Time Context

The period in this case study starts from the martial law in Mindanao from May 2017 up
until December 31, 2019 but due to the after effects of COVID-19, Marco Polo Davao Hotel
succumbed to the economic fallout in 2020. The closure of Marco Polo Davao Hotel started on
May 8, with 270 jobless workers and the termination of operations were effective on June 15,
2020

View Point
This case study is about the termination of operations of Marco Polo Davao Hotel, this
focuses on the nature of operation amidst COVID-19 and the managerial challenges that Francis
Ledesma, President of Halifax Davao Hotel, INC., faced that resulted in indefinite cease of
operations due to the effects of COVID-19 pandemic.

I. Problem Statement
Marco Polo Davao hotel: Mindanao’s first and only five-star only terminates operations due
to evident consequences brought forth by the impact of COVID-19 in the service industry, along
with the decline of economic activity and decreased clientele in accordance to lessen contact
with foreign substances to lessen chances of increased infections of the coronavirus.

II. Statement of the Objective

Stabilizing the supply chain of clientele with the assistance of risk sharing to spread out risks
to make it easier for the management and clientele to tolerate the burden. Making use of existing
large markets and networks to seek out and along with the reputation benefit of Marco Polo
Davao hotel as part of the conscientious business that was built upon the business to focus on a
better delivery of value towards stakeholders and works that align with the interests of clientele,
industry participants, community, and the environment to the maximum extent as possible.

III. Areas of Consideration

1. Competitors with the same value of proposition should be taken into consideration in the
course of the action plan.
2. Existing ads should be maximized to its full potential across all strategies in alignment
with all possible channels.
3. Potential sources of strategic growth in numerous opportunity areas such as clientele
trends, clientele unmet needs, portfolio gaps, competitive opportunities, etc.
 i. STRENGTH

 Low cost of branding distribution by maximizing existing ads and strategies.

 Autonomous control over existing operations
 Well defined concepts leading to unique identity and modern characteristic of hospitality
conduct.
 Diversity of guest experience

ii. WEAKNESSES

 Lack of profitability.
 Unmet clientele needs.
 New normal policy.
 Implemented social distancing.

iii. OPPORTUNITIES

 Developing brand new marketing strategies.

 Generate a brand awareness for the market.
 Avoidance of termination of operations.

iv. THREAT

 Widespread loss of employment.

 Complete termination of hotel operations.
 Incurring loss of revenue.
 Further disruption of cash flow.
 Increased infection rates of coronavirus.
 Safety and health issues.

IV. Assumptions
The primary challenge that Marco Polo Davao hotel is currently facing is due to the
unforeseen threat of the coronavirus pandemic is covering the cost of maintaining business
operations while navigating around the COVID-19 pandemic. Numerous businesses have already
sustained losses in the first half of 2020 resulting in billions of net losses of larger corporations
within the service industry.
Due to evident consequences of the impact of COVID-19, there is a decline in the economic
performance within the last several months within the Philippines. As the Philippines
experienced the largest decrease in GDP growth rate compared to its neighboring countries, its
growth has plunged from 6.7% to 0.7% in the first quarter and has further dropped since the
emergence of COVID-19 (Chong, Li, & Yip, 2020). As a business within the service industry, it
is critical to keep personnel managing the business to be in a healthy condition when handling
clientele to prevent an increase in infections, and despite the effectiveness of contingency
planning, Marco Polo Davao hotel still experienced a disruption in their operations due to the
current situation within the country as it is still in disarray due to adapting to the New Normal,
being unfamiliar within the service industry, Marco Polo Davao hotel has been forced to shut
down operations.

