Building resilience to crisis through slack resources: A longitudinal analysis of US hotels

Building on slack resources theory and industrial characteristics, this study explores how hotels develop and deploy slack resources to achieve resilience to crisis. It conceptualizes that hotels could build various slack resources based on the flexibility of functional operations, such as rooms, food and beverage, and marketing. Using longitudinal data, we analyze the effects of slacks on resilience over long periods of time involving crisis, recovery, and post-recovery. Findings reveal the diverse impacts of slacks on resilience, suggesting that hotels should strategically use and accumulate different slacks at different times to maximize their resilience. This study contributes to tourism research on resilience and slack resource theory by providing theoretical framework and empirical evidence for the long-term process of slack utilization.