Tourism Amid Covid Thesis

Social Sustainability in COVID-19
Crisis: The Case of the Hotel Industry
Master Thesis, 15 ECTS
Master’s Programme in Sustainable Management

Department of Business Studies
Uppsala University, Campus Gotland
Academic Year 2019/2020
Authors: Beka Katsadze & Daniel Milojevic

Supervisor: Matilda Dahl
Katsadze & Milojevic- Social Sustainability in COVID-19 Crisis: The Case of the Hotel Industry
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Acknowledgements
As the Visby Scholarship holder, I (Beka Katsadze) want to thank the Swedish Institute for giving
me such a great opportunity to study in Sweden, at Uppsala University and to gain tremendous
academic and personal experience. We both want to thank all our professors for the great courses
during the academic year and we especially want to express our gratitude to our supervisor, Matilda
Dahl, who all the time provided us with helpful feedback, self-confidence, and motivation. We
also want to thank our fellow classmates, who have always been supporting us during the whole
program. In addition, we would like to thank our families and friends for their endless support
during an intense year. And finally, we want to thank all the hotels and their managers that decided
to participate in our research regardless of their extremely busy schedules due to the crisis.
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Abstract
The COVID-19 outbreak, travel restrictions, or other safety norms had a huge negative impact on
the world hotel industry from the beginning of 2020. In response to the crisis majority of the hotels
all around the world had decided to get closed temporarily. Such a deep crisis arose many social
problems especially among the employees of the industry. However, there were still cases, when
hotels decided to choose different strategies rather than closing their doors for their customers.
One of us had a great opportunity to spend 14 days of quarantine in one of such hotels and to
collect the valuable information from inside the hotel room, which had been converted into a
quarantine zone after the virus outbreak. Besides, we also explored several more cases from 4
different countries about the hotels that have chosen to create social benefits in different ways. In
this thesis, we have analyzed socially sustainable strategic solutions from the hotel industry,
explored characteristics, and described the circumstances that encouraged such solutions.
Key words: COVID-19, hotel industry, social sustainability, crisis management.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Problem Formulation and the Research Question ............................................................................. 1
2. Theoretical Framework ......................................................................................................................... 3
2.1 Crisis Management Theory and the Tourism industry........................................................................ 3
2.1.1 Pre-Crisis...................................................................................................................................... 4
2.1.2 During the Crisis .......................................................................................................................... 4
2.1.3 Post-Crisis .................................................................................................................................... 5
2.2 Social Sustainability and the Hotel Industry ....................................................................................... 5
2.2.1 What is Social Sustainability?...................................................................................................... 5
2.2.2 Social Sustainability in the Hotel Industry................................................................................... 6
3. Methodology ......................................................................................................................................... 8
3.1 Research philosophy ........................................................................................................................... 8
3.2 Research design .................................................................................................................................. 8
3.3 Research strategy................................................................................................................................ 9
3.4 Data collection .................................................................................................................................... 9
3.4.1 Interviews ..................................................................................................................................... 9
3.4.2 An Auto-ethnographic Study ..................................................................................................... 10
3.4.3 Secondary Data Collection......................................................................................................... 10
3.5 Data analysis ..................................................................................................................................... 10
4. Empirical Studies ................................................................................................................................. 12
4.1 COVID-19 Pandemic and the World Hotel Industry .......................................................................... 12
4.2 Country Overview - Georgia.............................................................................................................. 12
4.3 Case 1 - Park Hotel Tsinandali, Georgia ............................................................................................ 13
After the Crisis......................................................................................................................................... 16
4.4 Case 2 - Sheraton Grand Tbilisi Metechi Palace, Georgia ................................................................. 16
4.5 Country Overview – UK ..................................................................................................................... 18
4.6 Case 3– Ten Hill Place Hotel, UK ....................................................................................................... 19
4.7 Case 4 – The Grange Hotel, UK ......................................................................................................... 21
4.8 Country Overview – Canada ............................................................................................................. 23
4.9 Case 5 – Burrard Hotel, Canada ........................................................................................................ 23
4.10 Country Overview – USA ................................................................................................................. 25
4.11 Case 6 - Wythe Hotel, USA .............................................................................................................. 26
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5. Analyses .............................................................................................................................................. 28
Table 1. Strategic solutions and the influence on stakeholders ............................................................. 29
5.1 Pre-Crisis ........................................................................................................................................... 29
5.2 During the Crisis ................................................................................................................................ 30
5.3 Post-crisis .......................................................................................................................................... 33
6. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 35
6.1 Research Limitations and Further Research ..................................................................................... 35
7. References .......................................................................................................................................... 37
8. Appendix ............................................................................................................................................. 42
8.1 Interview Questions .......................................................................................................................... 42
8.2 List of Interviews ............................................................................................................................... 44
8.3 Pictures: Hotels During the Pandemic .............................................................................................. 45
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1. Introduction
During the first half of 2020, we are living in a different world. The world started to change from
Wuhan (one of the biggest industrial centers of China) in January 2020 when carbon and other
greenhouse gas emissions started to fall dramatically. The trend from China was soon followed by
the whole world, mainly Europe and the USA. Industrial activities and the use of transport were
greatly reduced all over the world and, as a result, the world’s total carbon emissions are expected
to fall by 4% during the year. However, the reduction is still not enough to reach the global 1.5°C
temperature limit but still might become the biggest fall in history (CarbonBrief, 2020).
If the above trends were a result of a successful predetermined policy against climate change
problems, they would constitute a promising starting point for a thesis research in sustainability
and the tourism industry. Unfortunately, all the above-mentioned positive environmental changes
were caused by the deadly COVID-19 virus, which began spreading in late 2019 from China. The
virus, which is often called coronavirus, was reported by the World Health Organization (WHO)
on December 31st, 2019. As of January 13th, WHO had already reported about the first virus case
detected outside of China. Already on January 23rd the Chinese Government made a decision to
lockdown Wuhan and a month later almost every country all over the world started to close their
borders as well. Countries started to announce a state of emergency and total lockdowns one after
another within their country territories (World Health Organization, 2020). Even though, as shown
above, the crisis caused some positive changes in environmental problems, restrictions on travel,
public gatherings, and economic activities ended up in an economic recession and increased social
problems (United Nations, 2020).
Now, at the beginning of May, I (one of the authors of the research) am staying in the quarantine
zone in Georgia (my home country), writing these lines and waiting for 14 more days to pass so
that I can finally go home. The quarantine zone is arranged in the Park Hotel Tsinandali and is
intended to host citizens of Georgia that enter the country from abroad. The hotel, which had been
hosting guests from around the world before the pandemic, has now changed its purpose
dramatically. Sitting at the table in my hotel room and observing the events from inside makes it
more obvious how different the world that we are living in today has become. Restrictions on
travel, recommendations against public gatherings and restrictions on many economic activities,
finally resulted in a huge economic recession, which according to the United Nations (2020) might
lead to a 1% world GDP reduction, instead of 2.5% planned growth. Obviously, the different
sectors were affected on a different scale by the crisis, but the tourism might be one of the most
affected among them. International travel and hotel occupancy levels declined dramatically during
March and April. As a result, international tourist arrivals are expected to fall by 20%-30%,
translating into a $300-$450 billion loss in 2020 (World Tourism Organization, 2020).
1.1 Problem Formulation and the Research Question
Unfortunately, statistical data, like reduction in revenue, often translates into social problems and
the crisis in the tourism industry is not also an exception. According to the World Travel and
Tourism Council (2020), almost one million jobs are lost daily in the travel and tourism industry
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during the hardest period of the pandemic (late March and April). They estimate that up to 75
million jobs are at immediate risk, depending on the period of the pandemic and international
lockdown (World Travel & Tourism Council. 2020). At the same time, closing hotels not only
endangers the wellbeing of employees but also prevents the industry from creating welfare for
other stakeholders like their customers, local communities, and others. In response, we see many
cases from all over the world when different hotels try to find different solutions when instead of
closing their doors, they continue creating benefits for their various stakeholders. In this research,
we will dig into such stories from hotels and will try to find their socially sustainable strategic
solutions. Hence, our main focus will be to identify and analyze social sustainability in their
strategic solutions.
Nowadays there are different definitions of social sustainability, however, the main idea of the
concept is common and is related to creating the well-being of human beings. According to one
known definition by Harris and Neva: “The social dimension [of sustainability] may be defined as
progress toward enabling all human beings to satisfy their essential needs, to achieve a reasonable
level of comfort, to live lives of meaning and interest, and to share fairly in opportunities for health
and education.” (Harris & Neva, 2001, P 27). Besides, on the business level, Dillard et al. (2008)
emphasize the importance of stakeholder interactions as the social sustainability creation tool from
business organizations. Therefore, when talking about the social sustainability of hotels’ strategic
solutions, our focus will also be on their different stakeholders like employees, customers, or local
communities and the influence on their well-being.
When the world is fighting against the pandemic and industries, especially the hotel industry is
facing probably the biggest crisis they have ever experienced, now the problem of social
sustainability is probably more acute than ever before. Now, when hotels are striving to somehow
survive the crisis, how are they supposed to work with social sustainability issues? Is that even
possible? Thereby, our main research question is:
How do hotels manage the crisis caused by COVID-19 pandemic in a socially sustainable
way?
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2. Theoretical Framework
Since we aim to analyze social sustainability in hotels’ strategic solutions during the COVID-19
crisis, we decided to base our research on two main theories: crisis management and social
sustainability theories. In this chapter, we will firstly introduce and discuss the crisis management
theory mainly related to the tourism industry. Based on the existing research we will discuss the
theory according to three main phases: pre-crisis, during the crisis, and post-crisis. Secondly, we
will introduce the concept of social sustainability and different theories related to social
sustainability and the hotel industry.
2.1 Crisis Management Theory and the Tourism industry

