Abstract
Health measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic, such as travel restrictions and quarantines, cause severe difficulties for the tourism and hospitality industries. This requires emergency response strategies to help hotel businesses respond and recover from the negative impacts of the crisis. Based on the theoretical framework of pandemic crisis management, this study explores response strategies in crisis management of hotel businesses in Thua Thien Hue Province in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with 15 hotel managers, and then thematic analysis explored the hotels' coping strategies, including (1) savings and survival strategies, (2) “hibernation” or service transformation strategies, and (3) recovery and innovation strategies. This study is significant because it is the first empirical study to explore the response strategies of hotel businesses based on a pandemic crisis management framework, which may be useful for hotel managers planning for the next crisis.
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