Significance of Sustainability in Changing Dimensions of Hospitality Industry during COVID-19

This research project aims to identify the significance of sustainability in the changing dimensions of the hospitality industry during COVID-19. It explores the role of sustainability in improving business strategies and analyzes the challenges faced by the industry. The study focuses on Britannia International Hotels.

Research project
(Best practices in global management within
multinational)
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Main purpose of this research project is to identify the significance of sustainability in
changing dimensions of hospitality industry during COVID-19. This is a main purpose and for
attaining this, there are different activities that was done systematically. Aim and objectives were
developed for conducting this research successfully. literature review was completed through
using secondary sources such as books, peer-reviewed articles etc. Methodology was done by
using quantitative research that result in achievement of all objectives in successful manner.
Finding was done by using frequency distribution analysis. This helped investigator in attaining
of research aim successfully. Therefore, current investigation was done in successful and
systematic manner.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank my tutor by providing me an opportunity of conducting a research over
a topic i.e. “To identify the significance of sustainability in changing dimensions of hospitality
industry during COVID-19.” A study on Britannia international hotels.
I would like to express my special thanks to my friends and family by giving me an
appropriate guidance that supported me in completion of full project successfully.
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Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...............................................................................................................3
Background of the research.........................................................................................................5
Problem statement.......................................................................................................................5
Research aim................................................................................................................................5
Research objectives.....................................................................................................................5
Research questions.......................................................................................................................5
Rationale of the research.............................................................................................................6
Literature review..........................................................................................................................6
METHODOLOGY..........................................................................................................................9
MAIN BODY AND FINDINGS...................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................19
RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................19
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................20
Questionnaire.............................................................................................................................21
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INTRODUCTION
Background of the research
The research focus on the importance of sustainability in changing dimensions of
hospitality industry during global pandemic situation in hospitality sector. Company adopting
sustainable approach keeping in mind the future changes are necessary. As these not only can
bring opportunity but also represent company's kindness toward environment and their concern
for it. This helps company to build an image in the industry by adopting various techniques. The
global environment is changing drastically and so it calling people and organisations to bring
changes in their ways to do business to achieve the surviving skill in such dynamic environment.
Sustainability not only call for follow any trend but becoming a future of surviving the changes
that nature is going to bring.
Problem statement
Covid 19 is a main problem faced by each and every industry. In which, hospitality
industry is main that negatively impacted because of coronavirus. During Covid 19, there are
various issues faced by hospitality industry such as hotels are forced to close, reduced sales ratio,
high turnover of the employees etc. Along with this, this is one of the main issue within the
research.
Research aim
Main aim of this research is “To identify the significance of sustainability in changing
dimensions of hospitality industry during COVID-19.” A study on Britannia international hotels.
Research objectives
 To investigate the role of sustainability for hospitality industry in the pandemic situation
of COVID-19.
 To identify the significance of sustainability in improvising business strategies of
Britannia international hotels.
 To analyse the challenges which can be faced by hospitality industry while implementing
sustainability as their emerging objectives.
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Research questions
 What are the major roles of sustainability for hospitality industry in the pandemic
situation of COVID-19?
 Explain the importance of sustainability in improving Britannia international hotel
business strategy?
 What are the challenges faced by hospitality industry in implementing sustainability as
their emerging objectives?
Rationale of the research
Main rationale regarding the selection of current investigation is to determine the
challenges faced by hospitality industry because of Covid 19. This is a main reason regarding the
selection of current investigation. Along with this, present study helps me in personal and
professional way. At personal level, this research helps me by improving my understanding
regarding the significance of sustainability within hospitality industry. At professional level,
current investigation is important for me because by increasing my knowledge about the
sustainability I become able in searching job within hospitality sector.
Literature review
Literature review introduces to the process of collecting secondary data from articles, books,
publication research and many other sources. These sources help researcher in collecting of
information about the topic. This part of the project helps investigator in attaining of each
objective through research questions, which will be explained as below:
What are the major roles of sustainability for hospitality industry in the pandemic situation of
COVID-19?
According to Jones, (2020), tourism is heavily relying on natural and cultural factors and so
it drives the interest of people depending upon the situation that may decide favoured and
unflavoured factors. Similar way the hospitality industry also gets affected by these factors of
nature and cultural. On considering current situation of COVID- 19 and its post affects have left
imprints of uncertainties in this industry. Economically, the hospitality industry is the source of a
large number of jobs and numbers of people are in difficult to gauge, some trade estimates
convey an impression of the scale of the jobs involved and COVID-19 crisis have put the
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hospitality industry into questionable position. Therefore, sustainability in hospitality sector have
become the hot topic.