Crises are concomitant phenomena of the modern economy and business organizations face them
whether they are caused internally or externally (Ritchie, 2004). A crisis can create devastating
consequences for an organization and its stakeholders and it was defined by Bundy et al. as
follows: “an event perceived by managers and stakeholders as highly salient, unexpected, and
potentially disruptive—can threaten an organization’s goals and have profound implications for
its relationships with stakeholders” (Bundy et al., 2017, P1662). Such instabilities in the
organization, that are caused by crises may raise problems of the brand’s reputation, organizational
learning and adaptation, as well as the financial position and stakeholders' perception about the
organization (Bundy et al., 2017).
In the tourism industry crises raise from different reasons and except for internal sources, when
the crisis might be caused by internal organizational problems, many uncertainties in the modern
world also lead the tourism industry to crises triggered by various external sources like natural
disasters, terrorism and political instabilities, virus outbreaks, financial crises, and etc (Richter and
Waugh, 1986; Faulkner and Vikulov, 2001; de Sausmarez, 2003; Ritchie, 2004; Henderson, 2007).
From many other external sources, crises caused by disasters have been broader researched by
scholars of the tourism industry. However, such studies mostly highlight reactive responses and
recovery strategies rather than reduction or readiness strategies (Ritchie, 2004). Faulkner defined
the disaster in the tourism industry as follows: “where an enterprise (or collection of enterprises
in the case of a tourist destination) is confronted with sudden unpredictable catastrophic changes
over which it has little control” (Faulkner, 2001, P144) and developed tourism disaster
management framework with 6 main phases. However, in general, crisis management theory has
mostly been divided into three main phases: Pre-Crisis - Prevention & Preparation, The Crisis -
Response, Post-Crisis - Learning & Revision (Coombs and Laufer, 2018; Bundy et al., 2017).
Therefore, in this chapter, we will discuss the crisis management theory and the disaster
management framework, offered by Faulkner, chronologically based on the above-mentioned
division.
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2.1.1 Pre-Crisis
The research on pre-crisis management, according to Bundy (2017), approach the topic of crisis
management from two main perspectives: internal and external perspectives. From the internal
perspective, scholars emphasize the importance of proper organizational systems and the decision-
making processes. Reliable and quick decisions are crucial when dealing with unexpected crisis
and system collapse. The major factors for an organization’s successful management of crisis are
the development of flexible and fast internal organizational systems, such as organizational
structure, culture, and making efforts to reduce the dysfunctional nature of the organization.
(Bundy et al., 2017). Since there is a high correlation between preparedness for the crisis and the
frequency of damage, he highlighted the importance of identifying the first signs of the crisis to
avoid a big impact. As for the external perspective, scholars argue that positive stakeholder
relationships are crucial for reducing the likelihood of a crisis. (Bundy et al., 2017).
Coombs (2007) suggests the Crisis Management Plan (CMP) as a tool of companies’ preparedness
for the upcoming crises. Such plans may differ depending on business sector or other
circumstances. However, according to Coombs, it should provide the organization with reminders,
predetermined messages, and other important functions. Except that, the tourism disaster
management framework from Faulkner (2001) also emphasizes the importance of preparedness.
In the initial stages of the crisis, the framework suggests organizations to develop crisis
management teams and crisis management strategies. According to Faulkner such strategies
should be based on potential disaster assessments, which enable the existence of different scenarios
in response to diverse possible challenges (Faulkner, 2001). However, already in 1995, Drabek
identified problems in the practical implications of Crisis Management Plans. He claimed that
CMPs in the tourism industry were mainly informal and undocumented and even more, they were
intended for a limited set of circumstances like hotel fires and etc. (Drabek, 1995). Thus, the
tourism industry faced the crisis caused by the SARS virus outbreak in 2002-2003 and the pre-
crisis management phase turned out to be much shorter than expected. The crisis management
started already with the following phases like containment and damage limitations. (Henderson,
2007).
2.1.2 During the Crisis
During the crisis management phase, scholars describe the flexibility of organizational structures
and the leadership skills of the managers as important internal factors for successful actions. James
et al. (2011, P 458) emphasize the importance of “crisis handlers”, leaders that take responsibility
to lead the organization during pre- and post- crisis periods. They discuss the characteristics of
leaders, like charisma, to be an important contributor for successful anti-crisis actions from the
organization. Besides, Dowell et al. (2011) suggest that more powerful CEOs increase the chances
of quicker decisions and therefore decrease the likelihood of the failure. According to Bundy:
“leaders who frame crises as threats react more emotionally and are more limited in their efforts,
while leaders who frame crises as opportunities are more open-minded and flexible” (Bundy et
al., 2017, P1671). However, the effort from the leader is not the only solution and independent,
small boards with quick decision-making processes are also the main contributors to the process
(Bundy et al., 2017). Besides, Coombs (2007) discusses internal communications and quick
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information exchange processes to be crucial to make competent decisions and keep control of the
processes.
As for the external communications, the response of the organization to the crisis can be different,
but if we try to generally characterize it, we can use the definition from Bundy and Pfarrer:
“response strategies that accept less responsibility - generally labeled defensive - attempt to
[reduce] an organization’s perceived association with a crisis… [while] strategies that accept
more responsibility - generally labeled accommodative” (Bundy and Pfarrer, 2015, P352). Every
crisis has a negative influence on companies’ different stakeholders and the attempt from the
company to reduce, minimize the negative impact is a matter of reputation and responsibility
(Kellerman, 2006). Experimental studies by Coombs and Holladay (1996) and by Dean (2004)
have shown less damage to the reputation of the organizations that have expressed their
condolences compared to those who have avoided doing so (Coombs, 2007).
2.1.3 Post-Crisis
As for the post-crisis phase, the research mainly focusses on organizational learning and changes
in internal and external policies. Organizations should use the crises as the learning possibilities
and therefore develop crisis management strategies for future challenges (Bundy et al., 2017;
Coombs and Laufer, 2018). Paraskevas (2006) define the phase as a "clean-up" process when the
organization analyzes crisis management to evaluate strengths, shortcomings, and learnings from
the failures that will lead the company to updated and valuable knowledge.
Faulkner emphasizes two main phases related to the post-crisis period in the tourism disaster
management framework. In long-term recovery and resolution phases organizations focus on
counseling victims of the crisis and putting all necessary measures to ensure the recovery of the
crisis victims (Faulkner, 2001). The recovery process can be different based on many
circumstances related to specific organizations or tourism destinations in general. According to the
theory, Crises might affect developing countries more, with less diversity in economic sectors. The
likelihood of a deeper crisis increases when the country’s dependency on the tourism sector is
higher (Allen, 2003).
2.2 Social Sustainability and the Hotel Industry
2.2.1 What is Social Sustainability?
Sustainable development has been one of the driving forces of the world economy from the end of
the 20th century, caused by increasing awareness of the expected ecological crisis (Pisani, 2006).
The term of Sustainable development was defined by the United Nations as follows: “development
that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs” (WCED, 1987, p43). The concept is commonly described by the triple bottom
line model, which on itself recognizes three main dimensions of sustainability. According to the
model sustainable development is achieved when all economic, environmental, and social goals
are fulfilled simultaneously (GRI, 2006).
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Environmental and economic dimensions of sustainability have been recognized earlier, during
the second half of the 20th century, however social sustainability has gained broad popularity later,
only after 2000. Instead of only preserving natural capital or establishing economic stability, social
sustainability also encourages human happiness, equality, and well-being. Hence, human welfare
can be considered as a major difference between classical environmentalism, environmental
understanding of sustainability, and social sustainability (Caradonna, 2014). Social sustainability
is also quite significantly represented in United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, such as:
no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean
water and sanitation, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities, and communities (UNDP, 2020).
2.2.2 Social Sustainability in the Hotel Industry
United Nations’ World Tourism Organization’s (2020) definition of sustainable tourism includes
all three main dimensions of sustainability and is described as: “Tourism that takes full account of
its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of
visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities” (UNWTO, 2020). Here we will
focus more on the social dimension of sustainable tourism, which according to UNWTO refers to
respecting the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities, at the same time preserving the
tradition and cultural heritage. It also requires equal opportunities for the whole society and
equitable distribution of tourism benefits (UNWTO, 2020). However, when it comes to social
sustainability in the hotel industry, business scholars mainly stress the importance of different
stakeholders’ relations and hotels’ responsibility for their well-being (Jones et al., 2016).
Not only in the hotel industry but also generally in organizational studies stakeholder approach is
a common method for defining the social dimension of sustainability. According to Dillard et al.
(2008), social interactions are a core part of organizations and involve a diverse network of
participating and/or impacted stakeholders such as staff, suppliers, customers, and the community.
“Business organizations have a myriad of social impacts from their interaction with, inter alia,
employees, suppliers, communities, and consumers. These impacts vary depending on the nature
of the organization, its activities, and stakeholder interactions” (Dillard et al., 2008, P 159).
Dillard et al. (2008) emphasize the importance of secure employment contracts, fair working
conditions, and fair salaries for the employees. Organizations should also recognize their influence
on their local communities and should try to eliminate the negative concequences of the influence.
And finally, according to the theory companies have a responsibility toward their customers to
deliver safe products by using responsible marketing tools, giving them accurate information about
the product and the risks associated with its consumption (Dillard et al., 2008).
Stakeholder theory is also actively used in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) theory and
practice. CSR, which is defined as follows: “the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on
society” (European Commission, 2011, p.6) has gained high recognition and has been
progressively adopted by the hotel industry since the 1990s in order to demonstrate their
commitment to building sustainable tourism (Ayuso, 2007). CSR theory and practice acknowledge
and widely use stakeholder theory. A firm has a moral responsibility to its stakeholders, however
because of limitations, the choice needs to be made to the most important ones (Jamali,2008).
Exactly that is why companies have a choice to identify the most important stakeholders and use
their effort in accordance with their power and importance. Business scholars recognize diverse
stakeholders in the hotel industry; however, several main groups can be identified based on
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different researches such as Government organizations, tourists (customers), public sector,

employees, competitors and etc. (Pavlovich, 2003; Ritchie and Crouch, 2003; Miller, 2001).
As we have already mentioned before, the sustainable business model implies the identification
and contribution to the company’s significant stakeholders, therefore the model suggested by
Porter and Kramer (2011) discusses the role of a business organization toward its stakeholders.
The model is known as “Creating Shared Value” (CSV). While CSR theory is often blamed to be
adopted by companies as more marketing tools than their real will to make a positive contribution
to society, CSV suggests social responsibility as a core value of the company. The aim of CSV is
to create a shared value during the entire value chain (Kramer and Porter, 2011).
In the offered model Porter & Kramer (2011) illustrate three main approaches for companies to
create shared value. (1) According to CSV, by reconceiving products and markets, companies
should shift their focus from only profit and profitable products to real demand of customers.
(Porter & Kramer, 2011). By utilizing natural resources and contributing pollution, companies
often have a negative effect on the ecosystem and society at the same time. (2) By redefining
productivity in the value chain Porter and Kramer (2011) show the business the method to build a
responsible value chain and minimize the negative influence on a company’s employees or on the
society. And finally, (3) By enabling local cluster development companies are able to help a local
society, increase their well-being and at the same time contribute to the knowledge exchange
(Porter & Kramer, 2011).
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3. Methodology
In order to answer the research question, we chose the qualitative research method to collect the
empirical data and to analyze it in connection with the theoretical framework. We have chosen 6
different cases of the hotels from 4 different countries and explored social sustainability in their
strategic solutions against the COVID-19 crisis. We conducted one auto-ethnographic study and
six online semi-structured interviews with managers of each hotel, alongside with the secondary
data from online media articles, reports, and webpages.
3.1 Research philosophy
Since our research theories: social sustainability and crisis management theory, along with our
business cases are both very closely related to social science, we base our research on the
philosophy of interpretivism. The philosophy of interpretivism is based on the idea that subject
matter of social sciences such as humans and their institutions are totally different from the natural
sciences. Therefore, the reality is created by human action and meaning-making, rather than
existing objectivity like in natural sciences (Bell et al., 2018).
When describing sociology, Weber stated: “[Sociology is a] science which attempts the
interpretive understanding of social action in order to arrive at a causal explanation of its course
and effects” (Weber, 1947, P 88). Lincoln and Guba also try to explain the interpretivism of social
action and discuss that there are no single realities in our surroundings which can be understood
in the same way by everyone at the same time. They believe in the existence of multiple realities,
which are socially constructed (Lincoln & Guba, 1986). Hence, we assume that our research can
also be influenced by our subjectivity. The research subject and research results are shaped by
objective facts and conclusions, but also by our point of view, beliefs, and values.
3.2 Research design
Our purpose of the research is to find and explore different socially sustainable strategic solutions
from the hotel industry. So, we chose comparative design as the main research design of our work.
The comparative design entails the study using two or more contrasting cases. It is based on the
idea that social phenomena can be understood better when it is described by comparing several
different but still interrelated cases (Bell et al., 2018). In order to explore the influence of the
existing COVID-19 crisis on the hotel industry and their social sustainable strategic solutions, we
decided to research several different cases from different parts of the world. Even though the hotel
industry faces almost the same crisis all over the world, strategic approaches from various hotels
are different from each other. Therefore, we decided to use cross country comparison as a tool to
explain different approaches and decisions from various hotels.
To choose the cases for empirical studies we applied purposive sampling, which implies that the
sampling should be conducted with reference to the goals of the research (Bell et al., 2018).
Therefore, we first of all identified hotels from all over the world based on the main selection
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criterion: hotels that we would use in the research should have chosen different strategies, rather
than closing their doors and waiting for the situation to change positively, they should have chosen
the strategy which would have any positive impact on the society. We intensively researched
online media articles and identified almost 45 different hotels from 13 different countries. The
cases were mainly about hotels, that converted into hospitals, quarantine zones, or the hotels that
offered free stays to different parts of the society. We sent the collaboration offer to every such
hotel and as a result, we received positive feedback from 5 hotels and proceed with further research
for these cases. The hotels, which we have researched were Sheraton Grand Tbilisi Metechi Palace
from Georgia, Ten Hill Place Hotel and Grange Hotel from the United Kingdom, Burrard Hotel
from Canada, and Wythe Hotel from the USA. As for the sixth case from Georgia, Park Hotel, it
was the hotel, where one of the authors of the research had been sent by the Georgian Government
for two weeks quarantine. So, we chose the last case based on the personal experience, however,
the hotel met every selection criterion that we had used before.
3.3 Research strategy
We chose to use a qualitative research method as a main research strategy for the thesis. The main
difference of the qualitative research method from the quantitative method is that it is concerned
with words and images rather than with numbers. Besides, the qualitative method is characterized
by interpretivism, since it tries to understand the social world with its interpretations (Bell et al.,
2018). In our research, we used a combination of several qualitative methods for data collection
including ethnography, qualitative interviews, and secondary data collection.
There are commonly recognized three main research strategies for reasoning: Deductive method
is used to test the existing theory, as for inductive method - the research is used to develop a theory,
while the newest approach called abductive method is a combination of above-mentioned two
approaches and is used to explore a phenomenon (Suddaby, 2006). We chose the abductive method
for reasoning the thesis since it involves back-and-forth engagement with empirical data and
theoretical understanding (Schwartz-Shea & Yanow, 2012).
3.4 Data collection
3.4.1 Interviews
We chose the approach of online semi-structured interviews as one of our data collection method
and we conducted one interview for each case. The hotels, that we chose to communicate with are
located in different parts of the world and online interviews seemed to be the only adequate method
to collect the diverse information. Synchronous online interviews were conducted by using modern
digital technologies, which gives us the opportunity to make a video or audio calls and therefore
receive the information in real-time with an increased possibility of interactions (Bell et al., 2018).
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As a result, Zoom and Google Hangouts interviews turned out to be the most preferred method
based on our and our respondents’ preferences. Interviews were based on the previously created
interview guide, which we mainly created using our research question and the theoretical
framework (See in the appendix, chapter 8.1). Since our questions were mostly related to
companies’ anti-crisis strategic solutions and other major decisions, we decided to conduct
interviews with hotels’ CEOs, General Managers, or other leading positions (See the list of the
interviews in appendix, chapter 8.2).
3.4.2 An Auto-ethnographic Study

