Assessing COVID-19's Influence on Holiday Inn's Customer Strategies

This report examines the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Holiday Inn's customer acquisition and retention strategies. The research explores the adverse effects of the pandemic on the hospitality sector, emphasizing the need for effective strategies to recover growth. The study adopts a descriptive qualitative research method, utilizing both primary data through customer surveys and online interviews, and secondary data from literature reviews. It investigates Holiday Inn's pre-COVID-19 customer strategies, the impact of the pandemic, and strategies for improving customer retention post-COVID-19. The report highlights the importance of hygiene and safety measures, virtual services, and social media engagement in retaining and acquiring customers. The findings reveal a negative influence of COVID-19 on customer acquisition and retention within the hospitality sector, emphasizing the need for adaptive strategies to maintain organizational performance.

Impact of COVID-19 on organisational customer acquisition and retention. A
case study on Holiday Inn London

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank my mentors and teachers for giving me such a good opportunity to
conduct the study and give their valuable suggestion for research work.
I respectfully thank my parents and friends for constantly support that helped me to attain
success in every sphere of life, as without their kind devotion, this dissertation would be not
properly completed.
I would also like to acknowledge the efforts of all those that have indirectly or directly assist
me in the completion of the research.
I submit this research work of mine with great humanity and utmost regard.

ABSTRACT
The main aim of this research is to examine the impacts of Covid-19 on organisational
consumer’s retention and acquisition. Covid-19 impose huge adverse effects on each sector and
majorly puts on the hospitality sector due to the implementation of lockdown. In that situation, it
becomes important for all companies to recover their growth and development by making some
effective strategies and opting for new technologies. The main concern of the hospitality industry
is how to retain their consumers to improve the sales and profit margin of the company.
Therefore, by taking steps towards hygiene and safety, it is possible to regain growth and
success. Organisational consumer's retention and acquisition become an important factor for
companies after the pandemic situation. For this, companies are using effective strategies by
considering all hygiene and safety factors of consumers. As after covid-19, consumers are more
concerned about hygiene. Therefore, all organisations need to focus on this and devised
strategies accordingly to retain their potential consumers.
The study adopts a descriptive qualitative research method following an research
philosophy. As a research approach, the inductive approach is effective as it is associated with
the qualitative researcher and provide descriptive data as well. For collecting the information,
both primary and secondary method will be used. In context to primary, customer survey
questionnaire and online interview will be applied.
For primary, a questionnaire is developed, and for secondary, the viewpoint of various
authors is taken into consideration. It is concluded that there at present, there is a negative
influence of COVID-19 on the performance of customer acquisition and retention in the
hospitality sector.

Table of Contents
Research Project...............................................................................................................................1
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...............................................................................................................2
ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................5
Research aim.........................................................................................................................5
Research objectives................................................................................................................5
Research questions.................................................................................................................5
Approaches and methodology................................................................................................6
The rationale of the research..................................................................................................6
Chapters Preview....................................................................................................................6
Chapter -2 LITERATUR REVIEW.................................................................................................8
Impact on COVID- 19 on hospitality organisation................................................................8
Customer acquisition and retention strategies of Holiday Inn prior to COVID- 19 pandemic
measures.................................................................................................................................8
Strategies for improving customer retention after COVID- 19.............................................9
Chapter-3 Research Methodology.................................................................................................11
Chapter 4- Analysis and findings...................................................................................................14
Chapter 5- Critical Appraisal and Recommendation.....................................................................21
LO5:Performance Reflection And Alternative Method.................................................................21
Chapter 6 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................23
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................24
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................25

