From Darkest to Finest Hour: Recovery Strategies and Organizational Resilience in China’s Hotel Industry During the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected the global tourism industry and continues to impact the Chinese hotel sector today. Using a multiple cases study method, we analyzed the response strategies of four Chinese hotel groups – Jinling, Jinjiang, New Century Hotels & Resorts, and Huazhu Group Ltd.—across four successive periods: (1) outbreak; (2) first recovery; (3) struggle; and (4) a predicted finest moment. We identified four internal recovery strategies: (a) rapid response, (b) recovery exploration, (c) optimization and upgrading, and (d) rejuvenation. Hotel groups’ resilience proceeded through all four stages include (re)activation, consolidation, extension, and ecosystem. Each stage demonstrated the companies’ movement from reliance on internal resources to interdependence across the supply chain with on the help of digital services such as contactless check-in, robot delivery and cloud-based PMS. We additionally identified a close link between stakeholders including online travel agencies, government and hotel chains. The analysis in the present study is premised on resource utilization, product and service development, organizational management and operation, leadership, digitalization, and social responsibility. Suggestions to cope with a long-duration crisis like COVID-19 are also provided.