Impact of Hospitality Trends on Business Performance: Marriott Study

This report investigates the significance of adopting hospitality trends accelerated by COVID-19 and their impact on business performance, focusing on a case study of the London Marriott Hotel County Hall. It examines the need for hotels in the UK to keep up with trends, evaluates the impact of COVID-19 accelerated trends like safety and hygiene measures, contactless payments, and the use of robots, and explores the challenges faced by hotels that do not adopt these trends. The research employs a positivism philosophy and a deductive approach, utilizing a mono-method quantitative research choice with both systematic literature review and survey strategies for data collection. The study addresses research questions related to the importance of adopting trends, their specific impact on business performance, and the challenges of non-adoption, aiming to provide insights for hotels to prosper by choosing the right trends for their operations.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL
(Importance of adopting several
hospitality trends accelerated by
COVID-19 and its impact over business
performance)

Table of Contents
1. TITLE..........................................................................................................................................3
2. BACKGROUND.........................................................................................................................3
3. LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................................3
4. RESEARCH AIM, OBJECTIVES, QUESTIONS AND PROBLEM STATEMENT................5
5. RESEARCH METHOLOGY......................................................................................................6
6. TIMESCALE...............................................................................................................................9
7. REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................10

1. TITLE
To identify the importance of adopting several hospitality trends accelerated by COVID-
19 and its impact over business performance. A study on London Marriott Hotel County Hall
2. BACKGROUND
Outbreak of global pandemic COVID-19 has created many challenges for the hospitality
industry. This pandemic had made hospitality industry to suffer because this was the industry
which is dependent over movement of people. However, global pandemic COVID-19 has also
created certain trends for the hospitality industry (Foskett and et. al., 2021). It is quite important
for hospitality industry to adopt several hospitality trends so that they can attract more number of
customers, provide great services to customers and make their business operation effective and
efficient. Thus, the existing study will collect information about how latest trends impact the
performance of hotel operating in the United Kingdom. The selected organisation is London
Marriott Hotel County Hall and this organisation keeps an eye on each latest trends created in the
market.
3. LITERATURE REVIEW
What is the need of keeping up with the latest hospitality trends by hotels in the United
Kingdom?
According to Wood (2020), hospitality industry is one of the industries which plays
major role in contributing to the whole economy. It is the industry which provides great services
to all its customers and continuously put efforts to attract large number of travellers and tourists
towards their business. The hospitality industry is constantly and continuously evolving,
however this industry is making great efforts to attain this. Thus, for this hospitality industry is
continuously putting efforts to keep up with the latest trends of hospitality. This involves efforts
such as marketing efforts, hospitality procedures, embracing the advanced technology and
responding to global programs and events (Mulet-Forteza and et. al., 2020). With the process of
marketing, hospitality industry is able to keep up with the latest trends and this gives the chance
to industry to reach out large target audience and conveys what they need to convey to their
existing audience as well as potential audience. Adopting new and advanced technology,
meanwhile, can assist to make business more successful and efficient. In some cases, this also
assists in improving the customer experience within hotels, resorts and restaurants. On the other

hand, if hospitality industry fails to adopt latest hospitality trends then it may create negative
consequences such as giving competitive organisations with a clear competitive advantage. In
some cases, it can turn worst situation and hospitality industry fails to deliver great experience to
consumers might have come to expect. Thus, with the assistance of adopting each latest trend
within hospitality industry, new opportunities get created for them to develop and improve
business. This ultimately assists in having skills and connections, that increase the chance of
offering more number of clients and charge more of premium for services.
What are the different hospitality trends accelerated by COVID-19 and their impact over
business performance within London Marriott Hotel County Hall?
As per the view of Ioannou and Dukes (2021), hospitality industry is one of the industries
in the whole world which is mostly affected by the outbreak of global pandemic COVID-19.
Outbreak of global pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for this industry and made
them to shut down their operations. However, hospitality industry has also come through
different opportunities due to COVID-19. Some of the hospitality trends accelerated by COVID-
19 are:
Safety & hygiene: With the emergence of global pandemic COVID1-19, safety &
hygiene have become especially significant to contain and control the spread. This is the concept
which has become the priority of hotels, resorts, cafes and bars. It has included the provision of
hand gel, increased number of times for cleaning areas where customers are mostly present,
executing policies such as using protecting equipment such as masks, gloves, ensuring social
distancing protocol & rules and so on.
Contactless payments: The other latest hospitality trend is related with decreasing
friction so that spread of virus could be controlled. Contactless payments have become one of the
trends on which hotel is giving great importance (Rogers and et. al., 2022). Many employees and
customers have become more cautious while accepting and making payment physically because
it increases the chance of getting infected (Du and Karoglou, 2020). With the assistance of
contactless payment, customers need to pay through digital methods without exchanging cash.
Robots in hotel setting: Automation holds the first place in the list of hospitality trends
with the emergence of global pandemic COVID-19. Hotels are using robots for greeting their
customers and providing information to customers. Robots are also playing important role in
security operations of hotel. They are also used for offering room service and performing

housekeeping and cleaning chores. Thus, this is the most beneficial trend for managing
customers who try to decrease close contact with customers.
What are the challenges faced by London Marriott Hotel County Hall due to non-adoption of
hospitality trends?
According to Hay (2020), every type of business has to follow and adopt latest trends
emerging. Latest trends are quite important to follow because success and development of the
organisation is directly dependent upon them. Hospitality industry is the type of industry which
is dependent over its tourists, visitors and travellers. Their behaviour and preferences get
changed according to the changes happening in the market. So, it becomes significant for hotels
to adopt latest trends so that they can attract large number of customers. There are many
challenges faced by hotel when they do not adopt latest hospitality trends. One of the biggest
challenges is that hotel loses its potential as well as existing customers due to its inefficiency of
adopting latest trends (Mulet-Forteza and et. al., 2020). Customers are the people who are greatly
aware about the latest trends in the market and they only book those hotels which adopt latest
trends. The other challenge is high employee turnover because employees always want to work
in that organisation that adopts advanced technologies and keeps changing their business
operations as per the latest trends within hospitality industry. All these challenges directly impact
the revenue and profitability level of the hotel and decrease the performance of the business.
4. RESEARCH AIM, OBJECTIVES, QUESTIONS AND PROBLEM
STATEMENT
Research Aim:
To identify the importance of adopting several hospitality trends accelerated by COVID-
19 and its impact over business performance. A study on London Marriott Hotel County Hall
Research Objectives:
 To determine the need of keeping up with the latest hospitality trends by hotels in the
United Kingdom
 To evaluate different hospitality trends accelerated by COVID-19 and their impact over
business performance within London Marriott Hotel County Hall
 To examine the challenges faced by London Marriott Hotel County Hall due to non-
adoption of hospitality trends
Research Questions:

 What is the need of keeping up with the latest hospitality trends by hotels in the United
Kingdom?
 What are the different hospitality trends accelerated by COVID-19 and their impact over
business performance within London Marriott Hotel County Hall?
 What are the challenges faced by London Marriott Hotel County Hall due to non-
adoption of hospitality trends?
Problem Statement
The problem determined in the existing study is that hotel faces issue in identifying
which latest hospitality trend they need to follow so that their business prosper and succeed
(Khan and et. al., 2021). There are many latest hospitality trends occur in the market however it
is the responsibility of hotel to choose right according to their need and business operations.
5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
It refers to the chapter that gives detailed knowledge about the method for accumulating
and evaluating data. This assists in giving methods which is directly linked with the systematic
collection and analysis of apt content (Rinjit, 2020). Researcher will be following Saunders
research onion framework with the purpose of having proper layers of collection and evaluation
of data. It is the framework which provides direction to researcher for recording and analysing
information. Some of the layers are explained below in detailed manner which will assist
researcher to collect and examine information.
Research Philosophy: In the Saunders research onion framework, the first layer is called
research philosophy. This is the layer which holds great information about the principles and
beliefs for the procedure of analysing information It is mainly categorised in the two forms
which are: positivism and interpretivism philosophy (Rashid and Sipahi, 2021). Investigator will
be following positivism philosophy because it deals with the information which is present in
numerical form. With this philosophy, researcher will identify the accuracy and relevancy of
numerable information in short duration of time with certain set of principles.
Research Approach: The second layer of the Saunders research onion framework is
research approach. This is the layer which facilitates in giving theories for the examination and
measurement of data. The approach is classified in the two significant types that are: inductive
and deductive approach (Younus and Zaidan, 2022). Researcher will be selecting deductive
approach because it accommodates in the procedure of examining statistical piece of

information. The main advantage of deductive approach is that it only analyses data which is in
numerical format without consuming longer time.
Research Strategy: This is the other important layer within Saunders research onion
framework which provides several methods for the accumulation of apt information related to
the proposed topic of the investigation. The different types of research strategies include:
grounded theory, action research, interview, survey, case study, systematic literature review,
focus group, observation and so on. Researcher will be using two different strategies which are:
systematic literature review and survey. By using survey as the research strategy, researcher will
be collecting statistical data (Budianto, 2020). This data is recorded by directly approaching each
selected respondent. The major benefit of survey as the research strategy is that it accommodates
in recording numerical data which is available in raw form. Another benefit is that it helps
investigator to record data which is less altered. The other important strategy considered in the
present study is systematic literature review. It is the strategy through which each research
question of the study is addressed by following systematic way. This strategy uses secondary
sources such as journals, articles, newspapers, publications, books, magazines, websites and
many more.
Research Choice: The other layer that holds great importance in the Saunders research
onion framework is research choice. Generally it is of three forms which include: mono method,
mixed method and multi-mixed method. Investigator will be showing dependence over mono
method which specifies that only one of kind of data need to be collected for meeting pre-defined
aim and objectives. Mono method gives two more sub-types which are: quantitative and
qualitative research choice (Erro-Garcés and Alfaro-Tanco, 2020). Investigator will be selecting
quantitative research choice because it helps in developing results which can be easily compared
and measured. The major benefit of quantitative research choice is that it accommodates in
collecting more accurate and relevant statistical data. It is also determined that collection of
information occurs and collects rapidly with quantitative investigation.
Data Collection: The other research method that holds major significance in the
accumulation of information is method of data collection. This is the method which is
categorised in the two parts which are: primary and secondary data collection method.
Researcher will be depending over primary as well as secondary data collection method. With
the help of primary method, investigator will be collecting raw data. This is the method through

which researcher aims at collecting first-hand information. This data is considered as first-hand
or raw because this is recorded directly from the source of information. For the present study,
investigator will develop questionnaire as one of the sources of primary data collection method.
Researcher will also be using secondary data collection method (Pandey and Pandey, 2021).
With this method researcher will be accumulating second-hand data. Second-hand refers to the
information which is already available or carried out by other people for their own motive but
now researcher will use that information in the current study for determining relevant research
gap. Some of the secondary sources are: journals, publications, websites, newspapers, websites
and so on.
Data Analysis: It is another research method which plays great role in the analysis and
examination of collected information. This method gives different techniques for the systematic
analysis of information (Reddy, 2020). Researcher will be employing frequency distribution
analysis for analysing and evaluating numerical piece of information. The benefit of frequency
distribution analysis is that it finds the relevancy and accuracy of assembled numerable data.
Sampling: This is the research method that allows investigator to select appropriate
number of participants. This method is categorised in the two important types: probability and
non-probability sampling. Researcher will choose probability sampling because it allows
selection maximum number of respondents from the given population (Firdaus, Zulfadilla and
Caniago, 2021). This method will also use random sampling strategy so that investigator can
choose respondents without any particular criteria. Researcher will select 30 employees from
London Marriott Hotel County Hall to gather information about latest trends within hospitality
industry.
Time Horizon: It is the method which highlights the time framework to conduct
proposed study. It is of two kinds which are: cross-sectional and longitudinal time horizon.
Researcher will be choosing cross-sectional time horizon because it sets short time period for
conducting study and collects information in real-time.
Ethical Consideration: Ethics are the set principles through which researcher makes the
study authentic and appropriate (Cr, 2020). Researcher will be following some important ethical
principles such as: including informed consent, not harming any selected respondent, avoiding
practices that are deceptive in nature, keeping personal information of each respondent
confidential and so on.

6. TIMESCALE
Gantt chart is one of the time scheduling tools which helps in arranging apt time for each
activity and task. With the assistance of this chart, investigator allots apt hours and days to each
activity so that study could be completed in right time (Reddy, 2020). This section is divided into
sections: in the former one researcher includes activities that require to be completed and in the
latter one investigator include time duration.

7. REFERENCES
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