Question

Conceptual framework for marketing the Travel & Hospitality services for post COVID-19 or projection for 5-10years.

Answer 1

: This study aims to develop a conceptual framework of the service delivery system design for hospitality firms in the (post-)viral world. Several theoretical approaches such as resource-based view, value chain analysis, stakeholder theory, PESTEL analysis, positioning strategy, and service delivery system design were adopted. The paper identified three service delivery system designs (robotic, human-based, and mixed) and analyses their requirements, advantages, disadvantages, and potential target markets. According to the suggested model, hospitality firms need first to explore the expectations of tourists. Then comes the analysis phase (based on a holistic perspective, and consisting of RBV, Value chain, Stakeholder, and PESTEL analyses), which helps hospitality firms to identify how they should differentiate and position themselves in the market. Following, companies decide on what kind of service delivery system they should offer to their target customers, and position themselves in the market according to the chosen system.
COVID-19 is a major disruptor of the tourism and hospitality industries . The fear of the virus forced governments to undertake various actions to slow its spread. Borders were closed, airplanes were grounded, hotels, restaurants, conference and convention venues, and other hospitality companies had to close their premises, compulsory quarantine measures were imposed on populations, physical distancing was introduced as a recommended social behaviour of people . As a result of tourists’ fear of the virus and governments’ actions to curb it and many companies had to fire their employees due to the lack of financial resources to pay salaries , while others went into default.

At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic creates many opportunities for hospitality companies to innovate to survive and remain competitive on the market. Hotels, restaurants, venues, museums, airports, airlines, cruise lines have to rewrite their health and safety protocols to decrease the probability of spreading the virus. Masks, transparent anti-virus helmets, and rubber gloves may become standard equipment for hospitality employees with direct contact with customers . Some hotels have adopted robots for the disinfection of rooms with ultraviolet light ). After resuming operations, hotels, restaurants, and venues had to work with decreased capacity to assure physical distancing among customers. Therefore, while the core service of hospitality companies does not change, the way the service is delivered to the tourists is changing. Due to the pandemic, hospitality companies’ service delivery systems may undergo a major transformation to incorporate physical distancing as an integral part of the hospitality service.

Prior research has already recognised the strategic role of information and communication technologies including for hospitality companies’ marketing communications, distribution strategies, supply chain management, experiences design, creating and sustaining competitive advantage, etc. However, the current COVID-19 pandemic may assign additional roles to technologies, especially robots, in the strategic management of hospitality companies . The pandemic forced health authorities to impose physical distancing as a way to slow down the spread of the virus because the virus spreads easier than previous pandemics due to its less distinguishable symptoms and longer incubation The pandemic is changing the behaviour of tourists – they become more sensitive towards the health and safety standards of firms and destinations . Therefore, hospitality firms need to develop the right service delivery system design which meets both the customers’ expectations and fits the firm’s resources and capabilities. This would make it easier for hospitality firms to position and differentiate themselves in the market and target their potential customers. In this respect, robots may be a beneficial tool to ensure a high level of physical distance during and after the pandemic . When people do not have physical closeness and keep distance, the risk of being infected decreases, hence through robots, hospitality companies may provide a service that is safe to the health of both tourists and employees. Additionally, in the (post-)viral era, the use of service robots may be widespread as people would be more concerned about their safety and security when receiving services from hospitality firms . Therefore, service robots may gain a strategic significance for the service delivery systems of hospitality firms.

1.2. Aim
In light of the above discussion, this paper aims to develop a conceptual framework of the service delivery system design for hospitality firms in the (post-)viral world. Specifically, it aims to: a) identify and analyse the physically distant service delivery designs in hospitality firms in the (post-)viral world; b) analyse the role of customer expectations, company’s resources, activities, stakeholders, positioning strategy, and external macroenvironment in the service delivery system design; c) develop a strategic model of service delivery system design in hospitality firms in the (post-)viral world; and d) elaborate on the role of robots in service delivery system in hospitality firms in the (post-)viral world.

To achieve the aim, the rest of the paper is organised as follows. The next section provides a focused literature review on the strategic management frameworks (resource-based view, value chain, stakeholder theory, PESTEL), differentiation as a positioning strategy, service delivery system design, and service robots in hospitality. Section 3 develops and elaborates on the conceptual framework of the service delivery system design in hospitality firms in the (post-)viral world: Section 4 discusses the theoretical, managerial and policy implications, paper’s contribution and limitations, outlines directions for future research, and concludes the paper.