Survival of the Fittest? Survival Adaptations to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study on Independent Hotels

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the tourism and hospitality industry, with hotels among the sectors hardest hit. While international chain hotels have received the majority of research focus, this study takes the initiative to comprehensively analyse the effects of COVID-19 in the context of independent hotels. Independent hotels are defined as hotels that are not affiliated with any parent corporation and are not run under a franchise model. The owner of the hotel has the freedom to operate the business differently and promote the hotel property based on its uniqueness (O’Neill & Carlbäck, 2011). Study by Ozdemir, Dogru, Kizildag, Mody and Suess (2021) stated that independent hotels are deemed to be more susceptible to the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This vulnerability can be attributed to their lack of financial resources and infrastructure support, which are often available to larger hotel companies managing chains or franchises. This study is carried out addressing two research objectives which are to identify the strategies and the practices implemented by the independent hotels in their business during and post COVID-19 pandemic. These research objectives aid independent hotels in sustaining operations during the pandemic and enduring post-pandemic situation. Applying Chaos Theory as qualitative research methodology helps in explaining what types of actions and practices that were taken while responding to crises in hospitality. The hospitality sector is characterized by its susceptibility to health and safety disasters, rendering it an unstable, intricate, and troublesome industry (Speakman and Sharpley. 2012), thus Chaos Theory is deemed suitable to analyze crises happened in this industry. In addition, a number of scholars have proposed that Chaos Theory has the potential to offer valuable insights into crisis management within the tourism and hospitality sectors ((Japutraand Situmorang, 2021; Kirk and Pine, 1998).