Dela Cruz, Florilyn V.

BSTM3 AFRICA

ARTICLE

“COVID-19 management in hotels and other entities of the accommodation sector”

August 25, 2020

This document is an update of the interim guidance published on 31 March 2020 (1), which was
developed by a review of WHO and UNWTO guidance documents and internal consultation at WHO,
UNWTO and UNICEF, based on new knowledge available about COVID-19, including prevention of
transmission and the management of suspected or confirmed cases. It is designed to cover hotels and
other accommodation facilities of all sizes, including campsites, operating in the time of the current
pandemic. Private tourism accommodation providers (2) are invited to follow the operating guidelines. In
addition, this document should be helpful for any authority involved in public health—including the
International Health Regulations National Focal Point, local health authorities, local, provincial, and
national health surveillance and response systems—to respond to a public health event in hotels and other
establishments providing accommodation. The present guidance should be used in conjunction with the
continuously updated information on the WHO COVID-19 website (3) and should consider the SARS-
CoV-2 transmission scenario

COVID-19 considerations According to current evidence, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-
19, is primarily transmitted between people via respiratory droplets and person-to-person contact routes.
Transmission may also occur by touching objects or materials carrying infection (fomites) in the
immediate environment around the infected person (4). The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are
fever, dry cough, and tiredness. Other symptoms that are less common and may affect some persons with
COVID-19 include aches and pains, nasal congestion, headache, conjunctivitis, sore throat, diarrhea, loss
of taste or smell or a rash on skin or discoloration of fingers or toes. Some people become infected but
only have mild symptoms and some people infected with SARS-CoV-2 have no symptoms at all. Detailed
information on symptoms of COVID-19 can be found on the WHO website (5). Prevention measures
include regular and thorough hand hygiene; physical distancing; avoiding touching eyes, nose, and
mouth; good respiratory hygiene and the wearing of staff and clients with whom they interact (which
could require the use of physical barriers). Staff should have access to facilities, and supplies for regular
hand hygiene, regular cleaning and disinfection of high-touch surfaces in public areas. A process,
including supplies, for cleaning and disinfection of any of rooms occupied by ill persons should also be
incorporated into the plan. The plan could also incorporate policies for teleworking, a screening process
for staff coming to work, and policies for safe return to work post exposure and post recovery from
COVID-19 (8,9). The plan should be updated when necessary as a consequence of new guidance,
procedures or regulations issued by pertinent authorities medical masks for at-risk individuals or fabric
masks for the general public where there is community transmission and physical distancing cannot be
maintained (6). Detailed advice on prevention can be found on the WHO website (7). Appropriate
ventilation of buildings and indoor settings, and environmental cleaning and disinfection—in particular of
frequently touched objects and surfaces—can help reduce the risk of infection (see page 5 for detailed
instructions). COVID-19 and the accommodation sector Hotels and accommodation establishments are
places where there is a high degree of interaction among guests and workers. It is these aspects—the
lodging of guests, the services this entails (food and beverage, cleaning, activity organization, etc.) —and
the interactions specific to these establishments (guest-guest, guest-staff, and staff-staff) that require
specific attention. All staff of the accommodation establishment should comply with basic protective
measures against COVID-19 including hand hygiene, physical distancing, avoiding touching eyes, nose
and mouth, cough and sneezing etiquette (respiratory hygiene), use of medical or fabric masks, stay-at-
home orders when indicated and seeking medical attention when symptoms consistent with COVID-19
are present.

Reference: file:///C:/Users/ADMIN/Downloads/WHO-2019-nCoV-Hotels-2020.3-eng%20(6).pdf
 Previous Study
Business continuity in the COVID-19 emergency: A framework of actions undertaken by world-
leading companies
October 2021

Since the first months of 2020, the world has experienced an unprecedented health emergency generated
by the global diffusion of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19). On March 11, 2020, the World Health
Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic and on November 30, 2020, the WHO reported
about 62 million confirmed cases and 1.5 million confirmed deaths affecting 220 countries, areas, or
territories.

Besides representing extraordinary health and social emergency, the pandemic is also a major threat to
companies and the continuity of their business processes. Whereas business continuity represents a
strategic organizational capability (Wong, 2009) also associated with resilience (Parker & Ameen,
2018; Sabatino, 2016; Sahebjamnia et al., 2015; Schätter et al., 2019), the literature has specifically
discussed the relevance of crisis management for the survival of organizations (Laufer, 2015). A
classification effort was also conducted to identify key research themes and trends in crisis management
(Coombs & Laufer, 2018) along the different pre-crisis (prevention and preparation), crisis (response),
and post-crisis (learning and revision) activities (Coombs, 2015).