Since one of us (Beka Katsadze) was spent to a mandatory quarantine for 14 days in the local hotel,
in Georgia, we were given an incredible opportunity to conduct participant observation studies
there. The hotel was converted into a quarantine zone and actively collaborated with the
government in order to provide social benefits to its different stakeholders. Thus, we decided not
to waste such an opportunity and use the quarantine period to gather valuable information from
inside the hotel. We were able to gather information about all important procedures and details
that we would not be able to understand from other sources and what is the most important we
were given a chance to get an emotional connection to the processes. By experiencing living in the
quarantine zone, we gained the understanding of the customer, one of the key stakeholders,
perspective of the processes. During 14 days of the quarantine, Beka wrote a diary, where he
included his story starting from traveling from Sweden, ended with the last day of the quarantine.
He put his impressions, observations, and emotions on the paper, which we later used as the
empirical data.
3.4.3 Secondary Data Collection

The collection of secondary data has mainly been done electronically via databases available in
Uppsala University's library and Google Scholar. Besides, we also actively used press articles and
information from official organizations’ webpages. As for the books that have been used as
secondary sources, they have been found in the Almedals Library. The secondary data found in
the library or online scientific articles, helped us to develop the understanding of the term of social
sustainability, its perceptions on the organizational level, and the theory of crisis management.
Except for the theoretical part, we also actively used secondary data in our empirical studies. We
were actively involved in online media coverings of the topic related to the pandemic and
especially in the context of hotels and the tourism industry. Besides, we explored webpages and
reports of different international or local organizations, we used webpages of the hotels from our
cases in order to access important general or statistical information (Check the pictures in
appendix, chapter 8.3).
3.5 Data analysis
The thematic analysis method has been chosen for our data analysis. Our interviews have been
recorded via audio recording and later have been transcribed verbatim. The sound recordings have
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been re-listened and other written materials have also been re-read and re-analyzed several times
to ensure that the contents of the data are correctly interpreted. We used the Crisis Management
and Social Sustainability theories as a theoretical framework to help us analyze the empirical data,
gathered from different sources. In order to explain the differences between the theory and the
empirical research, later the work was divided into three different parts based on three main stages
of the crisis: pre-crisis, during the crisis, and post-crisis phases. By combining and comparing the
data gathered from different cases we identified commons and differences between diverse
strategic approaches, which helped us to answer the main research question (Bell et al., 2018).
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4. Empirical Studies
In this chapter, we will introduce six different cases about hotels from four different countries. In
each case, we will discuss the strategic solutions of the hotels against the COVID-19 crisis. The
information will be presented into three main phases: pre-, during and post-crisis. We will try to
highlight social sustainability in each such case, but before that, we will start with the general
overview of the pandemic and its influence on the hotel industry.
4.1 COVID-19 Pandemic and the World Hotel Industry
On December 31st, the World Health Organization (WHO) in China published a report that would
later affect the entire world and its economy (World Health Organization, 2020). Soon the virus
started to spread worldwide and the rapid spread of the (later known as) COVID-19 virus has
forced countries to respond by declaring social distancing, lockdowns and other measures. Closed
companies rising unemployment level and reduced consumption have devastating consequences
for the global economy (Bank of England, 2020). The business that can be worst affected by the
pandemic is a tourism industry, which generates just over 10% of global GDP and creates every
fourth job produced in the world (WTTC, 2020). According to UNWTO (2020), the industry
already experienced a 57% fall by March, equivalent to loss of 67 million arrivals and 80 billion
dollars in revenue. The consequences of the pandemic have the potential to eliminate between 100
- 120 million jobs related to the tourism industry, depending on how the situation changes during
the year (WTTC, 2020).
4.2 Country Overview - Georgia
Measures against COVID-19 were implemented in Georgia earlier even before the first confirmed
case was detected in as late as the 26th of February. However, restrictions started to become even
more strict afterward. Already from the March 18th the country closed its borders for non-Georgian
citizens and started to put everyone arriving in the country into two weeks mandatory quarantines
(NCDC, 2020).
The tourism industry is one of the main priorities of Georgian economic strategy during the last
several years and is also one of the fast-growing industries in the country. After the COVID-19
outbreak and all the measures from Georgian Government, the tourism industry was not able to
continue functioning anymore, however, 83 hotels all around the country were given an
opportunity to be converted into quarantine zones and host people having the necessity to be
isolated (Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, 2020). The government
supporting package consists of different action including postponing taxes of next four months,
paying 80% of 6 months interest rates of hotels’ bank loans and supporting workers that lost their
jobs from the industry by 200 Georgian Laris (approximately $65) monthly payments during 6
months (similar to other sectors of the economy). The government plans to open up the industry
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for internal travelers already from the June 15th, as for international travelers - from the July 1st
(Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, 2020).
4.3 Case 1 - Park Hotel Tsinandali, Georgia
Before the Crisis

The Park Hotel Tsinandali is a new hotel located in the historical region of Kakheti, Georgia. The
hotel opened in 2019 and is owned by Silk Road Group, one of the biggest investors in Georgia.
Since the Park Hotel is located in the small village of Tsinandali, it is one of the biggest employers
of the village (Everyone in the hotel’s staff is local, except for the part of top management) and is
actively involved in developing Tsinandali as a sustainable tourist destination.
Already from the beginning of March the hotel already faced massive booking cancelations and
radically reduced new bookings due to the beginning of the pandemic. The signs of a huge
upcoming crisis were already apparent. By this time the company did not have any predetermined
crisis management plan or manuals related to crises caused by pandemics. In these circumstances
the importance of quick decisions was vital to adapt to the situation, explains the hotel sales manager.
The Crisis
The Park hotel quickly managed to adjust to new circumstances and implemented major changes
for that. As soon as the Government of Georgia started to impose restrictions against the virus
outbreak, the Park Hotel was contacted by the Tourism Administration of Georgia offering to
convert the hotel into a quarantine zone to accommodate people with a high risk of spreading the
virus. “It’s not the situation when you think about benefits to be honest, because it is a very hard
time obviously for the country and for everyone, and you need to make some sacrifices.” (Kipiani,
2020) –explained the hotel’s sales manager the process of making the decision. The Tourism
Administration offered the hotel the payment for bookings, obviously, the rate was much less than
in a normal situation, but it was still enough to provide essential services to customers and to
maintain 100% of the employees. So, the management team quickly made a decision, and already
on March 15th Park Hotel was prepared to accommodate first guests.
The execution of the decision was not as easy as the decision on itself and the hotel worked a lot
to adapt its infrastructure and procedures to new circumstances. Park Hotel received detailed
guidelines and procedures from the tourism administration and executed all necessary changes in
order to provide the safety of the staff and the guests at the same time. As a result, the hotel already
received first guests from one of the international flights that landed in Georgia on March 17th.
After more than one month the coauthor of our research, Beka Katsadze was also taken to the Park
Hotel for 2 weeks quarantine after he traveled back home from Sweden.
Georgian government used to arrange several special flights per week from European cities in
order to bring Georgian citizens back to their country. Our coauthor was also brought back to his
country by one of such flights from Copenhagen, Denmark, with almost 50 other citizens. After
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the special flight arrived in the Tbilisi International Airport, all the passengers were checked for
fewer and everyone without virus symptoms were taken to the hotel according to special
guidelines.
“The situation looked very different from what I’ve seen before in Sweden or in Denmark,
everyone looked very mobilized trying to follow quite strict guidelines. Airport terminal
looked empty and scary just like in Copenhagen, but the difference was that procedures
were very strict and controlled by the police or airport staff, everyone was wearing masks,
face protecting glasses, or full PPE (personal protective equipment). […] After that, they
divided us into two busses and sent us to the hotel. I heard from someone that the hotel was
called Park Hotel… I’ve never heard about it, quickly checked it on Booking.com, looked
good. The bus was led by a police car, we stopped just once on the way and were not
allowed to do it again. Everything felt so creepy!” (Katsadze, 2020, fieldnotes).
The situation looks different in the hotel even from the beginning of the check-in procedure. Guests
are requested to make a line outside of a hotel entrance with 2 meters distance from each other.
Each guest gets disinfected by the hotel’s worker and after that, one after another, they are able to
enter the lobby. Every worker wears masks and gloves and tries to keep a social distance from the
guests and from each other. Guests approach the desk and stay on the distance from receptionists,
who start the check-in procedure.
“First of all, the receptionist asked for my personal information like my name and
telephone number, he also asked if I had any allergies and any preferences with food and
after receiving all the answers asked me to choose one of the room keys from the table.
[…] I quickly grabbed the key and the receptionist quickly explained the “basic rules”:
- After you enter your room you are not allowed to leave it for 2 weeks. There are
cameras in the corridor and they are controlled by the security staff. Food will be
served three times per day on the table in front of your door at 9 am, 2 pm and 7 pm.
There are garbage packs in the room and you can put the bag with garbage outside of
your room every day after 10 pm. If you have any questions the number of reception is
written on your card and you can call us at any time. If you want to buy anything from
the grocery you can transfer money on our account and we will try to provide anything
as soon as possible.
Everything was clear, I went to the corridor. Young man, covered with full PPE introduce
himself:
- I am your doctor and I will be here during your stay, here is my number and you can
call me at any time if you need it. Here is also the number of psychologists and you can
also contact them any time you need. There is a thermometer in your room and we will
provide you with paper blanks every day. I want you to measure your body temperature
twice a day: at 10 o’clock in the morning and at 9 o’clock in the evening, write down
the numbers on the paper and put it on the table near the door outside of your room. I
will come and see you every evening.
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After that, I already went to my room on the first floor, at the end of the corridor. […] “you
are not allowed to leave”, “there are cameras”, checking body temperature twice a day,
everything seemed to be like I had expected to happen, but realizing that it is already a
reality and it is happening to me was shocking.” (Katsadze, 2020, fieldnotes).
Rooms in the Park hotel are arranged in almost the same way as in the usual situation; however,
guests still find some things that are not very usual for high-class hotel rooms. Rooms of 26 square
meters are equipped with double or twin beds, TVs, small wardrobes, comfortable bathrooms, and
balconies, with the view of the amazing nature of the Tsinandali Park. However, since the guest is
responsible for cleaning the room for 14 days, there are also brooms, chemicals for cleaning the
toilet, washing powder for clothes, full packages of toothpaste, and packs for garbage. The staff is
always equipped with protecting equipment and never have direct contact with their guests.
Providing the service mainly takes place with the help of small tables in front of every room. The
food, which is cooked in the hotel’s kitchen is delivered to the tables three times a day, and guests
are able to pick them any time after the delivery. In order to follow safety standards foods are
delivered with single-use tableware, which is thrown into the garbage each time after the use.
Doctors have daily contact with hotel guests, they check the health conditions and provide guests
with any kind of necessary treatment. Hotel corridors are disinfected by the hotel’s staff twice a
day with special equipment. The room service has also been changed due to the quarantine and the
hotel staff deliver any kind of products that the guest needs on their serving tables, guests are able
to transfer money on the hotel’s account to purchase anything from the grocery store.
When people are sent to 14 days obligatory quarantine, even if they spend these days in 4- or 5-
star luxury hotels they are still torn from the outside world and such experience might have an
influence on their mental and emotional health conditions. But how can such acts be perceived
from their guests? Are hotels helpful with their contributions?
“The most difficult thing in the quarantine is that every day looks like each other. You
never know what day it is today, what you did two days ago, or what your plans are for the
next days. It is shocking to see beautiful weather outside, to have the door open but still
not being allowed to leave We often take things for granted, just several days ago I was
walking on the beach with my friends in Visby, Sweden, but now I’m locked here in the
room and I’m dreaming of just being able to go outside. However, it does not matter how
bored I feel now, I still totally understand the necessity of such measures. As a student, I
had quite an active lifestyle and had communication with a lot of international students. I
am young and healthy, but now I’m back home, where I have my father who has just
performed the operation, or my grandmother who is already above 70 and I realize that
having the opportunity to stay in a quarantine zone for two weeks is the only way to be sure
that I will not harm my family. I’m very grateful that I’m able to spend this period in a
comfortable hotel room, where I have almost all the necessary comfort that one can have
being locked in the room. If I had to stay in quarantine, a high-class hotel room would be
the best place for it” (Katsadze, 2020, fieldnotes)
New reality is difficult not only for guests but is also very challenging for the staff of the hotel.
Besides every safety norm, working at such place can be perceived as risky and scary. But as the
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hotel’s sales manager told us they discussed the possible decision with every member of the staff,
giving them options to continue working in new circumstances or to refuse the government offer.
Finally, every employee decided to be a part of it and now 100% of the staff is working in the hotel
with full payments.
The participation of the whole staff was also crucial in the hotel’s main decisions. The
communication between the management team and the staff was constant and mainly based on 24
hours of online interactions. As the sales manager of the hotel revealed in the interview, the whole
team actively participated in the decision-making process and the final decision was made only
after the confirmation from each member of the staff. “It’s not just about you and me […] it’s
about us being a team […] and us being all together in this” (Kipiani, 2020). – explained he later.
Finally, a low level of bureaucracy and flexibility was factors that made the decision-making
process quick enough to make and execute difficult and important decisions.
After the Crisis
The state of emergency was finished on May 22nd in Georgia and based on success in fighting with
the virus more and more restrictions are expected to be removed soon. Even though the borders
will already be open from July for international travelers the company still does not expect big
numbers of guests from abroad and as the Post-COVID strategy, they have chosen to concentrate
on the local market from the beginning. Since the hotel already has the experience to operate in a
period of pandemics their knowledge to handle new safety norms, might be important gaining for
their future plans as well. In the country, which was mainly dependent on international tourism, a
massive reduction in international travel might have a huge impact on the economy, especially in
the hotel industry. The question is when people will start traveling again. Perhaps not very soon:
“We already arrived at Copenhagen Airport early in the morning. […] The airport which
impressed me with its huge size, a lot of shops, a huge crowd rushing to different directions
and which impressed me with the high temp of life during the flight last Christmas, now
looked like a post-apocalyptic place. Empty car parking, empty terminals with just several
travelers walking around with masks and scared eyes, airport staff with tired and bored
faces everything this made me even more depressed. […] After seeing this I just wonder
how the airport and the world will look like after the pandemic. When will we start
traveling again or will we start it at all?” (Katsadze, 2020, fieldnotes).
4.4 Case 2 - Sheraton Grand Tbilisi Metechi Palace, Georgia
Before the Crisis