 At initial stage, reduce in number of flights and the decline in the volume of motor
vehicle traffic and closure of large swathes of manufacturing industry etc. led to marked
reductions in the emission of greenhouse gases and in pollution levels. Keeping the mind
hotels can adopt some techniques towards less carbon emission such as using recycled
materials, less using of contactable techniques, enhance greenery etc.
 In short-term apart from environmental benefits, it also has devastating impact on
economies and societies across the world. The onset of the crisis led to the temporary and
in some cases, the permanent loss of employment in the hospitality industry in the
majority of countries in the developed world. The situation has impacted on millions of
people employment directly or indirectly. In some under developed county the hospitality
industry, COVID has been catastrophic.
Explain the importance of sustainability in improving Britannia international hotel business
strategy?
According to Stottler, 2018, sustainability has major role in improving hotel business, as
sustainability can have impact through every natural thing, like, water, energy, consumable
goods etc. People now than ever care for all sustainable practices adopted by company and give
importance their business to follow environmentally, socially and culturally sound practices. It is
assumed that future generations will be more care about sustainable practices. So, company must
identify them and grab the opportunity and become pioneer of it. Since Britannia international
hotel have grown its business globally and thus it is imperative for business to be sustainable in
its operation keeping the future needs and role of sustainability. Practising sustainability in
hospitality sector comes with many benefits. The practice not only attract more customers and
but also respond responsibly to what many consider a moral imperative, in light of the current
climate crisis. The practices offer hospitality businesses incentives in every way.
What are the challenges faced by hospitality industry in implementing sustainability as their
emerging objectives?
According to Hoteliers, (2020), Sometimes sustainable ideas are considered as costly as it
involves redesign of hotel to have real meaning of sustainability. Such as green practices,
replacing of energy efficient product with higher energy consumable product and much more.
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Energy efficient not only conserve resources but also make hotel more profitable in future
perspective. Sustainability includes not only environmental issues but also the preserve of local
cultures and healthy food in it. Hotels usually lack the capital to invest in these program.
Operators who wish to improve practices lack measurement and benchmark standards and guests
expect hotels and restaurants to operate sustainably but don't use that as a decision factor in
choosing a property. Also lack in marketing lead hotel to face challenges as tourist sometimes
not aware of such programs. Sometimes the people who is in responsible for implementing the
sustainable ideas in the organisation, due to lack of proper strategies and management often fail
to do so.
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METHODOLOGY
Methodology is important part of investigation because it supports investigator in collecting
and analysing of information regarding the topic. Main purpose of methodology is it helps
researcher by providing valid and reliable information about the topic. There are some main
types of research methodologies that will be explained as below:
Research philosophy: The research philosophy deals with source, nature and development
of knowledge. It finds the ways in which data about a phenomenon is collected and analysed.
The research philosophy reflects the researcher's valuable assumptions and these assumptions
served as base for research strategy (Bairagi and Munot, 2019). There are two main types of
research philosophies are study. One is Positivism and another one is Interpretivism. For the
current research purpose researcher will use Positivism research philosophy the data collected
are highly structured format using large sample size. The measurement of data can be done in
both ways that is quantitative as qualitative. But the nature of reality in Positivism is considered
as objective and tangible.
Research approach: It is the important part of any scientific study of research area. It is the
plans and procedures for research. The research approach is divided into two groups; one is
Inductive and second one is Deductive approach. For the current research, the researcher will use
deductive approach (Lourie and Rata, 2017). The approach is concerned with developing a
hypothesis based on exist theory and then after designing the research strategy it tests the
hypothesis. Deductive approach follow logic. In other words, deductive approach is concerned
with deducting conclusions from premises or propositions.
Research strategy: There are various strategies of the research such as experimental,
survey, action research etc. These are considering main strategies of the research but for
conducting current investigation, survey is a chosen research strategy (Devi, 2017). Main
purpose about the selection of survey is it provides detailed information in form of numbers.
Research choice: There are two important choices of the research such as qualitative and
quantitative. These are main choices of the research but for doing present investigation,
quantitative research choice is more valuable for investigator because it facilitates in collecting
of numerical information in minimum time period. On the other hand, qualitative choice of the
research is not essential for carrying out present study because it not helps in collecting of
numerical data.
