Research Project: COVID-19 Impacts on London Farringdon Hotel

This research project investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdowns on the productivity and performance of the London Farringdon Hotel. The report begins with an introduction outlining the study's objectives, research questions, and rationale, focusing on the hospitality industry's challenges. A comprehensive literature review explores the critical impacts of the pandemic on hotel performance and examines strategies for mitigating negative effects and regaining market image. The methodology section details the research philosophy (interpretivism), approach (deductive), strategy, and choice employed. Key findings are presented in the analysis and findings chapter, followed by a critical appraisal and recommendations section, and finally, conclusions that summarize the study's outcomes and implications. The report aims to provide insights into the challenges faced by the hospitality sector and propose strategies for recovery and future resilience.

Research Project 27

Table of Contents
Chapter 1.....................................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
Chapter 2.....................................................................................................................................................5
Literature Review....................................................................................................................................5
Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHODODLGY...............................................................................................7
Chapter 4: Analysis and findings...............................................................................................................12
Chapter 5: Critical appraisal and recommendations...................................................................................21
Chapter 6: Conclusions..............................................................................................................................23
RERFENCES............................................................................................................................................24

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Title: To explore impacts that covid-19 and lockdown have on productivity and performance of
London Farringdon hotel
Overview of study:
Corona virus is a disease that caused ample of serious implications over business,
economy as well as daily life of people. It caused due to transmission of virus which can be
spread from one person to another (Dube, Nhamo and Chikodzi, 2020). Due to control the spread
of this infectious disease a lot of nations such as America, Britain and more have announced
national wide lockdown. It affected business as well as daily life of people in physical, mental as
well as financial manner. It is sated that hospitality industry is one of the worst hit sector by
corona virus as due to the pandemic people stopped travelling that is considered as a major
source of revenue for respective industry. In addition, a lot of people working in the hospitality
industry have been lost their jobs due to lack of revenue.
According to the guidelines of government, hotels are required to operate business at half
capacity and follow all the rules and regulations of social distancing. Due to the outbreak, a lot of
companies of hospitality sector have been stopped functioning as they are not even able to meet
with daily operating expenses (Chen, Huang and Li, 2020). Also, lockdown restricted individuals
to step out from home so they are not allowed to visit hotels, restaurants that also negatively
affected business of hospitality companies. The purpose of current study is to analyze impact
Covid 19 over performance of London Farringdon Hotel. It aims to identify effective ways to
minimize negative impacts of COVID 19 and regain previous market condition. With the help of
appropriate literature review, research project will help to prepare necessary strategy to cope up
with adverse impacts of pandemic. Further, there is proper research methodology including
primary and secondary research have been included in the present research project. There is a
questionnaire has been prepared to collect necessary information form respondents. Moreover, it
aims to analyze after impacts of COVID 19 on performance level of hospitality industry.

Overview of Company:
The current report is based on impacts of COVID 19 over London Farringdon Hotel that
is a well known hotel of UK. It provides ample of services and amenities such as luxurious
rooms, food & beverages, WI-FI, bar, lounge and more. In the current report, impacts of
pandemic have been analyzed over productivity and profitability of company so that
administration will be able to prepare effective strategies to minimize these negative impacts
over business.
Research Aim: “To explore impacts that covid-19 and lockdown have on productivity and
performance of London Farringdon hotel”.
Research Objectives
 To discuss critical impacts of current situation Corona virus on performance on hospitality
sector.
 To explore some ways of reducing negative impacts of corona virus and regaining image in
the market.
Research questions
 What are the impacts of current situation Corona virus on performance on hospitality sector?
 What are the ways of reducing negative impacts of corona virus and regaining image in the
market?
Rational of Study:
The main reason of undertaking this topic is to develop necessary understanding
regarding one of the emerging concepts that is impact of COVID 19 over business. It will help to
hotels and restaurants to find out appropriate ways to cope up with adverse impacts of pandemic
& maintain predefined level of performance during tough times (Bas and Sivaprasad, 2020). By
this way, researcher will be able to develop necessary knowledge and understanding that will
further help to prepare effective strategies for future growth and success of business. The another
main reason is to make people aware regarding seriousness of COVID 19 along with its impact

over hotel and restaurants. In addition, researcher will also get opportunity to develop some
personal skills such as communication, time management, analytical skills and more that are
helpful in order to perform future job roles & responsibilities in an efficient manner. So , the
current project is imperative from both personal as well as professional purpose which will bring
several positive outcomes for ensuring success of hospitality industry.
Chapter 2
Literature Review
To discuss critical impacts of current situation Corona virus on performance on hospitality
sector
According to Flocks, (2020), the COVID 19 has been identified as an infectious disease
in 2019. It has been spread in nearly 196 countries across the globe and has announced as
nationwide epidemic. It has been put several negative impacts over economies of different
countries. Countries like America, Britain that is considered as highly developed nation also get
worst affected with these disease. Hospitality business gets highly affected with COVID 19 as
people to step out from house thus cannot visit to hotels, restaurants and more.
There was complete lockdown in a lot of countries and people also have fear of virus as it
can be easily spread from one to another. So, they are not likely to visit hotels that reduce down
overall sales & profit margin of hotels. During lockdown period, several hotels stopped
functioning as they were not able to meet with daily expenses. In addition, people who are
working in hospitality sectors loss their jobs as hotel administration did not have sufficient
amount to pay staff. To control the transmission of virus, government issued several guidelines
in relation of social distancing, hygiene, cleanliness and more. Now, people are highly conscious
about hygienic and clean environment. So, hotels need to spend a lot of money and resources in
sanitization, hygiene and other such practices. Apart from this, they also need to provide
necessary training to staff members so that they can work as per the new guidelines. In pandemic
time and afterwards, hotels are not allowed to run in full capacity. These restrictions negatively
affect current level of sales & profitability of hospitality organizations. Due to virus, a lot of
hotels do not allow people to enter in the hotel and enjoy their services rather they are providing
either home delivery and take away services. Besides this, to avoid personal contact and

interaction now people give more preference to food deliveries apps instead of visiting hotels &
restaurants. It is also affecting existing level of sales and profit. It is monitored that after
pandemic hospitality companies are not even earning half of the revenue which they were used
to getting post lockdown. Therefore, pandemic has been put a lot of adverse impacts over
predefined level of productivity and profitability of hotels which need to measure by
administration on regular basis in order to prepare appropriate strategies.
To explore some ways of reducing negative impacts of corona virus and regaining image in
the market
According to Yeh, (2020), It is sated that COVID 19 has hit the industry in worst manner
but still there are some ways by which hotel managers can cope with these challenges. Now, it is
highly essential to gain thrust of people as pandemic has been created higher panic, insecurity
among individuals so they wish to ensure regarding security and safety measures before visiting
any hotel and restaurant. For this, hotel administration needs to communicate this to target
audience that they are working as per the guidelines of safety and security of their guest is their
first priority. They need to add this information over website so that people can trust over them.
In addition, they also need to get in touch with audience through online mediums such as
websites, social media platforms and more. Also, due to COVID 19, the connection between
customers and companies is losing so they are required to maintain this connection in order to
build long term relationship.
Here, they are required to adopt automation and robotics to avoid personal touch and
provide safe and secure services to guest. Now, they need to be more careful regarding hygiene
and cleanliness so need to ensure cleaning and sanitizing of each and every area of hotel on
regular basis. Apart from this, they are required to follow social distancing norms by making
necessary arrangements. For this, hotels can run business at some lower capacity and then
gradually increase it overtime as per situation. They also need to check the temperature of each
and every visitor at initial level to ensure safety of other guest. Activities such as Spa, Bar and
more need to arrange in such a manner that people can enjoy by avoiding personal touch and
interaction. Eventually, hotel administration needs to complete maximum check in and checkout
facilities through online mode to avoid gathering of more people at a place. So, there are a lot of

ways to get overcome with negative impacts of COVID 19 and these strategies will also help to
regain the existing market position of company of hospitality industry.
Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHODODLGY
Research methodology is part of a research work that is used for the purpose of facilitating and
collecting the relevant information with respect to proposed approaches. For this purpose there is
analysis of different types of methods that are very important part of research methodology in
case of present research report.
Research philosophy: Research Philosophy is related with the overall set of belief and reality
that is part of a research report (Dźwigoł and Dźwigoł-Barosz, 2018). There are mainly two
different types of research philosophies that are positivism and interpretivism. In positivism
researcher believes that society is shaping individual and researcher have to address different
aspects of experiences and personal belief
In case of interpretivism research has different types of options and views that have to be
interpreted as per the specific requirements of research (Kumar, 2018). Interpretivism helps in
better decision making process and successful completion of a research work. In present research
report there will be use of interpretivism research philosophy that is associated with having a
qualitative research strategy.
Justification: The use of interpretivism approach is very helpful in case of present research work
for the purpose of analyzing the different viewpoints of individual behavior with respect to the
laid aim and objective of present research (Bairagi and Munot, 2019). For the purpose of
analyzing the corona virus situation there is need to understand the view points of different
stakeholders that are part of hospitality industry.
Research Approach: Research approach is regarded as the procedure that is used by the
researcher as part of some of the steps that are to be used for the purpose of collecting data,
analysis and for the interpretation of data (Daniel, 2018). There are two research approaches that
is inductive and deductive approach. In Inductive approach there is focus on creation of a Theory
on the other hand in deductive approach it is related with for the development of hypothesis that
is based on existing theory.

