The effect of Covid-19 on the UK hospitality industry: A Marriott case study

The effect of Covid 19 on hospitality industry in the UK: A case of Marriot

Student Name:

Student ID:

Supervisor:

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Background to the research topic

Covid-19 is a new strain of SARS-CoV-2, which start and spread from Wuhan city of China in December 2019 (Devahli et al., 2020). After identifying the seriousness of this disease, World Health Organization declared Corona virus as a global pandemic in 2020. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, every individual gets affected along with each sector on a global level. Various sectors got affected by covid-19, which includes; construction, manufacturing, education, and hospitality industry. Due to this pandemic, governments, firms, and societies get challenged tremendously. Various sectors get lucky and only suffered minimal consequences; however, organizations related tothe hospitality sector had lost their business for several months. By presenting unprecedented circumstances and restrictions on travelling and social distancing, hospitality industry has to suffer significantly and various peoples lost their jobs. Also, the supply chain market and economy get affected due to pandemic. According to Ntounis et al. 2022, it can be stated that due to the lockdown in England on 23^rd March 2020, business-related with hospitality are generally closed. The hospitality industry is a group of various businesses, which help to provide services to its consumers. There are three basic areas of this industry, which include; beverage, accommodations, and food. This industry includes; clubs, hotels, hospitality services, pubs, and hotels. In the UK alone, more than a million workers get employment due to this industry, which is 7% of the total UK workforce (Kotera et al., 2018). During the pandemic, various organizations related tothe hospitality industry faced considerable financial challenges due to global lockdown, restrictions on travel, and measures of social distancing.Along with loss of job, employees related with hospitality industry faced the mental stress and anxiety along with depression.Also, the hospitality industry faced the greatest decline in staff and millions of employees related tothe hospitality industry lost their jobs. During that period, several hotels changed themselves to provide corporate social responsibility (CSR). The research done by Bajrami et al. 2020, the hospitality industry is one of those sectors that were highly affected by the outbreak of Covid-19. Both the demand and supply sides of the hospitality industry are severely get affected by the Corona virus. Along with the industry, the employees and consumers that are related with hospitality industry also gets influenced by the pandemic.

1.2 Background to research organization

It can be stated that the hospitality sector was one of the earlier sectors that got influenced by the pandemic and it will be the last sector to recover from the restrictions of Covid-19. According to Dube et al. 2021, hundreds of billion dollars gets contributed by this industry to the global economy; meanwhile, millions of persons get employment by this industry. However, after the spreading of effective measures of Covid-19 pandemics, such as; social distancing, this industry gets affected highly. After the implementation of lockdown in various countries, various organizations related tothe hospitality industry get affected and Marriott Hotels are one of them. Marriott hotels are started in 1927 by J. Willard Marriott (Marriott, 2022). Currently, Marriott hotels are available in various countries with the availability of more than 7500 hotel properties on a global level. There are more than 120 hotels of this organization are available in the UK and 59 hotels are available in London alone. However, along with several other hotels and clubs, this organization also got influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the guidelines of pandemics, the organization had to take several steps for reducing the financial loss. More than 174,000 employees and workers are placed on furlough by Marriott International during the spread of pandemics. However, even after removing the employees, it was not easy to avoid the loss that happens due to the lockdown and stoppage of the supply and demand route. By utilizing the hotel rooms to provide the functionality to health workers, the organization increased awareness about their property. Still, the staff members of the hospitality industry are highly get affected and had to lose their job and employment. Also, the consumers that got stuck in the hotel during the pandemic faced several problems during their stay due to lockdown. Various staff members related with hospitality industry felt depression and anxiety due to job insecurity. Apart from these things, the organization faced several challenges due to the change in guidelines of government regarding the hospitality industry. According to Shin et al. 2021, hotels such as; InterContinential and Hilton Hotels Groups along with Marriot International changed themselves to provide rooms and donate food for healthcare workers. By providing the services during the pandemic, the organization collected several types of advance benefits, which include; reduction in operating costs, increment in the relationship with communities along staff commitment. The impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) helped Marriott International to provide a positive impact on three stakeholders, which include; consumers, employees, and local communities.This research will be beneficial to identify the impact of covid-19 on employees and consumers with the help of Marriott Hotels in UK.

1.3 Research Questions

What are Covid-19 and its impact?

How did Corona Virus affect the hospitality industry?

What was the influence of Pandemic on Marriott Hotels in the UK?

1.4 Research aim and objectives

This work is focused to evaluate the influence of covid-19 on the hospitality sector with the help of analysing the Marriott hotels. For achieving that purpose, the following objectives are selected. These objectives will be beneficial for analysing the research topic effectively.

Aim

This study aims to examine the influence of the Corona virus pandemic on the Marriott hotels in the UK by reflecting on both the guest statistics and the views of the managers.

Objective

• To understand the impact of Covid-19 on employees related with hospitality industry

• To identify the situation of hospitality industry during the pandemic

• To explore the influence of pandemic on the mindset of hotel staff

• To explore the regulations provided by government during Covid-19

• To understand the impact of Covid-19 on consumer’s related with hospitality industry

References

Bajrami, D.D., Terzi?, A., Petrovi?, M.D., Radovanovi?, M., Tretiakova, T.N. and Hadoud, A., 2021. Will we have the same employees in hospitality after all? The impact of COVID-19 on employees’ work attitudes and turnover intentions. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 94, p.102754. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Will+we+have+the+same+employees+in+hospitality+after+all%3F+The+impact+of+COVID-19+on+employees%E2%80%99+work+attitudes+and+turnover+intentions&btnG=

Davahli, M.R., Karwowski, W., Sonmez, S. and Apostolopoulos, Y., 2020. The hospitality industry in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic: Current topics and research methods. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(20), p.7366. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=i%3A10.3390%2Fijerph17207366&btnG=

Dube, K., Nhamo, G. and Chikodzi, D., 2021. COVID-19 cripples global restaurant and hospitality industry. Current Issues in Tourism, 24(11), pp.1487-1490. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2020.1773416

Kotera, Y., Adhikari, P. and Van Gordon, W., 2018. Motivation types and mental health of UK hospitality workers. International journal of mental health and addiction, 16(3), pp.751-763. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-018-9874-z

Malhotra, M., 2021. Paradigm shift in the global hospitality industry-Impact of pandemic Covid-19. International Journal on Recent Trends in Business and Tourism (IJRTBT), 5(1), pp.30-32. Doi: https://doi.org/10.31674/ijrtbt.2021.v05i01.006

Marriott International, 2022. Meet Our Founders. Available from: https://www.marriott.com/culture-and-values/marriott-family-history.mi [Accessed on: 15 March 2022]

Ntounis, N., Parker, C., Skinner, H., Steadman, C. and Warnaby, G., 2022. Tourism and Hospitality industry resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic: Evidence from England. Current Issues in Tourism, 25(1), pp.46-59. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&as_ylo=2018&q=.+Tourism+and+Hospitality+industry+resilience+during+the+Covid-19+pandemic%3A+Evidence+from+England&btnG=

Shin, H., Sharma, A., Nicolau, J.L. and Kang, J., 2021. The impact of hotel CSR for strategic philanthropy on booking behavior and hotel performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tourism Management, 85, p.104322. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&as_ylo=2018&q=The+impact+of+hotel+CSR+for+strategic+philanthropy+on+booking+behavior+and+hotel+performance+during+the+COVID-19+pandemic&btnG=