PARKING SERVICES IN THE HOTEL PRODUCT: ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES OF THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand whether and to which extent hotel enterprises, under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, have adjusted their business strategies with regard to parking services, given the change in the structure of guests, that is, a decrease in the number of air-travel guests and an increase in the number of car-travel guests. The study examines changes in turnover and guest structure in hotels in central and southern Dalmatia that were focused on air-travel guests in the pre-pandemic period. The study involved desk research to obtain insight into the responses of hotel enterprises to changed business conditions as a result of the pandemic, with special reference to the modification of business strategies in those segments deemed to be of special importance to individual destinations. This was followed by primary research using the interview method and involving managers in destinations accessible largely by air transport. The aim was to understand the quantitative and qualitative changes in guest turnover caused by the pandemic and to examine the attitude and resulting responses of managers in the segment of parking services for hotel guests. The study reveals the drop and change in the structure of hotel guest turnover and presents the various responses of managers, which ranged from implementing no measures to ensure the required parking spaces, to developing elaborate models. The contribution of the study is that it identifies the different strategic approaches that can be taken to ensure parking services for hotel guests, as those services are a crucial determinant of the quality of a hotel offering. The modified strategies of hotels in the segment of parking services for guests can serve as a platform upon which individual hotels, based on their specific features, could build their own business models, for the purpose of maintaining a certain turnover of guests until the time the situation in the market returns to normal.