Crisis Management of Upscale Hotels in Phuket during COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The hotel industry is susceptible to crises. Phuket was a prominent victim of the COVID-19 outbreak. Rigorous travel restrictions caused the hotel businesses to shut down. The unemployment rate substantially surged. Only a few researchers have examined hotels’ COVID-19 crisis management practices. To survive, it is an urgent need for hotel practitioners to resiliently adjust management strategies. However, none of the studies has highlighted tremendous strategic responses to this crisis for the prolonged situation. This research attempts to fill this gap by investigating what are the COVID-19 crisis management strategies implemented by Phuket’s upscale hotels and comparing the crisis management practices between local upscale hotels and international upscale chain hotels. Data were collected from in-person interviews of 18 hotel executives managing 8 local upscale hotels and 8 international upscale chain hotels in Phuket, Thailand. Data were analyzed by using thematic analysis. The research reveals 80 crisis management practices in five main themes. The most widely undertaken strategy among the local upscale and international upscale chain hotels is the saving strategy (including human resources, operations, and maintenance). Dissimilarly, international chain hotels are better equipped than the locals. They have received guidelines to tackle the situation from the brands they belonged to. Most importantly, this research contributes profound insights of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis management practices for hotels across the three-wave of infections. It also confirms the absence of preparedness and health crisis management plans in the Phuket hotel industry. The hotel executives can adopt strategies that best match their hotel characteristics to handle future health crises.