Sheraton Grand Tbilisi Metechi Palace is a luxury hotel in the center of Tbilisi, the capital of
Georgia. The hotel has become a victim of the deadly COVID-19 virus as almost every other hotel
all over the world. Even though the influence of the crisis on the business, especially in the hotel
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industry was huge in Georgia, the management team of Sheraton Tbilisi tried to do their best to
keep the focus on the social contribution as before the crisis.
The general manager of Sheraton Tbilisi Hotel mentioned in the interview that customers,
employees, and the local community has always been one of the main focus of their decisions. As
he described, the hotel has never been closed since it was opened in 1991 and since then has been
a place of “hope” during wars and all difficult times that the capital city of Georgia has
experienced in the 1990s and even later. As part of the worldwide chain of Sheraton Hotels and
Resorts, social responsibility is also the topic of big importance for Sheraton Tbilisi. Their strategy
is to create a maximum career or personal development opportunities for the employees, to offer
the highest quality service to the customers and to contribute to the well-being of the local society.
However, the crisis, that endangered majority of hotels turned out to be a huge challenge for
Sheraton as well.
The Crisis
As the general manager stated in the interview, they saw the first signs of the crisis already in
January, resulting in reduced bookings and booking cancelations. But as he explained the hotel did
not have any crisis management plans regarding to virus outbreaks. “Every company has manuals
[for a crisis], crisis plans in place, but for this format? -No. You have manuals for illnesses, for a
breakout of viruses, but there are no manuals for closing down the hotel, which we needed to do”
(Smits, 2020). After a total reduction of customer demand and then after starting the government
restrictions, closing down the hotel seemed to be the only existing solution for Sheraton Tbilisi
Hotel. But the hotel managed to find a different solution which could contribute to society during
such a difficult period.
Instead of closing down the hotel, similar to the Park Hotel, Sheraton Grand Tbilisi Metechi Palace
decided to give the hotel rooms to the Government of Georgia to arrange free quarantine zones for
people who have a necessity to be isolated from the society. However, in this case the hotel refused
to receive any compensation and provided the government with free hotel rooms. “[We had] two
options, to leave the hotel empty while knowing what’s happening around us, or you say: Let’s
step in, let’s assist the government. […] We wanted to do something back to the community”
(Smits, 2020) – The general manager explained the decision during the interview. As he later
extended, the easiest decision for them would be to close the hotel until the crisis is over and reopen
it later. However, the team could not escape the responsibility that they felt toward the community
and employees. Finally, almost 200 rooms became occupied by people, who are sent to the
quarantine and the hotel provides them with safe isolation, three meals per day and all necessary
comforts.
Except for the impact on the community, Sheraton Hotel also needed to make important decisions
related to its employees. After reaching almost zero income level during the crisis, companies,
including Sheraton Tbilisi faced the necessity of reducing operating costs. Making decisions about
layoffs might be difficult everywhere, in every condition, however, local governments’ supporting
programs sometimes can reduce the pressure on the company. Though, it was not a case in a
developing country like Georgia. The general manager told us: “We are operating in a country,
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where […] if there is a crisis or you need to make decisions, there is no social system in place if
people lose their jobs” (Smits, 2020). So, the company managed to maintain everyone from local
employees and layoffs affected only the staff from abroad. As a result, the company managed to
sustain more than 90% of the employees.
Decisions on board were made on a team basis with the active participation of the staff members.
“With a group that we had leftover, we agreed and it was a mutual agreement with people on
board that everybody [from the board] would go on 50% pay cut and […] the staff would go on
40% pay-cut” (Smits, 2020) – explained the general manager the difficult decision about the
reduction of staff salaries. Since the safety of the employees and their family members is a big
priority of the hotel, all of them were given the option to continue working in different conditions
or to stay home if they would like to. “The biggest thing that I see in the staff is that it [existing
situation] gives [them] a very good spirit, a team spirit […] nobody has been forced to do this, all
are on a voluntary basis” (Smits, 2020). The majority of the workers decided to be a part of the
unique experience and to contribute their part to help society. After starting to serve the quarantine
customers hotel workers also are able to stay at the hotel not to put their family members in danger.
They also have proper training on how to safely deal with the quarantine and are equipped
properly.
After the Crisis
The Sheraton Hotel management team expects positive changes in the economy already from June
when the Georgian Government will probably start to soften some restrictions. The main strategic
focus of the company will be the local market in a near future and they will focus on the
international visitors only after the international travel industry starts recovering, which according
to management’s expectations might take much longer. Even though expectations for the coming
summer season is not high, the general manager hopes that learning outcomes from the crisis will
be significant. Decision-making is expected to become more linear, remote and efficient, like it is
now, during the crisis. As he mentioned in the interview, internal and external online
communication has become much more efficient than in many cases during a face to face
communication. And finally, the decision-making process is also quicker and more result-oriented.
4.5 Country Overview – UK
On January 31st, 2020, the first COVID-19 (Corona) case was confirmed in the United Kingdom.
Since that date, the number of Corona-infected patients has increased exponentially (BBC News,
2020; Statista, 2020). The UK government has recommended people to isolate themselves at
homes as much as possible. The government strongly advised the population to avoid any kind of
unnecessary travel and people were allowed to leave their houses mostly only for purchasing
essential products (GOV.UK, 2020).
Because of the crisis related to the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies needed to lay off their
employees. In such a case, Government support schemes are in place and employers are able to
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receive support from the government through the 'Job Retention Scheme,' which helps to cover 80
percent of staff salaries, and covers a salary of up to £2500 per month (GOV.UK, 2020). Besides
employees, government support was in place for companies as well. Financial aids for companies
vary depending on the size of the company and the amount varies between £ 10,000 and £ 25,000
per property (GOV.UK, 2020). According to the Bank of England (2020), the hotel and food
industry was the biggest loser in the pandemic, with an estimated average decline of about 80
percent, compared to a 60 percent decline in the second-most affected construction and retail
sector.
4.6 Case 3– Ten Hill Place Hotel, UK
Ten Hill Place Hotel is a 129 bed 4-star hotel located in the center of Edinburgh city, Scotland.
The hotel opened in 2006 and is owned by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Even
though Ten Hill Place Hotel is a part of the Best Western Premium Collection chain, the hotel is
branded independently.
Before the Crisis
The hotel openly declares its strategy to establish green tourism practices and therefore
implemented different projects related to water consumption reduction or plastic bottle elimination
in the rooms. Since the hotel is owned by the surgeon’s college and is also located next to its main
building, its social contributions are also quite often related to medicine and different health issues.
Ten Hill Place is actively involved in the project with its partners to help improve bowel cancer
surgery.
The hotel and its management team had a disaster crisis management experience from the 2010
volcano eruption in Iceland, when the natural disaster caused enormous disruption to air travel in
Europe. The management team faced the problems caused by a lack of international tourists and
decided to offer free stays to international travelers staying in airports after hundreds of flights
were delayed. However, the hotel did not have any crisis management plan or manuals in place,
especially related to pandemics. In the interview the managing director talked about the different
characteristics of different crises and emphasized the importance of quick decisions from
experienced management teams and not predetermined general guidelines: “every situation is
different, and that’s why you have employees and experienced management team who have gone
through situations before […] In my near 30 years of hotel experience now, each crisis situation
[…] has been different from the one before” (Mitchell, 2020).
The Crisis
Things looked normal for the hotel before the second part of March 2020 when the government
first time advised UK citizens to avoid public gatherings. As a result, the hotel did not have any
guests or bookings in the near future and the management team had to make a quick decision. The
board in the hotel consists of 7 members and therefore decision-making process has always been
quick without major complications. Because of that, the company turned out to be flexible during
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the crisis, having no problem to make difficult decisions quickly, without hesitation. They finally
decided to use the property to offer medical and other key workers free stays in the hotel. The
managing director explained their decision and the purpose of the decision in the interview:
“People in a medical workforce were having to work longer shifts, they had concerns at
that time about going home and passing the virus on to family members or vulnerable
people. Once we saw that we made an instant decision […] we would open our doors and
give our facilities free of charge, because that helps people stay safe and stay out work,
that ultimately helps not just individuals but the rest of the society by keeping as many
actively working at the medical workforce as possible.” (Mitchell, 2020).
The initiative was soon welcomed by the society and numbers of front-line workers willing to use
the opportunity to rest in the Ten Hill Place Hotel had been increasing daily. However, remaining
the hotel open during the pandemic and ensuring the well-being of customers, employees or other
stakeholders demanded huge changes in business processes and safety standards. “Almost in every
aspect of how the hotel operates, we now had to reinvent the way to be as safe as possible”
(Mitchell, 2020) - mentioned the managing director. The hotel from Edinburgh offered its guests
not only free stays in the hotel rooms, but also free breakfast and dinner, giving medical workers
the chance to rest and have social interactions after tiring and exhausting days from their
workplaces. However, breakfasts, dinners, and communications in the hotel restaurant could not
be the same as it was before the pandemic. The main concern of the guests during the pandemic
changed from maximum comfort to maximum safety. So, the tables in the restaurant have been
relocated separately from each other and only one person is allowed to sit at each of them. Besides,
changes were also made in many small details of different procedures of the hotel to promote social
distancing. The number of guests who are not willing to leave their rooms is increasing, which in
itself increases the demand for room service.
Things also did not remain unchanged for 150 workers of the Ten Hill Place Hotel. Due to the
decreased number of guests, only a small part of the staff continued working on site after the
beginning of the pandemic. Employees had an option to temporarily stay at homes if they preferred
so and, in this case, they were involved in the government support scheme which provides them
80% of their initial salary. However, employees who continued working received 100% of their
salaries from the hotel. The only part of the employees, who voluntarily agreed to reduce their
salaries by 20% and 50% were the hotel management team and the general manager. The hotel
also provides its workers with all recommended personal protective equipment (PPE) to ensure
the safety of the staff and the guests at the same time. Employees are also advised not to use public
transport, though, if necessary, the hotel also provides them with free and comfortable stays at the
property between the shifts.
One of the key factors, that influenced the hotel’s strategic solutions during the crisis, was quick,
flexible decision-making, with a high level of team participation. “We can react quicker than most
of the medium or large size companies, we can decide something in the morning and act in the
afternoon” (Mitchell, 2020) – explained by the managing director. However, the quick decision-
making process did not encourage autocratic decisions and the role of the teamwork played a big
role during the crisis. The managing director revealed: “My mechanic [of the decision-making]
would be discussing [the issue] with the senior management team about what we think collectively
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is right. It’s not an autocratic business […] if five of my senior managers are saying A and I am
thinking B – well, we’ll go with A, because that’s the collective decision” (Mitchell, 2020).
After the Crisis
The Ten Hill Place Hotel expects things to change positively soon, but the difficulties in the hotel
industry are expected to last longer. The hotel does not expect to host international travelers during
the initial period of post-pandemic time. That is why they focus their near future strategic goals on
internal travelers from the UK. Thus, they already started to work on 2 projects which will be
implemented in the near future. Edinburgh Staycation will be standard 2-3 hotel packages for
guests from the surroundings of Edinburgh and the second option called Edinburgh Keyworker
Staycation will be the same package for keyworkers with a special discount.
The hotel industry will be different after the pandemic than it was before and Ten Hill Place Hotel
already started working on how to adapt the hotel to a new reality. They have already started
working on new procedures to organize safe events with social distancing, to serve customers in
the restaurant in compliance with all safety standards and etc. The managing director of the hotel
introduced us some specific solutions that the hotel is already working on such as serving
restaurant customers with single-use food boxes and organizing events by using many small tables
located at a distance. The company also plans to let administrative staff work 50% of their working
hours remotely, which would contribute to the well-being of employees and at the same time would
have a positive impact on the environment. Regardless of existing strategic plans and hopes, the
hotel still expects financially difficult several months or even years. The question is how the
company can support all its employees after the government’s supporting program is over.
4.7 Case 4 – The Grange Hotel, UK
The Grange Hotel is a small, family-owned 18-beds hotel with a small restaurant. It is part of Best
Western Hotels and is located in a small village of Oborne, Dorset County, England. The hotel is
actively engaged in the local community and is involved in many local cultural and other kinds of
activities. Besides, it is a significant employer of the village since 23 workers of the hotel out of
total 24 are locals.
Before the Crisis
According to the hotel’s general manager, the influence of the upcoming COVID-19 pandemic on
the Grange Hotel was already clear from the second half of February when they faced the situation
that demanded radical and difficult decisions from them. However, before the crisis, the company
did not have any predetermined crisis management plan for virus outbreaks. The general manager
told us that they have manuals for extreme situations like electricity cut-offs, though the company
had not determined risks related to virus outbreaks before. He also revealed that none of the hotels
he had been communicating with during the crisis had expected the pandemic of such a big scale.
“I contacted with maybe 150 hotels… some of them had a crisis management plan, [however] they
had nothing to do with this level of [pandemic]” (Fletcher, 2020) – he added later.
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The Crisis
The crisis had a huge impact on the hotel’s occupancy level from the beginning, which resulted in
financial problems and put the management team in a difficult situation. Closing down the hotel
seemed to be the only choice for them if not the offer from Best Western to convert the hotel into
a hospital. The grange hotel confirmed their interest to Best Western to become a hospital already
in February, but they made a final decision when the Dorset Council informed them about the need
for new hospital beds at the beginning of April. As the hotel’s manager explained the decision was
not difficult to make, first of all, because of their intension to make their part of the contribution
to society in such a difficult situation and, secondly, because of financial problems in the hotel.
“We didn’t really see the way that we were going to survive six months of being closed” (Fletcher,
2020) – told us the general manager.
Finally, the hotel signed a 3 months contract with local authorities and was reopened on April 13th.
According to the plan the Grange Hotel is supposed to serve symptom free COVID-19 infected
patients or other patients who are not infected by the virus but still require medical treatment due
to other health issues. The hotel and the whole region were lucky enough not to have necessity to
use the property by the time when we had an interview with the hotel’s manager (beginning of
May), though the hotel passed through all the procedures and is fully prepared to serve patients
when it becomes necessary.
As the hotel’s manager revealed the process of change was not easy and involved changes in many
directions: “The trouble is that, because it hasn’t been done before, nobody knew [what to do]”
(Fletcher, 2020). Changes were required in staff, physical equipment, procedures, safety norms,
and in many other directions. First of all, the hotel needed to purchase all the necessary equipment
like sanitizers, cleaning chemicals, personal protective equipment and etc. which were necessary
for their new reality. Secondly, they have totally changed the hotel procedures. After the
transformation hotel staff started to work in collaboration with medical workers. Doctors and
nurses took over responsibilities to treat and communicate with patients, while hotel’s staff are not
able to interact with patients or to enter their rooms. Cleaning of rooms had become the
responsibility of medical workers, as for the service, hotel staff provides patients with food and
other necessary items by leaving them on the table in the corridor without having any contact with
their guests.
The hotel’s decisions were broadly communicated through many channels internally and
externally. The General Manager introduced his new strategy to society from national television.
At the same time, they had open communication with the local community to ensure that any kind
of misunderstandings would be eliminated. The communication has also been important in
between the hotel’s staff and in times of social distancing online communication tools played a
significant role in the process. However, not everyone from employees stayed on-site in such an
unusual situation. Since the employees were provided with financial help from the government’s
social programs the Grange Hotel staff were given options to stay home and participate in
government schemes or to continue working in the changed working conditions. All the workers,
that decided to continue working were given training about sanitizing and other safety issues from
professionals, so they are fully equipped and prepared to handle the challenge. As a result, 8
workers out of 24 are right now on-site and waiting for the first patients. Since the hotel is family-
owned and has a very small number of employees, decisions were made quickly and with the
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participation of the staff members. As the result, the hotel managed to be flexible in the decision-
making process which resulted in their strategic solutions.
After the Crisis
The General Manager of the Grange Hotel expects that customer behavior might be changed for
an even longer period than the period of government restrictions. After the end of 3 months period
of being a hospital, the Grange Hotel expect it to be possible to reopen again as a hotel already
from September. Though, since the expectations about occupancy level are quite low especially
from the beginning, the hotel’s management team still doubts about the financial expediency of
remaining open. However, if the hotel opens in September with low occupancy levels the manager
might face the most difficult dilemma related to employees. The general manager is afraid that
they might need to make choices between their employees: “Once we bring people back to work
[…], we are going to have a challenging conversation about who should come back. Maybe we
would look at who needs the work the most, financially” (Fletcher, 2020).
4.8 Country Overview – Canada

