Purpose

As the world tries to come to terms with the exact economic and human cost of the Covid-19 pandemic, businesses are trying to discern and act on the implications of the “new normal” in order to survive and grow. Amongst all the industries impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, travel and tourism has been the hardest hit. Operators across the value chain are trying to innovate and improvise in order to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on cash flows and working capital. The primary purpose of this paper then is to take a closer look at the measures adopted by the Indian hotel industry to restore revenues, conserve resources and attain greater operational and cost efficiencies in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis. The article also brings to the fore the growth-enhancing measures adopted by the industry in anticipation of a “new normal” in the post-Covid world.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on primary data collected via a survey, followed by a series of interviews with a select group of senior finance managers from a wide spectrum of hotels based in India.

Findings

Our findings suggest that Indian hotels have adopted several measures to enhance cash flows/revenues, reduce operating costs and cash outflows and conserve resources in order to tide themselves over during the crisis. Prominent cash flow–enhancing measures include price drops on special offers and reductions on list prices. Cost-cutting measures include economizing on energy consumption, reductions in labour costs and the postponement of maintenance expenses and discretionary spending. Resource conservation measures that have been adopted focus on postponement of capital expenditure and an increasing shift to localizing supply chains. Growth-enhancing measures adopted by the industry in anticipation of the long-term “new normal” include restructuring of the workforce and measures aimed at attracting domestic tourists and increasing product diversity.

Originality/value

This study attempts to understand the short-term and long-term financial management strategies adopted by Indian hotels in the face of unprecedented disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first of its kind in the Indian context.

中文翻译：

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在后 Covid 世界中生存和发展：以印度酒店为例

目的

随着世界试图接受 Covid-19 大流行的确切经济和人力成本，企业正试图辨别“新常态”的影响并采取行动，以求生存和发展。在受 Covid-19 大流行影响的所有行业中，旅行和旅游业受到的打击最大。整个价值链的运营商都在努力创新和即兴发挥，以减轻大流行对现金流和营运资金的影响。本文的主要目的是仔细研究印度酒店业在 Covid-19 危机期间为恢复收入、节约资源和提高运营和成本效率而采取的措施。

设计/方法/方法

本研究基于通过调查收集的主要数据，随后对来自印度多家酒店的精选高级财务经理进行了一系列访谈。

发现

我们的调查结果表明，印度酒店已采取多项措施来提高现金流/收入、降低运营成本和现金流出并节约资源，以便在危机期间渡过难关。突出的现金流改善措施包括特价降价和标价降低。削减成本的措施包括节约能源消耗、降低劳动力成本以及推迟维护费用和可自由支配的支出。已采取的资源保护措施侧重于推迟资本支出和越来越多地转向本地化供应链。

原创性/价值

本研究试图了解印度酒店在面对 Covid-19 大流行造成的前所未有的破坏时所采用的短期和长期财务管理策略。据我们所知，这篇论文是印度语境中的第一篇此类论文。