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Time horizon: Time is significant factor for completing full project in given time
duration. There are two important approaches of time horizon are known as cross-sectional and
longitudinal. These are main approaches but for doing current project, cross-sectional approach
of time horizon is much more valuable for researcher. As it helps investigator in completing of
each activity of the project in minimum period of time. Longitudinal is another approach that is
not essential for carrying out current project because it takes long time in research completion.
Data collection: There are two methods of data collection such as primary and
secondary. Within an investigation both types of data collection methods will be used for
achieving each objective in successful manner. For gathering primary information, questionnaire
will be used by investigator. For secondary data, there are various sources such as books,
magazines etc. sources were used for literature review (Park, 2017).
Research instruments: It refers to choosing from various methods to obtain data from
respondents for research purpose. Different types of instruments can be used to carry out the
research for study and collect data. The data collection depends on the nature of research that
needs to carried out. This include questionnaires, focus group, experiments, interviews,
observation. For carrying out the research, here, researcher will use questionnaire instrument. It
is widely accepted instrument used by researcher for collecting data (Ratnam, 2019). The
questionnaire includes a set of some structured and unstructured question to record the response
of the respondents.
Research ethics: Ethics are important for completing full project in ethical manner. there
are different principles of the research ethics such as informed consent, confidentiality, minimise
the risk of harm etc. These are main principles that must be follow by researcher in systematic
manner.
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MAIN BODY AND FINDINGS
Finding is important within a research project because it support investigator in evaluating
of data about the topic. According to the current project, data was gathered from questionnaire
and for evaluating such type of information, frequency distribution analysis as an analytical
technique will be applied by researcher (Daniel and Harland, 2017). Along with this, Ms-Excel
will be used for making graphs in accordance to the topic. By using of this technique, researcher
will require in making of frequency distribution table that will be shown as below:
Frequency distribution analysis
Q1 Do you have knowledge regarding the issues of Covid 19 within
hospitality industry?
Frequency
a) Yes 40
b) No 10
Q2 How Covid 19 has impacted on the growth and development of hospitality
industry?
Frequency
a) Positive manner 30
b) Negative manner 8
c) Neutral 12
Q3 Does sustainability helps hospitality industry in overcoming the issues of
Pandemic situation?
Frequency
a) Yes 35
b) No 10
c) Can’t say 5
Q4 What are the major roles of sustainability for hospitality industry in the
pandemic situation of COVID-19?
Frequency
a) Increase the number of tourists 15
b) Cost savings 20
c) Corporate brand image 15
Q5 What are the major issues of pandemic situation faced by hospitality
industry within United Kingdom?
Frequency
a) Hotels are forced to close 20
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b) Reduced sales ratio 20
c) High turnover of the employees 10
Q6 What are the importance of sustainability in improving Britannia
international hotel business strategy?
Frequency
a) Renewable sources of energy 15
b) Reducing waste 15
c) Reuse of products to minimise wastage 20
Q7 Is sustainability helps in changing the dimensions of hospitality industry
during COVID-19?
Frequency
a) Yes 40
b) No 10
Q8 What are the challenges faced by hospitality industry in implementing
sustainability as their emerging objectives?
Frequency
a) Poverty and exclusion 18
b) Building strong institutions of governance 20
c) Conflict and humanitarian aid 12
Q9 What are the ways that will be essential in overcoming the challenges
faced by hospitality industry in implementing sustainability as their emerging
objectives?
Frequency
a) Install Energy Saving Technologies 20
b) Encourage Guests to be Green 18
c) Support Local, Sustainable Businesses 12
Question 1: Knowledge regarding the issues of Covid 19 within hospitality industry
Q1 Do you have knowledge regarding the issues of Covid 19 within
hospitality industry?
Frequency
a) Yes 40
b) No 10
12

Interpretation: With the help of given table it has been interpreted that 50 personnel are
selected from Britannia international hotels, 40 respondents said that they have knowledge about
the problems of COVID-19 in the hospitality industry because it is global pandemic and almost
everyone is affected by this pandemic. The remaining 10 employees do not have any knowledge
about it because they are not aware about the pandemic situation.
Question 2: Covid 19 has impacted on the growth and development of hospitality industry
Q2 How Covid 19 has impacted on the growth and development of hospitality
industry?