The first case of COVID-19 infection was detected on the 26th of January in Canada and confirmed
cases have been increasing daily since then (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2020). Restrictions
from the Canadian Government were not as strict as in many European countries, but residents of
Canada had been advised to follow the government's safety guidelines. According to the
Government regulations only Canadian citizens were allowed to enter the country and all of them
must have been put in quarantine for 14 days (Public Health Agency of Canada, 2020).
The pandemic has disrupted the tourism industry in Canada since numbers of traveling reduced
significantly and all major events were either canceled or postponed with several months. As a
result, the average hotel occupancy rate fell down below 10%, which has triggered more than 4100,
closures causing 250 000 employees, 83% of total employees, to be laid off (BNN, 2020).
Economic sectors, that have been significantly affected by the virus outbreak have been able to
assess the government support schemes helping the business and its employees at the same time.
Companies, that reduced their incomes by 30% in March or by 15% in April were able to finance
75% of their employees’ salaries with help of government schemes. Besides companies were able
to delay their tax payments and small businesses had been given access to $40 000 interest-free
loans (Department of Finance Canada, 2020).
4.9 Case 5 – Burrard Hotel, Canada
Before the Crisis

The Burrard Hotel is an independent hotel located in downtown Vancouver, Canada. It is a retro-
style boutique hotel with 72 rooms and a unique courtyard oasis for outdoor lounging (The Burrard
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Hotel, 2020). The hotel faced big problems at the beginning of March, when due to the start of the
COVID-19 pandemic new bookings decreased significantly, and guests started to make
cancelations. The hotel faced a huge decrease in the occupancy level and had to make quick radical
decisions.
The general manager of the hotel revealed in the interview that the pandemic appeared quickly and
unexpectedly. The hotel did not have any crisis management plan related to pandemics, which
made the role of quick and flexible decisions from the hotel even more important. “There is no
hotel company that I saw that was fully prepared for this, but what I did see is some amazing
reactions. I saw people moved swiftly; I saw people make very quick decisions in a short time
spends.” (Simpson, 2020) - stated the manager.
The Crisis
After the beginning of the pandemic and dramatic decrease in the hotel’s occupancy level, the
management had to make many changes in the hotel strategy and business processes. The main
decision was made in collaboration with Providence Health Care, the organization which manages
St. Paul’s Hospital just across the street from the Burrard Hotel. The hotel and the hospital decided
to make an agreement according to which medical staff from the hospital could rest and relax in
the Burrard Hotel’s rooms for free between or after their shifts. According to the agreement St.
Paul’s Hospital pays significantly discounted rates to the hotel, so the service is absolutely free for
the medical workers. The vice-president of Providence Health Care explained their motives for the
decision in the interview with a local newspaper: “We realized staff needed a place to shower and
change before going home. In most cases, they just needed a couple of hours to rest, recharge, and
recalibrate at the end of their shifts. The Burrard helped make that work for us. And for them to
take this on has been wonderful.” (The Globe and The Mail, 2020). The opportunities were quickly
adopted by the hospital staff and the hotel’s rooms were used by more than 50 workers from the
hospital during the first week. “You have no idea how much of a burden you have lifted off my
shoulders.” (The Globe and The Mail, 2020) – read the hotel’s staff in the letter from the guest
from the hospital. Even though the responses from the guests, the local community, and the media
were very positive to the hotel’s decision, their main goal was not to achieve good feedback. As
the general manager of the hotel explains in our interview: “Our principal focus was [that] we
wanted to take care of the staff there at the hospital… we have a great partnership with them
[hospital] now, we are thrilled, our team is very proud of what they are doing.” (Simpson, 2020).
The restrictions and objective needs for higher safety standards initiated a lot of changes in hotel
procedures. Rooms and all frequently touching spots in the room are carefully cleaned and
disinfected regularly. No housekeeping services are also available when a room is occupied by a
guest and all soft furnishings and other hard to clean items were taken from rooms. The information
about safety rules is introduced to guests on-site and is also published on the company’s webpage
for potential guests.
The changes turned out to be challenging for the employees of the Burrard Hotel as well. Staying
out working during the pandemic is not something that everyone would like to do. The comfort of
the employees was one of the first priorities of the management team when they were to implement
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changes in the hotel. The part of the staff who did not feel comfortable working during such a
difficult situation was allowed to stay home until the situation changes positively. Fortunately,
social programs from the government for workers were in place and employees of companies that
were significantly affected by the crisis would receive up to 75% of their initial salaries.
Employees, who continued working, were provided with all necessary equipment and were trained
by professionals in cleaning and disinfection.
The decision-making process during the crisis period was very quick in the Burrard hotel, which
was mainly caused by the small, flexible board, and the teamwork. Hotel’s general manager
described the first month of the decision-making process as a 24-hours work of “re-budgeting and
re-forecasting” (Simpson, 2020) in order to adapt to new circumstances. The management team
consists of only 3 members, which according to them made the process swift and resulted in
successful management decisions. The company moved to the crisis management process by
having daily meetings discussing everyday updates in government restrictions. The issues were
discussed daily and the decisions were made by the team: “We would strategize between hotel
ownership and our social media and PR firm; we would work together to make sure that anything
that had come out of that [government regulations] was immediately incorporated within the hotel
strategy” (Simpson, 2020).
After the Crisis
Considering practices from China and other states that have already experienced alleviation of
restrictions, the main strategic focus of the Burrard Hotel after the pandemic restrictions are eased
will be domestic travelers. Company Management expects that people will be eager to travel in
short distances after the lockdown and the plan of the company is to provide the safe option of stay
to such travelers.
4.10 Country Overview – USA
The first case of coronavirus was confirmed in the USA already on January 19th (The New England
Journal of Medicine. 2020). Since our hotel case from the USA is located in New York, where we
will mainly concentrate on the situation in NY State, where the situation turned out to be the most
difficult in the whole USA (The New York Times, 2020). New York has taken similar measures
as Canada to reduce and prevent the spread of COVID-19. Only essential services remained open
in the city, and people were strictly advised to stay at home and try to work from home (Department
of Health, 2020).
Unemployed people and those who have lost their jobs during the crisis were entitled to financial
support for up to six months for up to $ 600 a week. Besides, tax payments have been extended by
three months, until July 15th, 2020 (USAGov, 2020). In the USA, the hotel industry has reached
historically low occupancy rates and is expected to be 9 times worse than the 9/11 crisis. The
consequences of COVID-19 resulted in 70 percent of employees in the hotel sector being laid off
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or "put on furlough", 1.9 million hotel staff became unemployed and 3.9 million hotel-related jobs
were eliminated (AHLA, 2020).
4.11 Case 6 - Wythe Hotel, USA
Before the Crisis
The Wythe Hotel is a 70-room independent hotel from New York, USA. The hotel opened in 2012
and since then its focus has been to contribute local culture and the community. Wythe hotel has
been supporting local artists and has been actively involved in the local community. Because of
special relations with their customers the majority of the hotel’s guests are also returned guests.
However, due to COVID-19 pandemic the hotel had to make radical decisions during last several
weeks.
The hotel management saw the changes in the intensity of bookings already from the beginning of
March, which was followed by massive booking cancelations after US government new safety
announcements in March 8th. The hotel’s occupancy level fell down from the highest rates to
extremely low numbers and the hotel faced difficult reality. According to the assistant general
manager of the hotel, the company did not have any crisis management plan or predetermined
procedures for pandemics.
The Crisis
Facing the dramatic fall in the hotel occupancy level and the willing to contribute to the local
community during such difficult time led the company to the decision to offer free stays to medical
keyworkers in the hotel. The assistant general manager explained their decision in the interview:
“When we heard about nurses and doctors were sleeping in their cars after 18 hours shifts
because they were scared to go home to their families, where they maybe had older family
members or newborn babies, that was when we realized that we have this empty hotel right
now and we have the staff who want to work and were excited about supporting those
frontline workers… [and we decided to] share what we had with the community.”
(Waddell,2020).
The response from the medical staff and from the society to the hotel’s decision was positive and
soon after the announcement Wythe Hotel hosted approximately 50 guests per night. Soon after
the hotel communicated the decision with its various stakeholders, their feedback was resulted in
additional support to the hotel and medical workers. The hotel often receives a lot of products like
water bottles or shoes for free for doctors and nurses from their suppliers, besides loyal customers
helped the hotel with gift cards and prepayments.
Considering existing risks related to health safety, not every employee was willing to continue
working in the hotel, however, every worker that could not continue working on site still continued
to receive their salaries from Wythe Hotel. As for the workers, who could and decided to work
from the building were allowed to stay in the hotel’s property to avoid virus transition risk to their
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family members and were given even higher salaries than usual, as the assistant general manager
explained - because of higher risks and work intensity: “staff members who are actually working
in the building and they are dedicated to that they are getting payed a lot more than regular rates,
just because the work is so much more difficult now and the risk that they are taking [is higher as
well].” (Waddell,2020).
The pandemic also changed inside organizational processes and procedures. Due to necessity of
distance working for the part of the staff internal communication process has mainly moved to
online communications instead of physical meetings. Except for communications, the pandemic
also caused significant changes in hotel procedures, such as using masks and other safety
equipment, sanitizing hands in every 30 minutes and etc. in order to ensure the safety of staff
members and guests.
A non-hierarchical organizational structure and good informal communications in the team helped
the management organize important meetings and make quick decisions based on government
recommendations. Daily meetings were organized by the owner of the hotel with different
departments and the company started to adjust to new circumstances. The whole staff were in a
close communication and involved in decision-making process. “We all work so collaboratively.
I am the assistant general manager, but I’m also working daily with events team […] and on a
normal day I’m working with housekeeping […]. Everybody at our hotel knows each other and
feels comfortable enough to ask for help and ask for suggestions.” (Waddell,2020).
After the Crisis
Hotel’s plans and strategy after the crisis is mostly depended on government advices and
restrictions during next few months, but the management team expect some positive changes in
the tourism industry already from June or July. The first focus of the hotel will be local tourism
and their existing loyal customers. However, they still face some major challenges which will be
crucial to have a successful recovery after the crisis. First of all, the hotel needs to adapt to the new
circumstances and therefore offer their guests safe environment. That is why the management
already started to work on training manuals and guidelines for the staff to make hotel procedures
safe for both customers and employees. And finally, except for safety standards the hotel is the
place for guests to have a rest and to entertain, to have social interactions. In the time of social
distancing the hotel managers have set a difficult task since they want to find ways to provide their
guests with the ability of interactions, however, with adhering to all safety standards.
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5. Analyses
In this chapter, we will analyze our empirical data based on crisis management and social
sustainability theories. we will try to connect our empirical information to the above-mentioned
theories in order to answer the research question and find socially sustainable anti-crisis
strategies from the hotel industry. The analyses will be divided into three main parts
chronologically such as pre-crisis, during, and after the crisis phases according to the crisis
management theory. In each part, we will try to compare the data from different cases based on
the differences between various countries they are operating in.
Before moving to analyses, here we present the table, where we will summarize All the hotels that
we discussed above. The table represents the main strategic solutions from different hotels and the
influence of the decisions on their stakeholders.
Name of Park Hotel Sheraton Ten Hill Grange Burrard Wythe

the Hotel Tsinandali Grand Tbilisi Place Hotel Hotel Hotel
Metechi Hotel
Palace
Country Georgia Georgia UK UK Canada USA
Turned into a Turned into a Offers free Turned into Offers free Offers free
quarantine quarantine stays for a discharge rests for stays for
Main
zone in zone in medical hospital medical medical
Strategy
collaboration collaboration and other workers workers
During the
with with key from the
Crisis
Government Government workers specific
of Georgia of Georgia hospital
Has the Collaborates Receives Has the Has the Receives

contract with with the no contract contract no
the Tourism Tourism payments with local with the payments
Administration Administration from authorities hospital from guests
Financial
of Georgia. of Georgia, guests and and
aspect of
Receives but reduced receives receives
the decision
payments to receive any payments the
with payments according payment
significantly from them to the from the
reduced rates contract hospital
Maintained Maintained Small part One third of Part of the Employees,

100% of 100% of local of the the employees staying at
employees employees, employees employees continued home
Influence on
and everyone but needed to continued continued working on receive full
the
receive full put workers working on working on full payments.
Employees
payments from abroad full full payment. Employees
on furlough. payment. payment. The rest working at
Management The rest The rest enrolled the
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salaries enrolled the enrolled the government property

reduced by government government support receive
50%, staff’s support support schemes, higher
salaries scheme, scheme, receiving salaries
reduced by providing providing up to 75% than usual
40% 80% of 80% of of their (Due to
their their salaries higher
salaries salaries risks)
Helping their Helping their Helping Safe and Giving Helping

guests have a guests have a their quick medical their
quarantine for quarantine for guests, key recovery workers guests, key
free not to free not to workers, to from virus space to workers, to
danger their danger their avoid public or other rest and avoid
Influence on friends and friends and transport illnesses recover public
customers family family and to take transport
members members care of their and to take
family care of
members’ their family
safety members’
safety
In In Remaining Free up Remaining Remaining

