, 2021). Hotels hire
those employees who are polite and can handle different behaviour and attitude of customers
easily. Here, employer check the skills of such kind of candidates in interview process and train
them well before handling them main job responsibilities. All these practices will help a nation to
develop their GDP with increase in employment rate. It is also proven that people who seek job
opportunities are interested to have hospitality jobs.
To determine the challenges faced by hotel after COVID-19
According to Dogan Gursoy, 2020, the biggest threat of hospitality industry is raised by
covid pandemic. Most of the hotels exit the market due to no earnings during this pandemic.
Many consequences of this pandemic like lock downs, stay at home, social distancing has
impacted bad for hospitality businesses. Due to lock downs and legal regulations no hospitality
customers plan to go out and enjoy the trip. There is no scope of small scale hotels to survive any
more in the market and they are not able to pay their fix charges without earnings. Hence, they
decided to shut down their business. Another biggest challenge of hotels from this pandemic is
that their customers refuses to trust them. Most of the customers prefer to make their food dishes
at home rather than ordering from any food and beverages company. To gain their customers
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trust again, hospitality industry adopted many strategies like more security, focused on their
cleanliness and hygiene, preparing food dishes with fresh food items and many others (Abbas,
Malik and Sarwat, 2021). Due to this pandemic the GDP rate of nations goes down and this will
impact on raising the situation of inflation. Due to inflation, the cost of raw material increases.
This will impact bad upon hotel industry to buy their raw material like vegetables and beverages
on higher cost and prepare them with additional cost which directly raise the prices of products
and services offered to customers.
To recommend ways by which hotel can overcome suitable challenges in an effective manner
From the point of view of José Miguel Rodríguez-Antón, 2020, hospitality industry is
developing new and innovative strategies to overcome the challenges they had faced in covid 19
pandemic. The biggest challenge for hotels is to gain their customers trust again. Hence, here
they promote their products and services on social media so that large number of customers will
aware about the process and ways they are serving their services after this pandemic. Most of the
hotels focuses on their cleanliness factor more and promote their business to attract their
customers. On the other hand, the issue of high cost of raw material can be managed by hotel
businesses by comparing all suppliers’ costs and adopt those raw material which have less cost
and have good quality (Anguera-Torrell, Aznar-Alarcón and Vives-Perez, 2020). One of the best
beneficial recommendation which is made for hospitality industry is that, they can communicate
well with their customers on regular basis and keep updating about their new products and
services which follows all guidelines of their government rules and regulation which they made
against covid pandemic.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology is the consideration of study that relates to particular topic and
increase the knowledge properly. This states various techniques and methods which is used by
researcher to develop the knowledge and reach at the conclusion. The methodology is explained
below:
Research methodology is the particular technique exploited to determine, select, process and
analyze the information and data related to the topic. The research methodology allows a
researcher and reader to critically evaluate and monitor the study's overall reliability and validity.
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For the research methodology there are various techniques and methods that researcher use to
acquire the knowledge and to reach a conclusion. The methodology is discussed underneath:
Research Philosophy – the above most layer of the research is philosophy that defines the
different set of values, ethics and believes related to the nature of investigation and analysis on
the particular subject. This includes the theory of positivism, behaviorism and interpretivism to
complete the successful research. For this research positivism method of philosophy is used to
understand the impact of Covid-19 on the employment rate as they are based on scientific
knowledge and is true and realistic.
Research Approach – This layer of research methodology represents the information
pattern that is related to the hypothesis theory and observation which is used to enhance the
observation and knowledge regarding the statistics of the Covid-19 in terms of employment rate,
GDP an inflation in the hospitality sector. This research approach could be very inductive and
deductive based on the personal choice of the researcher and on the limitations of the study of the
topic (Almeida and Santos, 2020). In relation to current research on impact of Covid-19 the
deductive approach is utilized as the topic is diverse and has the huge amount of knowledge
regarding the hospitality industry which is requited to be limited and chose on hypothetical basis.
Strategy – the tactic or a method to plan and organize the research. The strategy is method
prepared by the researcher to analyses the functions and activities required for the effective
performance of the researcher and also this useful in conducting the effective research for the
topic. The strategies of the current research study are experimentation, activity research,
questionnaire, survey, and experiment. In relation to current research on Covid-19 impact on
employment of hospitality sector questionnaire and survey methodology is utilized by researcher
that can help to make the right decision out of collected information.
Research choice – This layer of the research onion is related to the methods of research
that is qualitative and quantitative methodology which help in appropriate choice of information
for reaching conclusion. For this researcher must pay attention to all the activities and
information which is gathered through efforts (Gunay and Kurtulmuş, 2021). There are three
choices of methods of research mono, mix and multi and for the current study on problem of
Covid-19 in hospitality sector the mono methods is utilized. For which only quantitative research
is used to collect information through questionnaire and statistical data from the ONS website.