INTRODUCTION
The unfolding of the COVID-19 pandemic has induced mass isolation & widespread
closures worldwide, affecting the business of all the sectors to an unprecedented degree. In
addition to this, many of the business’s growth is declined, and closure of business activities take
places, such as disruption of the supply chain, the decline in income sources, cancellations of
projects, travel restrictions and many more (Majid, 2020). This pandemic has highly influenced
the hospitality industry, and for this, it is important for the hotel to align activities to acquire and
retain customers so that organisational performance will be maintained. In addition to this, it is
important for obeying the guidelines of COVID-19 at the time of striving for acquiring and
retaining customers. For conducting the study, Holiday Inn is taken into consideration. It is the
UK owned American brands of the hotel that is founded in the year 1952. It is a Subsidiary of
Intercontinental Hotels Group and is present in more than 1145 locations. The research examines
the Impact of COVID-19 on organisational customer acquisition and retention. Along with this,
Customer acquisition and retention strategies of Holiday Inn prior to COVID-19 pandemic
measures will be described.
Research aim
To examine and assess the impact of COVID-19 on organisational performance in terms of
customer retention to make recommendations for customer retention and acquisition strategies. A
case study on Holiday Inn, London Kensington.
Research objectives
 To identify the impact of COVID-19 on customers of the hotel.
 Identify the customer acquisition strategies of the hotel prior to and during the COVID-
19 pandemic.
 Identify the customer retention strategies of the hotel prior to and during the COVID-19
pandemic.
 To explore strategies for improving customer retention after COVID-19 19.
Research questions
 What is the impact of COVID-19 on hospitality organisation?
 What are the customer acquisition and retention strategies of Holiday Inn prior to
COVID-19 pandemic measures?

 What are the strategies for improving customer retention after COVID- 19?
Research approach and methodology
The study adopts a descriptive qualitative research method following an interpretivism
research philosophy. As a research approach, the inductive approach is effective as it is
associated with the qualitative researcher and provide descriptive data as well. For collecting the
information, both primary and secondary method will be used. In context to primary, customer
survey questionnaire and online interview will be applied. On the other hand, books, articles,
journals and so on are used to gather secondary information. The non-probability sampling
method will be applied as it is effective in choosing a small sample size and in conducting
qualitative research.
The rationale of the research
The main reason for conducting this study is to assess the impact of COVID-19 on
organisational performance in terms of customer retention. This help researcher to gain
knowledge of customer retention and acquisition strategies as customers are an important aspect
on which the growth and success of an organisation depend. In addition to this, it also helps the
investigator to enhance their communication skills, data analysis, data interpretation, data
collection and so on. Moreover, this research will assist the researcher in future to conduct
further research projects and grab opportunities as well.
Research scope:: the present covid-19 situation has possess a great impact on the hospitality
organisations. The present research is going to assist in analysing the overall impact of covid-19
in the way it is affecting the customer acquisition and retention process. This research is very
helpful in identification of various strategies to improve the customer retention process. It is also
going to help in identifying the different ways in which intercontinental group of hotels can
retain the existing loyal customer base in this covid-19 situation.
Chapters Preview
The preview of each chapter associated with the present investigation is given below:
Chapter 2- Literature Review: In this, a critical analysis is conducted of the academic
literature by several secondary sources. In addition to this, it gives a theoretical perspective in

which investigator collect information from various sources such as articles, journals, books and
so on.
Chapter 3-Research methodology: This chapter will identify the methods along with
the investigation that the researcher is planning to undertake in the present investigation.
Chapter 4- Analysis and findings: This section is wholly based on collecting and
analysing information by using interview and survey questionnaire that involve open-ended and
close-ended question. With the help of this, the researcher can collect appropriate and detailed
information based on the research topic.
Chapter 5-Recommendation and suggestion: This section provide an important area
for further improvements. In addition to this, it directly contributes to developing reliable and
valid conclusion and make the researcher more authentic in nature.
Chapter 6- Conclusion: It is a significant phase of undertaking investigation as it
summarises the overall activities of research in brief.

