DETERMINING THE CRISIS MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES APPLIED BY HOTEL MANAGERS DURING THE OUTBREAK OF CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19)

The aim of this research is to determine the crisis management strategies that city hotel managers applied during the Covid-19 pandemic period. The data for the research were collected from the managers in Eskisehir, which is popular with city tourism. Findings may contribute to the literature by offering crisis management strategies that can be guiding for managers of other city hotels. Semi-structured interview questions as a part of qualitative method were used to collect the data. The interviews were held with 13 hotel managers between 25th September and 21th October 2020. Thematic analysis was used and three main themes and nine sub-themes were revealed. The findings showed that hotel managers felt the negative effects of the crisis in the hotels where they worked. Despite the fact that hotel managers were caught unprepared for the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis, they managed to control the crisis process well with their knowledge, skills and experience. Managers adopted a reactive approach since there was no similar crisis situation before and made the necessary efforts to overcome the crisis. Suggestions were presented to researchers for future studies on the subject and to practitioners in the tourism sector on the development of crisis management strategies.