The interest in investigating business continuity and a company’s ability to respond to a critical scenario
is significantly relevant in the most recent pandemic. The difficult contingency caused by COVID-19
represents an important context to investigate company reactions. The main positioning and research goal
of this article is to analyze world-leading organizations and to build a framework of responses realized by
those firms to ensure business continuity in the pandemic scenario. Besides analyzing responses aimed to
ensure the preservation of current value, we have a secondary focus to discuss how the emergency can
generate opportunities for organizations to create new stakeholder value.

After a review of extant approaches on business continuity and organizational resilience in emergency
scenarios, we present an in-depth analysis of the responses of the first 50 Fortune Global 500 companies
to the COVID-19 emergency as well as a content analysis of web pages and LinkedIn posts of companies
dedicated to the pandemic. Then, we discuss how we isolated 77 actions aggregated into a five-level
framework that encompasses operations, customers, workforce, leadership, and community-related
responses. Finally, we describe six company cases as illustrative examples of organizations attempting to
create new business value in the critical scenario.

Abstract:
The COVID-19 emergency has urged companies to operate in new ways to face supply chain
interruptions, shifts in customer demand, and risks to workforce health. The organizational ability to
respond to critical contingencies is crucial for business leaders in the perspective of continuing business.
In our research, we investigate the actions undertaken by 50 world-leading corporations to respond to the
pandemic. Applying content analysis to web pages and social network posts, we extract 77 actions related
to 13 sub-areas and integrate these into a five-level framework that encompasses operations, customer,
workforce, leadership, and community-related responses. We also describe six illustrative company
examples of how the emergency can generate opportunities for creating new value. The study advances
the scholarly discussion on the impact of emergencies on business continuity and can help leaders define
response strategies and actions in the current challenge.

Reference: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681321000227#sec1
 THEORY
“Business Continuity Management among Small Hotels in Nigeria”
June 08, 2021

Abstract
Disasters happen from time to time all over the world. Companies face man-made and natural disasters
that threaten to interrupt main business activities. Many small businesses do not open after a disaster.
Business continuity management is used to help companies respond to any unprecedented event timely
and effectively. The study’s objective includes examining the preparation and readiness of small hotels
for any potential disaster; examine the critical components of effective Business continuity management
and the impact of disaster preparedness on business continuity. Data were collected from primary sources
using a structured questionnaire. The target respondents were motels, guest houses, and one & two-star
hotels in Lagos, Nigeria. Data were collected from 150 respondents, and only 140 were viable and
analyzed using SPSS and Excel. The majority of the respondents were hotels, and most have been in
business for over 5years. The study shows that prevention strategies popularly put in place by these
institutions were against fire, burglary, and local political instability. They seem to be laidback regarding
risks such as floods, storms & lightning, and acts of terrorism. Risk assessment efforts were also seen to
be directed towards risks such as fire, pandemic, and labor dispute/political instability. Risks such as a
pandemic, acts of terrorism and flood, storm & lightning were seen not to receive much attention.

Keywords: Business continuity management, Business continuity plan, Disaster recovery plan, Chaos
theory, theory of planned behavior, Hospitality sector, small business.

Reference:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
354006404_Business_Continuity_Management_among_Small_Hotels_in_Nigeria
Conclusion
The interest in investigating business continuity and a company`s ability to respond to a critical scenario
is significantly relevant in the most recent pandemic. The main positioning and research goal of this
article is to analyze world-leading organizations and to build a framework of responses realized by those
firms to ensure business continuity in the pandemic scenario. Besides analyzing responses aimed to
ensure the preservation of current value, we have a secondary focus to discuss how the emergency can
generate opportunities for organizations to create new stakeholder value. After a review of extant
approaches on business continuity and organizational resilience in emergency scenarios, the COVID-19
emergency as well as a content analysis of web pages and LinkedIn posts of companies dedicated to the
pandemic. Many small businesses do not open after a disaster. Business continuity management is used
to help companies respond to any unprecedented event timely and effectively. The study`s objective
includes examining the preparation and readiness of small hotels for any potential disaster.
 Assessment of the Operation of the Hotel and Resort Industry in Nueva Ecija : Basic for Business
continuity Plan
Researcher:
Dela Cruz, Florilyn V.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to access the operation of the Hotel and Resort industry in Nueva Ecija.
Specifically this study aims to answer the following questions.:

1. How may the profile of the respondents be described in terms of the following:
1.1 types of business provided;
1.2 number of employees;
1.3 number of clients for months/year
1.4 days of operation; and
1.5 annual income?
2. How may the operation of the hotel and resort industry in Nueva Ecija be assessed in terms
of the following:
2.1 Planning
2.2 Organizing
2.3 Leading;
2.4 Controlling; and
2.5 Stapping
3. Is there a significant relationship between the profile of the respondents and the assessed
operation of the Hotel and Resort Industry in Nueva Ecija.
4. How many research findings be used in creating a business continuity plan?
Null Hypothesis
There is no significant relationship between the profile of the respondents and the assessed operation
of the Hotel and Resort Industry in Nueva Ecija.