CHAPTER -2 LITERATUR REVIEW
It is used as a process in which the researcher can gather secondary information with the
help of so many sources, and that can be publication, articles, magazines, journals and so on.
This section helps the researcher to refine the research question as well as to identify the gap
along with consequences in previous research. The primary gap that is identified by the
researcher is the impact of covid-19 on organisational consumer acquisition and retention. The
researcher question of the current study is mentioned below:
Impact on COVID- 19 on hospitality organisation
As per the viewpoint of Dogan Gursoy (2020), COVID- 19 impacted the worst on the
world's economy in 2020. Many business and industries were temporarily and permanently shut
down due to this outbreak. The government implemented lockdown in almost all the countries,
which impact the industries as people were not allowed to step out of their houses. The
hospitality industry has been hit hardest by the pandemic situation. The impact on this industry is
unpredictable. Worldwide tourism has also impacted by closing all the industries. This created a
huge impact on people's life by losing their jobs. Restaurants were not allowed to deliver food;
only take-outs were allowed. All hotels were closed in this phase. They were again opened but
with restriction and certain guidelines where social gatherings were not allowed.
The hospitality industry is still recovering as people are still scared of Covid 19 and afraid to
visit restaurants and hotels. People are giving personal hygiene as their priority and avoiding to
went in gatherings. Also, they are giving importance to local food. The hospitality industries are
working hard to back on tracks. They are focusing more on the health and safety of people and
following social distances. They are also providing hand sanitisers and mask for them when they
visit and are avoiding crowd to be held in the organisation. Launching of digital menu cards and
payment methods are their techniques to provide safety to the people so that there will be less
human to human contact.
Customer acquisition and retention strategies of Holiday Inn prior to COVID- 19 pandemic
measures
Comments: this should have been in the analysis section
According to Michel and et. al. (2018), it is analysed that the hotel briefly analyses the
past bookings of their customers so that it can easily identify who are priority guests of the hotel.
The hotel continuously maintains records of all bookings throughout the year to develop

communication and strategies for customers who often visit the hotel. Holiday Inn also provided
incentives on repeated bookings to the customers so that they get delighted to book the hotel in
the near future. Great discounts provided by the hotel to the repeated customers is a great
retention technique used by the organisation. The hotel also provided a feedback form to every
customer on checkout so that they suggest any changes related to the management and also tell
what they liked in the hotel. Feedback from the customers generally suggested the hotel decide
what the exact demands of the customers are. Holiday Inn also identifies VIP customers to give
special treatment to VIP customers.
Strategies for improving customer retention after COVID- 19
As per the viewpoint of Joe Bouch (2020), the COVID-19 pandemic has upturned the
world and reorganised the way of business. The owner of various business firm struggling to
retain their economy. This is clear that the pandemic will continue to leave a lasting impact on
the digital marketing world and daily basis life. As per this, the organisation use some of the
customer retention strategies to drive customer loyalty and boost customer retention rate during
this current situation. Some of the strategies are mentioned below:
Offer virtual product and services: In context with Holiday inn, they must use to offer
product and service into the virtual model. They are using proper techniques such as video
conferencing software to make the connection with existing customer virtually (Brandtner and et.
al, 2021). For example, in order to this, the chosen firm provide detail characteristic of their hotel
in the video chat, which makes engaged with the customer.
Engage through social media: Social media is the platform that is used by a number of
people, and this has a huge base of customer. In context with selected firm, they try to
communicate their customer through social media (Mason, Narcum and Mason, 2020). Take
suggestion and advice customer for their health which makes feel customer more comfortable.
Nurture with gift cards: A gift card and the voucher is provided to their existing
customer in order to use the service again after the COVID-19. As per this, they help to engage
the customer with the hotel and provide them with an opportunity to visit again and gain service
after the post-COVID-19 situation.

