Business continuity planning for a medium-sized hotel under COVID-19 outbreak

Abstract

Business Continuity Planning is a subjective conceptual framework prominently used in operations related to supply chain, information technology, or governmental organizations. In this research, we have applied the concept of business continuity planning to a service business during the COVID–19 outbreaks, whose aim is to determine the business continuity objective with the maximum operational tolerable period. The proposed framework has been evaluated based on the ANOVA Test of a guest’s service questionnaire of a hotel in Rayong, Thailand. We find that, by reducing business operating cost via staff working hours reduction and limiting service functions of the hotel to the minimal possible level, the hotel could still achieve the break-even point at a cost of revenue reduction. Care must be therefore taken in order to ensure the effectiveness of provided services without affecting the overall customer satisfaction. We also find that customer perception related to COVID-19 prevention procedure is very crucial and closely related to the positive customer experience during their stay. In terms of business, the hotel should also focus on other revenue streams, including the B2B selling or the provision of room services for staff containment during COVID -19 outbreaks. More importantly, even with a good business planning, the hotel still needs to intermittently revise financial plans to help maintain the business during crisis.