Frequency
a) Positive manner 30
b) Negative manner 8
c) Neutral 12
Interpretation: From the above given table it has been identified that out of 50 employees of
Britannia international hotel, 30 employees believe that COVID-19 has impacted growth and
development in hospitality industry as it has given opportunities to adopt that bring growth, 8
employees said that global pandemic impacted negatively as it created so many threats for
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hospitality industry and the remaining 12 employees feel that impact is neutral as it has not
brought any new opportunities and threats.
Question 3: Sustainability helps hospitality industry in overcoming the issues of Pandemic
situation
Q3 Does sustainability helps hospitality industry in overcoming the issues of
Pandemic situation?
Frequency
a) Yes 35
b) No 10
c) Can’t say 5
Interpretation: With the assistance of above given table it has been understood that 35
respondents from selected company said yes that sustainability helps hospitality industry to
overcome the issues of COVID-19 crisis by keeping concentration on fulfilling the needs of
people, 10 employees said no because hotel are unable to meet the requirements of customers
and guests in the pandemic and the rest 5 employees said that they can not say anything about
this because they are unaware about this.
Question 4: Roles of sustainability for hospitality industry in the pandemic situation of
COVID-19
Q4 What are the major roles of sustainability for hospitality industry in the
pandemic situation of COVID-19?
Frequency
a) Increase the number of tourists 15
b) Cost savings 20
c) Corporate brand image 15
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Interpretation: From the above given graph it has been interpreted that out of 50 respondents, 15
respondents said that sustainability played the role of increasing number of employees even in
the pandemic situation as hotels are taking full precautions for the safety of guests. 20 employees
said that sustainability helped in saving costs of hospitality industry as it uses waste disposal
system that are cost effective and many more. 15 employees said that sustainability increases
corporate brand image as hotels are providing services by protecting the environment even in
COVID-19.
Question 5: Issues of pandemic situation faced by hospitality industry within United
Kingdom
Q5 What are the major issues of pandemic situation faced by hospitality
industry within United Kingdom?
Frequency
a) Hotels are forced to close 20
b) Reduced sales ratio 20
c) High turnover of the employees 10
15

Interpretation: From the mentioned graph it has been determined that 20 employees believe that
hotels are forced to shut down as one of the issues faced by hospitality industry due to COVID-
19 because tourists and guests are unable to travel and stay in the hotels. 20 respondents said that
there is reduction in sales because of pandemic as people are unable to stay that automatically
reduce the sales of hospitality industry in UK. And the rest 10 respondents believed that one of
the biggest issues is high turnover of employees in the hospitality industry because hotels are not
able to pay to their workforce and some employees left the job with their own choice in
pandemic.
Question 6: Importance of sustainability in improving Britannia international hotel
business strategy
Q6 What are the importance of sustainability in improving Britannia
international hotel business strategy?
Frequency
a) Renewable sources of energy 15
b) Reducing waste 15
c) Reuse of products to minimise wastage 20
Interpretation: By the assistance of given information and graph it has been interpreted that 15
employees think sustainability has improved strategy of Britannia international hotel by adopting
renewable source of energy as it helped to save energy that are non renewable and save for the
future use. 15 employees think that it improved strategy because hotels used systems and
processes that reduce waste which initiate disposing wastes effectively and development of
hotels. The remaining 20 employees believe that hotel has adopted the strategy of reusing the
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products that could lead to decrease the wastage of hotels and protect the economy from
pollution and other disadvantages.
Question 7: Sustainability helps in changing the dimensions of hospitality industry during
COVID-19
Q7 Is sustainability helps in changing the dimensions of hospitality industry
during COVID-19?
Frequency
a) Yes 40
b) No 10
Interpretation: By analysing the above mentioned graph it is summarised that 40 employees said
yes that sustainability helps in changing the dimensions of hospitality industry during COVID-19
because it has totally changed the way of working of hotels and the remaining 10 employees said
that sustainability has not created any broad changes in the working of hotels in pandemic.
Question 8: Challenges faced by hospitality industry in implementing sustainability as their
emerging objectives
Q8 What are the challenges faced by hospitality industry in implementing
sustainability as their emerging objectives?
Frequency
a) Poverty and exclusion 18
b) Building strong institutions of governance 20
c) Conflict and humanitarian aid 12
17

Interpretation: From the above mentioned graph it has been concluded that out of 50 employees,
18 employees believe that one of the challenges faced by hospitality industry in implementing
sustainability is poverty and exclusion. The other 20 employees believed that challenge is
building strong institutions of governance and the remaining 12 employees believed that
challenge is conflict and humanitarian aid.
Question 9: Ways that will be essential in overcoming the challenges faced by hospitality
industry in implementing sustainability as their emerging objectives
Q9 What are the ways that will be essential in overcoming the challenges
faced by hospitality industry in implementing sustainability as their emerging
objectives?
Frequency
a) Install Energy Saving Technologies 20
b) Encourage Guests to be Green 18
c) Support Local, Sustainable Businesses 12
Interpretation: From the mentioned table it has been identified that there are ways present that
are used to overcome challenges faced at implementing sustainability, 20 employees said that the
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challenge is overcome by installing energy saving technologies because it saves energy, 18
employees believe that it is overcome by encouraging guests to be green because they are the
main people who are directly connected to the hospitality industry. The remaining 5 employees
said that it is reduced by supporting local and small businesses as it helps to develop the
economy.
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned findings it has been concluded that sustainability is necessary
in hospitality industry because it helps industry to work without harming and damaging natural
resources. It defines the importance of sustainability and its various roles to benefit the
hospitality industry. The different objectives are explained clearly to conduct research.
Secondary sources are used to collect information to fulfil the objectives the research. And
questionnaire is used to collect opinions of employees working in Britannia international hotel.
RECOMMENDATIONS
To maintain sustainability in the hospitality industry, hotels should adopt systems that
save energies, investing in technologies that create less or no pollution than existing one, filters
that reduces the water consumption, effective and efficient techniques to dispose the wastes of
hotels.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bairagi, V. and Munot, M. V. eds., 2019. Research methodology: A practical and scientific
approach. CRC Press.
Daniel, B. K. and Harland, T., 2017. Higher education research methodology: A step-by-step
guide to the research process. Routledge.
Devi, P. S., 2017. Research methodology: A handbook for beginners. Notion Press.
Jones. P., 2020. A commentary on the COVID‐19 crisis, sustainability and the service industries.
[Online] Available
through:<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7300595/>
Lourie, M. and Rata, E., 2017. Using a realist research methodology in policy
analysis. Educational Philosophy and Theory. 49(1). pp.17-30.
Park, J., 2017. Knowledge production with Asia-centric research methodology. Comparative
Education Review. 61(4). pp.760-779.
Ratnam, C., 2019. Listening to difficult stories: Listening as a research methodology. Emotion,
Space and Society. 31. pp.18-25.
Stottler. T., 2018. Importance of Sustainability in the Hospitality Industry. [Online] Available
through:<https://www.danacommunications.com/importance-of-sustainability-in-the-
hospitality-industry/>
The Challenges of Sustainable Hospitality Operations. 2020. [Online] Available through:<
https://www.4hoteliers.com/features/article/5862 >
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APPENDIX
Questionnaire
Q1 Do you have knowledge regarding the issues of Covid 19 within hospitality industry?
a) Yes
b) No
Q2 How Covid 19 has impacted on the growth and development of hospitality industry?
a) Positive manner
b) Negative manner
c) Neutral
Q3 Does sustainability helps hospitality industry in overcoming the issues of Pandemic
situation?
a) Yes
b) No
c) Can’t say
Q4 What are the major roles of sustainability for hospitality industry in the pandemic situation of
COVID-19?
a) Increase the number of tourists
b) Cost savings
c) Corporate brand image
Q5 What are the major issues of pandemic situation faced by hospitality industry within United
Kingdom?
a) Hotels are forced to close
b) Reduced sales ratio
c) High turnover of the employees
Q6 What are the importance of sustainability in improving Britannia international hotel business
strategy?
a) Renewable sources of energy
b) Reducing waste
c) Reuse of products to minimise wastage
Q7 Is sustainability helps in changing the dimensions of hospitality industry during COVID-19?
21

a) Yes
b) No
Q8 What are the challenges faced by hospitality industry in implementing sustainability as their
emerging objectives?
a) Poverty and exclusion
b) Building strong institutions of governance
c) Conflict and humanitarian aid
Q9 What are the ways that will be essential in overcoming the challenges faced by hospitality
industry in implementing sustainability as their emerging objectives?
a) Install Energy Saving Technologies
b) Encourage Guests to be Green
c) Support Local, Sustainable Businesses
22