collaboration collaboration medical important medical medical
with with and other beds in workers and other
government, government, key hospitals safe and key
helping to helping to workers and in this healthy workers
influence on
stop import stop import safe and way help safe and
communities
new virus new virus healthy patients healthy
cases cases with more
difficult
health
conditions
Table 1. Strategic solutions and the influence on stakeholders
5.1 Pre-Crisis
Having a predetermined crisis management plan is the main issue in the pre-crisis management
theory (Coombs, 2007), however, since the events unfolded so rapidly the hotel industry did not
have much time to plan a proper response. Pre-assessing different possible crises and different
scenarios are important tools in the tourism industry to increase the readiness of companies and to
minimize the negative effects of the crisis (Faulkner, 2001). However, none of the six hotels that
we have explored during the research had any pre-designed crisis management plans or strategies
related to virus outbreaks. Even more, our respondents from different hotels clearly stated that
proper crisis management plans were not also in place in a lot of other hotels they had been
communicating with before. Some of the hotels turned out to have manuals related to a narrow
spectrum of risks like fires or electricity cut-offs just like Drabek emphasized it in 1995. Though,
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when it comes to the crisis caused by pandemics or epidemics, we can assume that the industry
was not prepared with proper predetermined plans and strategies. After Drabek’s assumptions, the
industry faced the SARS epidemic in 2003 which also had a significant effect on hotels in many
countries (Henderson, 2007), however, even such experience was not enough to put virus
outbreaks in the list of risk assessments.
We could identify two main reasons for such a decision from the industry and according to one of
them, in many cases, managers do not see the necessity of having predetermined crisis
management plans, since the crisis and difficulties related to it might be significantly different in
every case. Thus, they prefer to quickly make decisions according to current challenges rather than
to have pre-designed different possible scenarios. And secondly, companies try to create manuals
for occasions with high probabilities, and such a high scale crisis, caused by the pandemic could
not be in the list of highly expected scenarios. Despite that, those hotels, with a long history have
experienced different crises according to their countries of origin. Flight crisis after the Icelandic
volcano eruption for Ten Hills Place Hotel or civil conflicts in Georgia for Sheraton Grand Tbilisi
Metechi Palace were such crisis management stories that developed crisis management experience
in hotels’ staff and management, which influenced their future decisions as well.
When having no pre-designed plans related to such a crisis, the importance of flexibility and quick
decision-making process is even bigger. All the hotels in our cases were ones that managed to
quickly adapt new circumstances and chose different strategies rather than temporarily closing
their doors for guests. There are some characteristics of organizational systems that we found to
be similar in each case we studied during the research. First of all, each case has similarities like a
small board and low hierarchies. Secondly, in many cases, there are intense informal relationships
within management teams and between management and other employees. And finally, almost in
each case the management team actively used modern technologies like online meetings, phone
calls, or web chats to exchange information rapidly. As a result, companies increased their abilities
to quickly analyze existing extreme situations, to discuss them within the organizations, and to
make quick decisions.
Our above-mentioned findings of internal organizational systems are clearly in line with the pre-
crisis management theory. According to business studies small and flexible organizational
structures, reducing the dysfunctional nature of the organization increases the likelihood that the
organization will face the crisis better prepared (Bundy et al., 2017; Paraskevas, 2006).
5.2 During the Crisis
After conducting online research, after analyzing different cases, and talking with hotel managers
we were able to identify three main groups of strategic solutions that hotels applied during the
COVID-19 crisis in order to remain open and at the same time to continue creating social value.
Such strategies were (1) Turning into a quarantine zone and providing guests with the ability to
spend their mandatory or voluntary 14 days quarantine in a comfortable place, (2) converting into
a hospital, serving low-risk patients and freeing up important beds in hospitals, and (3) providing
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free stays for doctors, nurses or other key workers with the necessity to work even during the
lockdown period.
Even though the pandemic and the crisis touched each hotel almost on the same scale their strategic
solutions were still significantly different from each other. The decisions were independently made
by management teams of the hotels, but they were shaped by different characteristics of the
countries they are operating in. Since Georgia was one of the countries that closed its borders from
the early stage of the pandemic, it managed to maintain low numbers of infected cases for a long
time. So, the necessity of eliminating imported cases was crucial to prevent possibilities of internal
transmissions and the government took the responsibility to put everyone arriving from abroad
into a mandatory quarantine. Hotels in Georgia were offered to collaborate with the government
and to be a part of the program, or to be closed since all other tourism-related business activities
were temporarily prohibited. Hotels in the UK were also allowed to stay open only if they were
providing service for medical or other key workers. Besides, high numbers of infected cases and
problems with hospital beds caused the necessity of creating new hospital beds to help other
hospitals. Hotels in New York were not obliged to get closed, but the existing hard pandemic
situation and almost no hotel bookings influenced the decision by the hotel from the USA. As for
the hotel from Canada, they were also able to remain open but their location and being next to the
hospital finally caused their decision to collaborate with the hospital.
Staying open during the quarantine caused changes in internal procedures, communications,
perception of customers and markets and many other details of the hotels. Employees in hotels
now are obliged to wear masks, gloves, and sometimes even full PPE. Guests and staff members
are required to follow a social distance in every phase of the services, and cleaning procedures are
also fully transformed to provide safe disinfection services. According to hotel managers and our
ethnographic observation, the demand for room services has significantly increased due to
increased demand for self-isolation. As a result, hotels have found different ways to provide
service according to all necessary safety norms and standards.
companies that openly share their decisions and plans during the crisis are more likely to get
positive feedback and improve their reputation (Coombs, 2007). As we can see from our several
cases, companies that put the effort into external communication, received a lot of positive
feedback and encouragement from their stakeholders. The crisis has also changed internal
communications and board meetings, staff communications, and other important internal processes
have mainly moved from hotel rooms to online chats, online meetings, or phone calls.
Bundy and Pfarrer (2015) described two main types of crisis management strategies of
organizations that either accept less responsibility and apply to defensive strategies or companies
which prefer to accept more responsibility during the crisis and are not afraid of challenges. After
analyzing empirical data collected from 6 different hotels, we see that each hotel that chose
different solutions rather than suspending their activities, are companies that decided to accept
more responsibility toward their employees, customers, and society. Identifying and taking
responsibility for the main stakeholders of the company is emphasized in many different social
sustainability-related theories (Dillard et al., 2008). Local communities, employees and customers
are stakeholders that have been mentioned by Dillard et al. (2008) and in CSR theory (Pavlovich,
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2003; Ritchie and Crouch, 2003; Miller, 2001) and here we will also try to analyze the influence
of hotels’ strategies on their customers, employees, and local communities.
Customers
The perception and understanding of customers have changed during the crisis in the hotels that
we have researched. Perceiving hotels’ guests as people that are going on vacations, having
business trips, or just having the necessity of staying at different places is something that has
completely changed during the crisis. Depending on the strategies of the hotels their guests have
mainly become medical workers, hospital patients, or people sent in a quarantine. The definition
of guests is not the only thing that looked different during the pandemic, but the demand from
customers has also been significantly transformed. The demand for high-class service and comfort
has mainly changed to the demand for safety. By choosing each above-discussed type of strategies
companies help people with the product that they need the most. Doctors, who spend many hours
taking care of infected patients (Ten Hill Place, Wythe and Burrard hotels), patients that do not
have to stay in hospitals, but still need medical care (Grange Hotel) and people, that need to be
isolated to protect their friends and family members (Park Hotel and Sheraton) are guests of the
hotels from our six cases. Hence, all the hotels with successful strategies managed to change their
perception of customers and also changed their products. Reconceiving products and markets are
one of the main directions of the concept of CSV (Kramer and Porter, 2011). If we connect it to
the crisis management theory, which emphasizes the importance of quick decisions (Bundy, 2017),
we can assume that the hotels managed to make socially sustainable decisions during the crisis
when the time for decision-making was extremely limited compared to usual situations.
Communities
The importance of contributing to the local communities is discussed in many theories related to
the social dimension of social sustainability (Jones et al., 2016; Kramer and Porter, 2011; Dillard
et al., 2008). As for the practice, we also see that there are hotels, which despite the crisis and
major financial difficulties, tried to make a positive contribution to local communities. Ten Hill
Place, Wythe and Burrard hotels, which are providing free stays for medical staff and other key
workers made it possible for such important people for society to avoid public transport, to defend
their family members and finally the hotels let them relax after having long and tiring shifts in
hospitals. As a result, hotels managed to help doctors and nurses stay healthy, and therefore helped
the society by keeping its medical workers at their workplaces. The Grange Hotel that was
converted into a discharge hospital and provided hospital beds for patients with mild symptoms,
freed up necessary hospital beds for patients with more difficult symptoms. As for two hotels from
Georgia, offering quarantine zones for people with high risk of being infected, helped their