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Time Horizon – every task and research is time sensitive as the time is important factor to
analyze the reliability and credibility of the research. To accomplish the task and research the
time horizon is the important factor to be focused on as helps the researcher in managing the task
as per the suitable time – period. In the research methodology every task has been assigned a
specific time sequence which is important to be followed to maintain the smooth follow of
research and its functions. In research the Gantt chart is used for this purpose and focus is on
the longitudinal and cross sectional horizon that are useful in managing study and its task.
Techniques and procedures – This layer of the research is related to the method and
procedures that are utilized to increase or raise the level of knowledge and skills correctly. The
researcher at this stage make the decisions and conclusions in support of the questionnaire,
sample groups, interview, survey, content, statistical data etc. in context of the current research
study questionnaire is utilized as the best technique of the research as this helps the researcher in
gaining exact and correct information and perception about the different people of the Premier
Inn to handle the Covid-19 and what are the causes and consequences of the Covid-19 on the
employment rate of the hotel industry (Lu and et. al., 2020).
DATA ANALYSIS
It means proper collection of data which can help in terms of reaching the targets. For this,
qualitative and quantitative research are two suitable techniques which can be useful to access
data. For this, qualitative is based on getting theoretical information whereas the quantitative is
linked with collecting practical and statistical data for the objective of managing the activities
(Nhamo, Dube and Chikodzi, 2020).
In regard of this, quantitative research techniques are useful by the researcher as it need
some practical data for the purpose of developing understanding and accomplishing outcomes
effectively.
Questionnaire
Q1. As per your opinion, what are the current hospitality trends that leads to impact
the business practices of company?
Frequency
a) Online Booking 8
b) Robotics service 7
c) Artificial intelligence 5
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Q2. Explain the benefits which are gained by Premier Inn because of the online
booking trend after COVID-19 within the hospitality sector?
Frequency
a) Enhance the customer level 9
b) Enhance in profitability 7
c) Maintenance of performance 4
Q3. As per your research, what are the strategies used by Premier Inn to deal with
the impact of COVID-19 in the hospitality sector?
Frequency
a) Understand post-pandemic guests’ behaviour 6
b) Make Digitalization as their Priority 7
c) Online Marketing 7
Theme 1: Current hospitality trends that leads to impact the business practices of the
company
Q1. As per your opinion, what are the current hospitality trends the leads to impact
the business practices of company?
Frequency
a) Online Booking 8
b) Robotics service 7
c) Artificial intelligence 5
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Interpretation: By considering the above graph, it has been analysed that the current hospitality
trends leads to impact the business practices of hotel in an effective manner. For this, out of 20
respondents, 8 are in the favour of online booking, 7 goes with robotics services and remaining
goes with artificial intelligence.
Theme 2: Benefits which are gained by Premier Inn because of the online booking trend
after COVID-19
Q2. Explain the benefits which are gained by Premier Inn because of the online
booking trend after COVID-19 within the hospitality sector?
Frequency
a) Enhance the customer level 9
b) Enhance in profitability 7
c) Maintenance of performance 4
Interpretation: From the above analysis of graph, it has been analysed that there are number of
benefits which are gained by respective hotel due to online booking trend after the COVID-19
within hospitality sector. For this, out of 20 respondents, 9 goes with enhancement of customer
level, 7 goes with the enhancement of profitability
Theme 3: Strategies used by Premier Inn to deal with the impact of COVID-19
Q3. As per your research, what are the strategies used by Premier Inn to deal with
the impact of COVID-19 in the hospitality sector?
Frequency
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a) Understand post-pandemic guests’ behaviour 6
b) Make Digitalization as their Priority 7
c) Online Marketing 7
Interpretation: Frome the above analysis of graph, it has been identified that there are number of
strategies which are being used by respective hotel to deal with the impact of global pandemic. In
regard of this, out of 20 respondents, 6 goes with Understanding post-pandemic guests’
behaviour, 7 goes with make digitalization as their Priority and remaining goes with online
marketing.
FINDINGS
Data Collection is considered as the effective tool for selecting the best candidates out of
which they can helps in developing the knowledge and skills in the specific field. At the time of
collecting suitable details there are number of data which is available and also have clear
communication in proper manner by selecting best people in terms of supporting and managing
the functions. Hence, this technique of sampling includes, probability and non-probability which
is being used to reach the target points. In terms of respective project, randomly technique has
been used in which 20 people of hotel are sharing their experience to complete the research.
Gantt Chart
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CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above research that Covid-19 is the huge problem for the whole
business environment and also for the pupils of the world. It is understood from the research that
for the effective analysis if the problem at wider level research methodology is appropriate
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technique to have successful analysis and findings. The Covid-19 has major impact on the
hospitality industry in terms of employment rate, performance and productivity. Thus, as per the
above finding thorough questionnaire it is analysed that digitalization and robotics is effective
strategy to conquer the problem of Covid-19 effectively.
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