ABSTRACT

This study is an attempt to capture the impact on, and sentiments of hotels induced by, COVID-19 pandemic in the Emirate of Sharjah, the third largest emirate of United Arab Emirates (UAE) and also propose plausible strategies to recover from the on-going crisis. The study used critical realism meta-theory as ontological and epistemological assumptions and triangulation in mixed method research design. The data were collected from the General Managers of different categories of hotels operating in the emirate through a questionnaire survey for quantitative analysis and in-depth interviews for interpretative phenomenological analysis. The study finds that managers of 3- and 4-star hotels feel they are more severely affected, have more negative sentiments on the performance of hotels, and will take longer time to recover from the crisis as compared to 5-star and deluxe hotels. This study suggests that building financial capability, brand support and customer base are the promising strategies for the hotels to overcome from such a crisis. Exclusivity of the study lies in the application of pragmatism in its methodology. The findings are valuable for hotels, government and other stakeholders of the hospitality sector to overcome from the crisis.

摘要

本研究试图捕捉 COVID-19 大流行对阿拉伯联合酋长国 (UAE) 第三大酋长国沙迦酋长国的酒店的影响和情绪，并提出了从疫情中恢复过来的合理策略。走向危机。该研究使用批判现实主义元理论作为混合方法研究设计中的本体论和认识论假设和三角测量。数据是通过问卷调查进行定量分析和深入访谈进行解释性现象学分析，从酋长国经营的不同类别酒店的总经理那里收集的。研究发现，三、四星级酒店管理人员认为自己受到的影响更严重，对酒店业绩的负面情绪更多，与五星级和豪华酒店相比，从危机中恢复需要更长的时间。这项研究表明，建立财务能力、品牌支持和客户群是酒店克服这种危机的有希望的策略。该研究的排他性在于其方法论中实用主义的应用。这些发现对于酒店、政府和酒店业的其他利益相关者克服危机非常有价值。