communities by preventing the spread of the virus outside of the quarantine zones. So, we can
assume that the strategic solutions from six different hotels had the impact on the local
communities and the impact was mainly positive.
Employees
Another group of stakeholders that we want to touch in this analysis is employees of the hotel
industry - the group which was probably affected the most by the pandemic. The hotels that
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managed to keep their doors open also managed to maintain at least a part of their employees.
Hotels from the UK, Canada, and the USA from our cases managed to maintain part of their
employees and put the rest on furloughs supported by countries’ governments. Though hotels in
developing countries, where government support is much less, have much bigger responsibility
toward their employees. If putting the employee on furloughs means reducing their salaries by
20%-25% in developed countries, the same action in Georgia could cause leaving the employee
with $65 monthly compensation from the government. That is why, Park hotel maintained 100%
of its employees. As for the Sheraton Tbilisi, they decided to maintain every local employee and
pay them 40% reduced salaries, rather than reducing the number of employees. So, we can see that
responsibility toward the employees can vary based on different circumstances like country
specifications. As Allen (2003) mentioned, the vulnerability to the crisis is expected to be higher
in the developing countries, which we also see from our research. Finally, caring about the health
and safety of their remaining workers was the key factor for employee-oriented social
sustainability and each hotel managed to contribute to the well-being of their employees also by
providing every necessary safety measure during their working period. Every hotel that
participated in the research provided workers with all the necessary training, equipment, and
procedures to take care of their health and safety.
According to the crisis management theory, the role of leaders, their skills, and open-minded
decisions are important for quick and valuable decisions (Bundy et al., 2017), however, our
research showed the opposite. In every case that we studied, we saw the importance of teams, staff,
and team-based decisions, rather than autocratic decisions from CEOs. The general manager of the
Park Hotel talked about the importance of teamwork and emphasized that the main decision was
made only after receiving confirmation from each employee. The managing director of Ten Hill
Place Hotel discussed the importance of collective decisions and explained the decision-making
process as the process of agreement within board members. Decisions were also made on a daily
meeting basis within Burrard Hotel’s management team, their employees, and partner
organizations. As for the Wythe hotel, the management team and the employees were in constant
formal and informal communication to exchange information and to shape important decisions.
Similarly, Sheraton Tbilisi also made the main decisions with the participation of each board
member. Finally, the Grange Hotel had also the constant communication with its small team
members during every stage of the decision-making process. The research showed that regardless
of the significance of strong leaders, the role of teams and team decisions were more important
during the COVID-19 crisis. If Dowell et al. (2011) suggested that powerful CEOs would increase
the likelihood of quick decisions, the empirical data demonstrated that hotels were able to make
important decisions quickly on a team basis.
5.3 Post-crisis
We are conducting our research during April and May 2020, when the virus outbreak is still active,
and even though some positive signs can be seen, we and the hotel industry still do not have clear
expectations for the future. So, here, when we talk about the post-crisis, we mainly mean the post-
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lockdown period when hotels and other industries are already able to continue working, however,
the crisis for the hotel industry might continue for at least several more months.
The strategies that the hotels from our research have chosen are applicable in the lockdown period,
however, they cannot be used for a long time after the pandemic. The possible difficulties in the
tourism industry are also expected by management teams of our research cases and every hotel,
that we have touched in our research, plan to focus their post-lockdown strategies mainly on local
travel, rather than to expect benefits from international travel from the early stages.
According to the crisis management theory post-crisis period is considered as a time for learnings
(Coombs and Laufer, 2018) and companies have already started to analyze main learning outcomes
from the crisis they have just faced. As we have already mentioned, the procedures and standards
in the hotel industry are hugely affected by the pandemic and in case of long periods of the virus
outbreak hotels need to create new solutions for important hotel services like restaurants, events
etc. Every hotel that we communicated with had already started working on such solutions when
we had conducted interviews with them. As for the main learning, all hotels, from our empirical
studies, have already created important procedures for the virus outbreak and have gained the
experience for such problems in the future.
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6. Conclusion
The crisis that the hotel industry faced from the beginning of 2020 is definitely one of the most
difficult crises that it has ever experienced before. During the lockdown, when a lot of restrictions
were introduced from the governments, including the restrictions on travel, the majority of hotels
had no choice rather than closing their properties temporarily. However, in our research, we found
and explored the cases when hotels applied to different, socially sustainable strategic solutions.
How do hotels manage the crisis caused by COVID-19 pandemic in a socially sustainable way? –
Here we will finally try to answer our main research question.
The socially sustainable business and in particular the hotel industry has the responsibility toward
their stakeholders. However, the responsibility might be even felt more during the crisis and
especially during the COVID-19 crisis. When the hotels’ employees are struggling to maintain
their jobs, when the customers have changed their behavior and when the communities face many
problems related to the pandemic, socially sustainable strategic solutions from the hotel industry
firstly translate into the recognition of their important stakeholders and then ends with taking care
of their well-being. Hotels that managed to keep the focus on social sustainability during the crisis,
they managed to contribute the wellbeing of their employees - by providing them with jobs and
safe working conditions, customers – by identifying and fulfilling their real needs, and local
communities – by helping in fight with the virus.
Finally, we want to sum up the paper with two main findings of the research. First of all, the
research clearly showed that hotels, with successful socially sustainable strategic solutions, cope
with the crisis with flexibility and quick decisions rather than with the help of predetermined
strategic plans or manuals. And secondly, one of the main contributors to quick successful strategic
solutions were teamwork and team decisions, rather than powerful charismatic leaders, like
presented in the theory. Hotels with small boards, high levels of flexibility, and with focus on team
decisions managed to keep the focus on social sustainability even during such difficult crisis.
6.1 Research Limitations and Further Research
We conducted our research when the hotel industry and the whole world were still facing a strong
crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the countries that we have included in our
research still were in a lockdown and the hotels were not still able to function normally. Today it
is extremely hard for the industry and for us to foresee the situation we will see in the near or
distant future. We managed to properly explore pre-crisis or during the crisis phases of the crisis,
however, we were limited to fully research the post-crisis response from the hotel industry.
Besides, as we have already mentioned before, existing strategies from the hotels are applicable
only for a short period of time. However, when the government support schemes are over and the
industry will still be facing the problem of bookings, they might face the most difficult problem
related to their employees. Hotels might face the situation when they are not still able to function
properly, but at the same time, there might not be government supportive schemes in place
35
______________________________________________________________________________
anymore. Therefore, the topic for the further research might be to explore post-lockdown period
more explicitly in order to research what will be the strategic solutions of the hotels after the
lockdown period, how will they manage to maintain their workforce and how will they manage to
keep the focus on the issues of the social sustainability. After the hotel industry finally overcomes
the crisis, the research should explore the final results in the industry in order to assess a broader
and more comprehensive picture.
36
______________________________________________________________________________
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41
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8. Appendix
8.1 Interview Questions
QUESTIONS THEORY REFERENCES
1. What is your company’s general approach, Social Sustainability Ayuso (2007); Dillard et al.
strategy to provide well-being and satisfaction in the Hotel Industry (2008); European
of your stakeholders (for example employees, Commission (2011); Jamali
customers and community)? Please, mention (2008); Jones et al., (2016);
specific appropriate decisions or projects.
Miller (2001); Mitchell et
al. (1997); Pavlovich
(2003); Porter and Kramer
(2011); Ritchie and Crouch
(2003); United Nations’
World Tourism
Organization’s (2020);
UNWTO (2020).
2. How would you describe internal Pre-Crisis Bundy et al., (2017);
organizational systems in your company Management Coombs (2007); Drabek
before the crisis and how did they influence (1995); Faulkner (2001);
your decisions during the crisis? Henderson (2007);
- Organizational structure, level of hierarchy? Paraskevas (2006).
- Decision-making process?
- Organizational culture?
3. Did you have a Crisis Management Plan Pre-Crisis Bundy et al., (2017);
prepared before the crisis started? Was the Management Coombs (2007); Drabek
plan related to pandemics? Was it helpful (1995); Faulkner (2001);
during COVID-19 Pandemic? Henderson (2007);
Paraskevas (2006).
4. What was the influence of Covid-19 During the Crisis Bundy and Pfarrer (2015);
pandemic on hotel’s working conditions and Bundy et al., (2017);
occupancy level from the initial stage of Coombs (2007); Coombs
pandemic before realizing the necessity of and Holladay (1996); Dean
radical changes? (2004); Dowell et al.
(2011); Faulkner (2001);
James et al., (2011);
Kellerman (2006).
5. What is your main strategic solution in During the Crisis Bundy and Pfarrer (2015);
response to the crisis? Please, describe your Bundy et al., (2017);
strategy. Coombs (2007); Coombs
- Which factors did influence your strategic and Holladay (1996); Dean
decision? (2004); Dowell et al.
42
______________________________________________________________________________
- Please describe the decision-making (2011); Faulkner (2001);

