Importance of Crisis Management in Hospitality Industry - Rosewood London Study

PHigher National in Hospitality Management
Unit 18 Research Project
RESEARCH PROPOSAL FORM
STUDENT DETAILS
Section One : Research Title, Aim and Objectives
Research Title: The importance of managing crisis in the hospitality sector
Research Aim (What do you wish to find out or achieve?) :
The aim of this project is To investigate the importance of crisis management within UK
hospitality industry and response of industry towards COVID-19 crisis. A study on Rosewood
London.
Research Objectives
 To understand the basic concepts of crisis management and its importance within hospitality
industry of UK
 To determine the challenges faced by Rosewood London due to the global pandemic
COVID-19 in their business operations
 To examine the response taken by Rosewood London for managing crisis of global pandemic
COVID-19
Research Questions
 What are the basic concepts of crisis management and its importance within hospitality
industry of UK?
 What are the challenges faced by Rosewood London due to the global pandemic COVID-19
in their business operations?
 What is the response taken by Rosewood London for managing crisis of global pandemic
COVID-19?
Section Two: Research Rationale and Scope
Rationale/Justification for the Topic:
The major rationale behind this research is to examine the importance of crisis management in
managing crisis situation within hospitality industry. COVID-19 has turned to be a biggest crisis for

hospitality industry and this research is going to highlight such points which are seen within the
hospitality industry during COVID-19 crisis. The research is also linked with dual perspective such
as personal and professional. In terms of personal crisis the research will increase various skills
within researcher such as communication skills, data collection skill, analytical skills and many
others. These enhanced skills can be used by researcher in order to manage their career aspects. On
the other hand, in terms of professional skills the research will provide assistance to the researcher in
order to conduct future researches in appropriate manner.
Research Scope
The organisation taken for the current research is Rosewood London which is a luxury 5-star hotel
located in London. The hotel was initiated in the year of 2000 and managed by Marriott hotel. The
current research study is emphasised over various crisis management practices adopted by the
hospitality industry in order to deal with COVID-19. The study is beneficial for its readers so that
they can analyse the practices of crisis management were adopted by hospitality industry in order to
fight against COVID-19.
Section three : Preliminary Literature Review
What are the basic concepts of crisis management and its importance within hospitality industry
of UK?
According to Hosie and Pforr, (2016), Hospitality crisis management comprises the creation of
procedures, strategies, and manuals to effectively respond to disasters in a timely and effective
manner, minimising the negative impact on visitors and the hospitality business. Hospitality and
tourism businesses that are well prepared are quick to design and implement post-disaster recovery
measures. The basic framework of a crisis management is to recognise future problem, take
appropriate action, and make that action public. An effective crisis management strategy allows a
company to reduce the danger of its standing being harmed as a result of a disaster or crisis situation.
What are the challenges faced by Rosewood London due to the global pandemic COVID-19 in
their business operations?
According to Jones and Comfort, (2020), as a result of the pandemic's impact on customer buying
behaviours and expectations regarding their safety and sanitization, there has been a shift in
consumer perception, expectation, and behaviour, resulting in a new set of safety patterns. While the
economy is deteriorating and consumers have less spending capacity, one of the most significant
long-term challenges is to keep a close eye on the dynamic factors that are shaping new shopper
behaviours, consumption patterns, perceptions, expectations, and trends. The Pandemic has
presented various additional obstacles to the hotel industry. The many methods used to flatten the
COVID-19 curve, including as community lockdowns, social distancing, stay-at-home orders, and
travel limitations, have resulted in the temporary closure of many hospitality firms and a significant

reduction in demand for those that are still open.
What is the response taken by Rosewood London for managing crisis of global pandemic COVID-
19?
According to Fung, Tsui and Hon, (2020) The hotel business is one of the COVID-19's most
severely hit economic sectors. In order to deal with the crisis the industry needed to show different
responses so that they can regain their market position. In this manner for managing COVID-19
crisis Rosewood London started providing proper sanitisation to their guests so that higher safety
protocols can be followed. On the other hand, the hotel strictly followed COVID-19 protocols which
were provided by the government so that to contribute in mitigation of virus spread. Besides this,
Rosewood London used different measures at the time of guest check in such as checking of
temperature, giving rooms to vaccinated staffs so that to minimise mobility of the virus and to
respond the virus. The pandemic has given negative implication in profitability of Rosewood and in
this manner the organisation has adopted strategic planning so that to deal with the virus and to
regain their market position.
Section Four: Overview of Research Methodology:
Research methodology is that crucial part in the research report which helps inn achieving
aims and objective in appropriate manner. It is systematic process which is used to identify, analyse
and interpret data as per the topic (Säfsten and Gustavsson, 2020). There are various philosophy and
approaches used by investigator to gain useful data from the gathered information. Research
methodology is divided into various sub components which are discussed below:
Research philosophy: It is divided into three parts which are Positivism, Interpretivism and
Realism. As per the current research report researcher will be selecting Positivism philosophy. The
reason behind choosing this philosophy is that quantitative data is gathered and analysed which will
be used to achieve aim and objective in valid and reliable manner.
Research approach: Deductive and Inductive are the two research approach which is used
to test the theories and hypothesis. In the current research, investigator will be selecting deductive
approach to test the existing theory by the help of numerical information (Eisend and Kuss, 2019).
Research strategy: There are different types of research strategy which is used by
researcher to gather information about the topic in valid manner. Some of them are survey,
systematic literature review, case study, action research and many more. In present investigation,
survey strategy will be used by the researcher. The main advantage to use survey is it will gather