Sentiments and recovery of the hospitality sector from Covid-19 – a managerial perspective through phenomenology

Abstract

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.