process: who made a decision, which units James et al., (2011);
were involved in the process and how fast was Kellerman (2006).
the decision made?
- What is the influence of the decision on your
finances?
6. What do you think is your strategic • During the Ayuso (2007); Bundy and
solutions’ influence on your company’s social Crisis Pfarrer (2015); Bundy et al.,
sustainability? Please, discuss the influence • Social (2017); Coombs (2007);
on your main stakeholders. Sustainability Coombs and Holladay
- How did the decision change the in the Hotel (1996); Dean (2004);
company's social sustainability Industry Dillard et al. (2008);
toward your employees? Dowell et al. (2011);
- How did the decision change the European Commission
company's social sustainability (2011); Faulkner
toward your customers? (2001);Jamali (2008);
- How did the decision influence James et al., (2011); Jones
the local community in general? et al., (2016); Kellerman
What are positive and negative (2006); Miller (2001);
influences?
Mitchell et al. (1997);
Pavlovich (2003); Porter
and Kramer (2011); Ritchie
and Crouch (2003); United
Nations’ World Tourism
Organization’s (2020);
UNWTO (2020).
7. Considering government regulations and During the Crisis Bundy and Pfarrer (2015);
company’s strategic goals, were there any Bundy et al., (2017);
other strategic choices you could have made Coombs (2007); Coombs
instead? And if so, what was main advantages and Holladay (1996); Dean
of your decision compared to other (2004); Dowell et al.
possibilities?
(2011); Faulkner (2001);
James et al., (2011);
Kellerman (2006).
8. How do internal and external During the Crisis Bundy and Pfarrer (2015);
communications look like during the crisis? Bundy et al., (2017);
How is it different from your previous Coombs (2007); Coombs
experience? and Holladay (1996); Dean
(2004); Dowell et al. (2011);
Faulkner (2001); James et
al., (2011); Kellerman
(2006).
9. Do you have any strategic plan or view of Post-Crisis Allen (2003); Bundy et al.,
post-corona development of your Management (2017); Coombs (2007);
43
______________________________________________________________________________
organization? What is your strategy for Coombs and Laufer (2018);

recovery? Faulkner (2001);
Paraskevas (2006).
10. What are main learnings from the crisis Post-Crisis Allen (2003); Bundy et al.,
experience by now? Could your company be Management (2017); Coombs (2007);
better prepared for the crisis? If so, how? Coombs and Laufer (2018);
(What will you do differently in future, after Faulkner (2001);
analyzing your experience?)
Paraskevas (2006).
11. Would you like to say something else, General Input

that we couldn’t cover during the interview?
8.2 List of Interviews
Country Hotel Name Position Date Communication Duration

tool
Canada The Darren General May Zoom 36

Burrard Simpson Manager 5th minutes
Hotel
Georgia The Park Beka Sales May Zoom 46

Hotel Kipiani Manager 7th minutes
Georgia The Fred General April Zoom 35

Sheraton Smits Manager 17th minutes
Hotel
The UK The Ten Scott Managing April Zoom 1 hour, 19

Hills Place Mitchell Director 24th minutes
Hotel
The UK The Jonathan General May Zoom 1 hour, 6

Grange Fletcher Manager 4th minutes
Hotel
USA The Jack Assistant May Google 31

Wythe Waddell General 5th Hangouts minutes
Hotel Manager
44
______________________________________________________________________________
8.3 Pictures: Hotels During the Pandemic
Picture 1. Park Hotel’s guests during the quarantine.

(Source: https://www.facebook.com/parkhoteltsinandali )
Picture 2. Park Hotel, the room during the quarantine. (Source: ethnography)
45
______________________________________________________________________________
Picture 3. Park Hotel – the breakfast is delivered on the table in corridor. (Source: ethnography)
46
______________________________________________________________________________
Picture 4. Park Hotel – the breakfast for quarantine guests. (Source: ethnography)
Picture 5. Park Hotel – guests are disinfected after check-out. (Source:

https://www.facebook.com/parkhoteltsinandali )
47
______________________________________________________________________________
Picture 6. Wythe Hotel – hotel’s staff are working together on getting the garden ready for
morning coffee service. (Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_5b3ZqpsT_/)
48
______________________________________________________________________________
Picture 7. Wythe Hotel – head of security with protective mask and gloves. (Source: Wythe
Hotel)
Picture 8. Wythe Hotel – donations from local companies for the medical workers, hotel guests.
(Source: Wythe Hotel)
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Tourism Amid Covid Thesis

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Social Sustainability in COVID-19

Crisis: The Case of the Hotel Industry

Master Thesis, 15 ECTS

Master’s Programme in Sustainable Management

Authors: Beka Katsadze & Daniel Milojevic

Key words: COVID-19, hotel industry, social sustainability, crisis management.

1.1 Problem Formulation and the Research Question

2.1 Crisis Management Theory and the Tourism industry

2.1.2 During the Crisis

2.2 Social Sustainability and the Hotel Industry

2.2.1 What is Social Sustainability?

2.2.2 Social Sustainability in the Hotel Industry

different researches such as Government organizations, tourists (customers), public sector,

3.1 Research philosophy

3.2 Research design

3.3 Research strategy

3.4 Data collection

3.4.2 An Auto-ethnographic Study

3.4.3 Secondary Data Collection

3.5 Data analysis

4.1 COVID-19 Pandemic and the World Hotel Industry

4.2 Country Overview - Georgia

4.3 Case 1 - Park Hotel Tsinandali, Georgia

Before the Crisis

After the Crisis

4.4 Case 2 - Sheraton Grand Tbilisi Metechi Palace, Georgia

Before the Crisis

4.5 Country Overview – UK

4.6 Case 3– Ten Hill Place Hotel, UK

Before the Crisis

After the Crisis

4.7 Case 4 – The Grange Hotel, UK

Before the Crisis

After the Crisis

4.8 Country Overview – Canada

4.9 Case 5 – Burrard Hotel, Canada

Before the Crisis

4.10 Country Overview – USA

4.11 Case 6 - Wythe Hotel, USA

Before the Crisis

After the Crisis

Name of Park Hotel Sheraton Ten Hill Grange Burrard Wythe

Country Georgia Georgia UK UK Canada USA

Has the Collaborates Receives Has the Has the Receives

Maintained Maintained Small part One third of Part of the Employees,

salaries enrolled the enrolled the government property

Helping their Helping their Helping Safe and Giving Helping

In In Remaining Free up Remaining Remaining

Table 1. Strategic solutions and the influence on stakeholders

5.2 During the Crisis

6.1 Research Limitations and Further Research

Bank of England. 2020. Monetary Policy Report. [ONLINE] Available at:

Bebbington, J. and Dillard, J., 2008. Social sustainability: an organizational-level analysis. In

Caradonna, J.L., 2014. Sustainability: A history. Oxford University Press.

Department of Finance Canada. 2020. Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan -

Department of Health. 2020. Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) | Department of Health.

Du Pisani, J.A., 2006. Sustainable development–historical roots of the concept. Environmental

GOV.UK. 2020. Coronavirus (COVID-19): Business support - GOV.UK. [ONLINE]

Harris, Jonathan M. and Neva R. Goodwin. 2001. “Volume Introduction.” In A Survey of

Miller,G.(2001), “Corporate responsibility in the UK tourism industry”, Tourism

Statista. 2020. Coronavirus cases in the UK 2020 | Statista. [ONLINE] Available

UNWTO. 2020. Impact assessment of the COVID-19 outbreak on international tourism |

UNWTO. 2020. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. [ONLINE] Available at: