Role of social media as a digital technology for ensuring crisis management at the time of Covid-19 within UK hospitality industry

Research Project-role of social media as a
digital technology for ensuring crisis
management at the time of Covid-19 within UK
hospitality industry

ABSTARCT
The present research is based on the role of social media as digital technology in managing the
crisis within the hospitality industry in UK. The research has included the background of the
study, aims and objectives of the study with the rationale behind selecting the topic. Literature
review has also conducted regarding the themes that is based on the objective. Research
methodology has also been conducted in which qualitative method has been adopted with the
helps of conducting survey through questionnaire of 30 members of the top management from
the Premier Inn Hotel.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
......................................................................................................3
...........................................................................................................4
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Background of the study .............................................................................................................4
Background of the organization...................................................................................................4
Aims and objectives ....................................................................................................................4
Rationale......................................................................................................................................5
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................5
DATA ANALYSIS........................................................................................................................11
Reflection ......................................................................................................................................20
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................21
RECOMMENDATION.................................................................................................................21
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1
Appendix..........................................................................................................................................3

Topic: “To investigate the role of social media as a digital technology for ensuring crisis
management at the time of Covid-19 within UK Hospitality industry : A study on Premier Inn”
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
With the changes and advancement in the technology in the business
environment ,various companies have adopted new and advanced software in their system and
for the promotion of their products and services adopted various digital marketing methods such
as different social media platforms within the hospitality industry. On the other hand due to
emergence of Covid-19 companies suffered from various financial crisis due to lock down and
several restriction imposed by the government. During this situation the role of social media
increased and various practices were implemented by the company operating in Hospitality
industry in UK in order to manage the crisis. Furthermore, Premier Inn also faced various issues
while adopting the various social media technology in order to manage the financial crisis at the
time of Covid-19.
Background of the organization
Premier Inn is one of the British limited service hotel chain and is also UK's one of the
largest brand . The hotel has more than 72,000 rooms and also has expended it business in
various other countries of more than 800 hotels. The company is started its trading in 1987 with
the name Travel Inn and later renamed by Premier Inn.
Aims and objectives
The aim of this project is to investigate the role of social media as a digital technology for
ensuring crisis management at the time of Covid-19 within in Premier Inn.
Objectives
 To identify the role of social media during pandemic
 To assess the current practices of social media employed by hospitality industry to
manage the crisis.
 To investigate the challenges faced by Premier Inn while using social media as a digital
technology to manage the crisis at the time of Covid-19.

 To be able to recommend better strategies that helps to manage the crisis at the time of
pandemic
Research Questions
 What is the role of social media as a digital technology during pandemic?
 What are the current practices of social media employed by hospitality industry to
manage the crisis?
 What are the challenges faced by Premier Inn while using social media as a digital
technology to manage the crisis at the time of Covid-19?
Rationale
The rationale behind choosing this topic is to analyze the current situation that is existing
in the market and the impact of Covid-19 crisis on the economy of the country and especially in
the hospitality industry in UK. The purpose behind selecting this topic for the study that it will
also help in increasing the knowledge about which will help in achieving the future career goals.
It has been observed that hospitality industry was affected due to pandemic and various
challenges was faced by the industry. The advantage for conducting the study for the scholar is
to improve the research skills and helps in understanding different ways through which the crisis
can be managed.
The other reason behind conducting the analysis id to find out the role of social media in
managing the crisis faced by the company during the pandemic. This study can be beneficial for
the whole hospitality industry of UK to understand the benefit of the social media in order to
manage the crisis. Furthermore, Premier Inn can also execute various measures in order to
successfully manage the crisis and this study has also helped the scholar to collect reliable
information which makes the research more effective.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Theme:1 Role of social media during pandemic
According to Tsoy, and et.al., (2021) in the time of Covid-19 various people discovered
the importance of social media in order to stay connected with the friends and family. Covid-19
hit the entire world especially the companies operating in hospitality industry. Lockdown and
several restrictions imposed by the government has resulted into loss and shut down of the
various business. On the other hand Wiederhold, (2020) the role of social media has increased
rapidly over the past decade. The creation of various social media platforms such as Facebook,

Instagram and Twitter has helped the users and companies to manage their business and
communicate with the help of various channels. Zhao, and Zhou, (2020) viewed that there has
been many limitations of the social media during the pandemic such as increase in the number of
cyber crimes and ransomware attacks which have resulted into loss suffered by the company. On
the contrary Radwan, Radwan, and Radwan, (2020)observed that with the helps of social media
organization started promoting their products on the social media platform and has also helped in
passing the information to the employees who were working in remote areas during pandemic. It
has also helped in providing the latest news updates. For the business it was great opportunity to
support the employees as well as customers. On the other hand Kaya, (2020)viewed that with the
helps of social media platform people was able to provide various solutions and regular updates
about the health. With the help of this various medical information was also conveyed to the
people. Social networking was considered as an effective medium of communication which has
helped in spreading awareness among the people regarding the infectious diseases.
As per Abbas, and et.al., (2021) it was observed that due to the pandemic there was
increase in the user on the social media platform as it has helped people to continue their
business and balance the losses suffered by the company. It has also been observed that
hospitality industry is one which is deeply affected and resulted in to shut down of various hotels
due to huge amount of loss and no income due to restriction and lock down all over the world.
On the contrary Sahni, and Sharma,(2020) observed that during this situation many hotels with
the support of social media marketing started promoting about the services offered by the
company with some addition to the services and offering discounts in order to attract large
number of customers. It has been observed that the role of social media was increased during the
time of Covid-19 it has helped people to expand their business and provide services to the
customer through online delivering the products. Apart from this the use of social media has
limitation such as increase in the crime rate such as cyber crime. Various company have made
various modifications and changes in its business model which has helped the business. to
balance their losses which they have suffered during the pandemic. It can be said that with the
increase in the technology it has helped the company to effectively implement and execute
various procedures and practices in order to effectively operate its business which can helpful not
only in short term but also in the long term.