V. Alternative Courses of Action

1. Aligning the existing revenue and marketing management strategies to develop a

recovery plan to increase revenue management at a rate strategy and parity across all
available channels, direct the booking perks, offer new packages, and offer flexible
cancellation policies.
2. Reconstructing their website details to allow potential guests to easily mark the
information they need to book their reservation.
3. Promote custom packages and special offers to tailor their target market with the
consideration of staycation offers for local resident and business leisure packages for
business travels.
4. Develop brand new marketing plans to increase the demands for travel that progressively
builds with the rise of travel demand over time to allow the management to resuscitate
the booking funnel in order to maximize the revenue. Starting with prior to the hotel
reopening and continuously shift from upper funnels and lower funnels targeting.
5. Ramping up the lower funnel targeting and retargeting to hone the in-market
audiences and continuously retarget website visitors as the hotel’s cookie pool grows
with the consideration of capturing within a 90-day lookback window.
6. Generate brand awareness and focus on locals and the drive-in market to begin ramping
up the fly-in markets and capture bookings with a month lookback window.
VI. Analysis
Following the proper procedure of business, updating the policies surrounding management
crisis is critical when it comes to coming up with strategies to overcome the aftereffects of the
pandemic, as every business must consider addressing such regulations and the requirements that
is unique to individual organizations. As Marco Polo Davao hotel can begin to regenerate their
income, the rate of recovery could still vary differently due to regional circumstances as it could
still force their operations to close due to the uncertainty and liability they could incur in the long
run if they persist to conduct operations. And as the extensive impact in the travel and tourism
industry has expanded to the state of being discernible due to the widespread loss of
employment. Including the damages incurred due to the travel restriction that has been imposed
with the inclusion of several regions, has grounded Marco Polo Davao hotel.

VII. Conclusion
As Marco Polo Davao hotel reflected its management’s philosophy of securing the safety of
the staff and chose to close operations to avoid any further losses if it persisted on continuing its
operations, by doing this they could still provide retirement pay and separation pay for their
people. From a conceptual and theoretical standpoint, this suggests a sense of urgency and
control of their own operation, as it provided different paths that Marco Polo Davao hotel could
involve in their framework. The concepts provided by the suggested numerous variables, it can
illustrate processes that can be manifested through activities and adaptive capacities that could
allow Marco Polo Davao hotel and their management to embark on a positive trajectory rather
than their pessimistic standpoint, providing a path to function and therefore adapt after its
devastating loss it has incurred.
Despite the various provided insight, the present case study is still not free of limitations. As
this study mainly focused on Marco Polo Davao hotel, the study’s generalizability and
application could still evolve to a wider context in order to be fully considered. This
consequently broadens the scope to elicit the data to potentially gather larger numbers and
include other hotel managements to play a key role. In conclusion, this case study could still test
the various theoretical framework proposed in this study, to confirm their overall value, or
potentially complement them with additional details that could yet still be uncovered from future
studies.
VIII. Plan of Action
Risk sharing should be implemented to spread out the risks to make it easier for the
clientele and management to tolerate the burden of liabilities. As the pandemic affected the
entirety of the hotel’s supply chain, risk sharing can also be extended to workers and those
without any safety nets to hold onto, as such to those who are most vulnerable in times where
there is a disruption in the operation function. The government could issue an assistance to pay a
small percentage in the worker’s wages, such as programs that have been implemented in
economy-wide in both the UK and Denmark (Godwin & Larsen, 2020).
With the provided comprehensive assessment intended to provide marketing strategies
for full scale operations and continuous operation for the supply chain management of Marco
Polo Davao, to alleviate the disruption of cash flow and minimize the losses that has been
incurred within the last few quarters of 2020. The proposed strategies shall be essential to supply
the demand and benefits for future cash flow and risk management support in case of failure to
gain the desired market acceptance. With the proposed government facilitation and redistribution
and risk sharing strategy, this could alleviate the current situation of Marco Polo Davao hotel and
its workers, with these proposed strategies, the business could avoid further losses in the
remainder of the year.

References
Chong, T. L., Li, X., & Yip, C. (2020, November 16). Economic and Political Studies. The impact of COVID-
19 on ASEAN.

Godwin, L., & Larsen, E. (2020, May 26). COVID-19 Has Sparked a Food Loss Crisis. Here Are 3 Ways to
Tackle It. Retrieved from World Resources Institute:
https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/05/coronavirus-tackling-food-loss