Chapter-3 Research Methodology
It is undertaken as an important part of the researcher that helps the researcher to collect
information and data in an effective manner. For the explanation of research methods, the
Research onion framework is adopted by the researcher that involves different layers and is
discussed below:
Research philosophy: This is used by the investigator to manage the research abilities.
Research problems in the context of this research include belief and values for managing the
research work. In the context of this research, interpretivism philosophy is used for converting
theoretical data into human perspective (Mason, Narcum and Mason, 2020). The interpretivism
approach provides help to the investigator in managing human views and perspective in the
context of strategies for improving customer retention after COVID-19. In the current
investigation.
The study adopts a descriptive qualitative research method following an interpretivism as
research philosophy. As a research approach, the inductive approach is effective as it is
associated with the qualitative researcher and provide descriptive data as well. For collecting the
information, both primary and secondary method will be used. In context to primary, customer
survey questionnaire and online interview will be applied.
Research approach: Deductive approach is used by the investigator for developing a
hypothesis and managing pre-existing theory. This is used for formulating the approach and
testing it. This is divided as the development of general information regarding the research topic
to specific data (Cuello-Garcia and et.al., 2020). Therefore, the deductive approach is used by the
investigator to gather quantitative information, which in turn leads to the development of a valid
and reliable conclusion.
Research Strategy: The research strategy used in this research case study provides an
opportunity for an in-depth study of the topic within the chosen organisation. It is also very
convenient in this context because t of the limited time frame.
Research choice: The research choice for the present project is a mixed method. This
means that both qualitative and quantitative method of research is used for creating a precise set

of data. This is used for preparing a precise set of data. Both secondary and primary data
collection methods are used for evaluating research aims and objectives (Golin and et. al, 2020).
There is a need to manage the collection of research strategy effectively for implementing aims
and objectives.
Data collection: It is undertaken as an important part of the research that helps in
gathering primary and secondary data from reliable and effective sources. For completing the
study, both methods will be used, that is, primary as well as secondary (Mitchell and et. al,
2020). In context to primary data, it is the information that is collected for the first time and is
original in nature. There are various methods of gathering primary information that is the
questionnaire, interview, survey, focus group and so on. In the present investigation, the online
interview and survey questionnaire are undertaken by the researcher. In relation to secondary
research, it is collected through various sources that are books, journal, articles, website and so
on. In the present investigation, the viewpoint of different authors has undertaken that help in
collecting in-depth information and support the primary data sources.
Sampling: This is defined as the process which is used to select the sample size from the
target population. It is well analysed that there are two techniques which are defined as
probability and non-probability, which play effective qualitative research and in selecting the
small sample size using the appropriate sampling method, which provide proper convenience for
this (Parker, 2020). The intended sample size was 15 managers. However, the researcher was
fortunate to obtain data from additional five sample respondents make a total of 20 as sample
size. These were selected from the firm Holiday Inn are used to implementing to collect more
information and data. As per this, the manager is chosen because they are the base of any
organisation; they can tackle and handle the situation of the firm, which can cause issue and
conflict. In addition, they have the capabilities to increase the productivity and probability of a
firm in an effective manner.
In this research, a non-probability sampling method was applied as it is effective in qualitative
research and in selecting a small sample size using a convenience sampling method.
Research instrument: This is an important part of the methodology which have various
research instrument to interview, observation and so on. These main instruments of the

interrogation are needed (Rowan and Galanak, 2020). But as per the requirement of the topic of
research, interview and questionnaire used by the researcher, it is an effective and easy method
to collect information that leads towards the development of positive and valid results.
Research ethics: There are various principles of research ethics that decline the risk of
harm, avoid using deceptive practices, protect the confidentiality, provide participants with the
right to withdraw, the anonymity of research respondents and so on (Yu, Seo, and Hyun,2021).
All these are the main principles followed by the investigator within the project.
Data analysis: It is vital for the researcher to analyse the information in an effective
manner so that the overall results are properly attained. The different methods of data analysis
are thematic analysis, frequency distribution analysis and so on.
Chapter 4- Analysis and findings
Introduction: This section presents the results and analysed them according to the sample
questionnaires and interview questions preceded a summary of the categories/roles sample
respondent managers used in the data collection
Categories of Sample respondents
Roles Sample respondents –
managers
Number Percentage - %
HR office 2 10
Chef 4 20
Genal manager 1 5
Front office 8 40
House keeping 5 25
20 100%