Justification: In case of present research work there is use of a deductive approach (Devi, 2017).
Deductive approach is used for the purpose of developing the analysis that is on the existing
theories.
Research strategy: Research strategy is used for analyzing the way researcher has to carry
specific activities in the research work (Schuh and Woelk, 2017). It consists of different
approaches that include action research, interview, case study methods, survey, systematic
literature review or experimental research.
Justification: In present research report there is use of different methods that is part of the
research strategy (Shields, 2019). This method is used for the purpose of analyzing the
viewpoints of respondents as per the requirement of research.
Research choice: this is the fourth layer that is part of research onion in which there is use of a
particular research choice. There are different types of methods that are available to be selected
by the researcher. In Multi method there is use of both quantitative and qualitative terms of
information that is applied as per the requirement of particular research.
Justification: In the present research report, researcher is focusing on using of quantitative &
qualitative methods for the purpose of analyzing the overall collected information. The
quantitative and qualitative methods will be both applied on collected information and further
reaching to relevant conclusions in the research work.
Data collection: There are two major sources from where data can be collected in a particular
research work.
Primary method: it is a method in which first hand information is collected by the researcher by
using original sources of information (DubeNhamo and Chikodzi, 2020). This method is used in
the process of collecting information that is not extracted from any existing sources but is
collected by the researcher themselves. In present research report there is use of questionnaire for
the purpose of collecting information that is from the target segment of respondents.
Secondary sources: secondary sources of information include collecting the data and
information from the sources that already exist. In this method there is no use of any type of
original information as the data always exists. In the present research report there is use of

secondary method in form of developing literature review for the purpose of collecting
information from the already existing sources.
Justification: There is application of both primary and secondary sources of collecting
information.
Primary method will help in having authentic form of Information and secondary sources of
method will help in having information that is to be collected from online articles, books, journal
sources (Pettey, Bracken and Pask, 2017). In the present research both primary and secondary
will help in having high amount of reliable and valid information.
Data collection method: There are different methods of collecting data and information as per
the requirements of a research. In present research report there is use of primary method where
researcher is using questionnaire for the purpose of collecting different viewpoints of
respondents. In case of secondary method there is use of literature review that is also cost
effective method for collecting the relevant information.
Justification: There is use of questionnaire is justified in the process of collecting information
because it is going to assist in analyzing the views of employees who are working in hospitality
industry (VenableR., Pries-Heje and Baskerville, 2017). The overall aim of present research
report can be achieved by analyzing the critical impacts of present situation by understanding the
responses provided by selected target segment of respondents.
Data analysis: For the purpose of collecting effective and relevant data there is use of suitable
methods for collecting information. In present report there is use of graphical representation as a
major technique of data analysis (Alkhalifah, 2017). Pie charts are used for the purpose of
analyzing the frequency table to make a suitable interpretation from the overall collected
information. In case of secondary data collection there is use of systematic literature review as a
technique for analyzing the information from available online articles journal sources.
Sampling: sampling is a method in which small amount of samples are extracted from the whole
target population for the purpose of analysing the viewpoints of target segment of respondents.
There are two major techniques of sampling that includes probabilistic sampling and the non
probabilistic sampling methods. Further there is also random sampling and non random

sampling methods that are to be used by the researcher. In present research report there is use of
random sampling method in which sample size is selected randomly by the researcher. The
overall sample size includes 30 respondents.
Ethical issues: Ethical issues are part of the Research report that may affect the authenticity and
validity of a particular research work. In every research there are some of the ethical issues such
as it includes the confidentiality and privacy of the respondents. Further all the information that
is collected from various primary and secondary sources have to be kept confidential and not to
be used for any other purpose apart from the disclosures mentioned to the respondents. All these
ethical issues have to be considered while researcher is to ensure that there is no misuse of any type of
information that is part of the Research report.
Questionnaire
Questionnaire
Q1.) Do you feel that present situation of COVID virus has affected
Hospitality industry in a negative manner?
Frequency
a) Yes 20
b) No 10
Q2.) What has been the major effects of covid 19 virus that have been
created because of dynamic environment and the way it is affecting your
organisation?
Frequency
a) Changes in overall internal functioning 10
b) Declining percentage of revenue 5
c) Changes in overall duties and responsibilities of employees 5
d) More requirement for adherence of rules 7
e) Any other such related impact 3
Q3.) As per your view point, what can be the role of effective COVID
management strategies at London Farringdon hotel?
Frequency
a) Enhancing organisation performance 10

b) Achievement of higher productivity on part of employees 5
c) Dealing with uncertain situation 5
d) Achievement of higher competitive advantage 7
e) Other 3
Q4.) Do you agree with the point that effective strategies can assist
London Farringdon hotel in regaining of their image that is affected by
the spreading of COVID 19 virus?
Frequency
a) Agree 10
b) Disagree 10
c) May be 10
Q5.) Do you believe that proper talent management strategies can help
management of London Farringdon hotel in managing the overall
impact of COVID 19 virus?
Frequency
a) Yes 15
b) No 5
c) In some instances only 10
Q6) What are some of the factors that can lead to a direct impact on the
increasing effectiveness of employees at London Farringdon hotel?
a) Offering proper training and development facilities 12
b) Providing them with required amount of motivation and support 8
c) Using of participative leadership style 10
Q7) What is major role played by talent management strategies in
overcoming threat arising from COVID 19 pandemics?
a) Accepting organisation changes 10