The Impact of the Coronavirus on Small Private Resorts A Market Research Presented to The Faculty of the Institute of Graduate Studies Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Marikina For the Course Marketing Management Professor Neo Saliva Celeste R. Lucero April 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 2 DISCUSSIONS 3 RESEARCH PURPOSE RESEARCH DELIMITATION METHODOLOGY USED QUANTITATIVE METHOD QUALITATIVE METHOD RESULTS AND INTERPRETATIONS 3 3 4 4 5 6 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 9 REFERENCES 10 INTRODUCTION A global loss of 75 million jobs and $2.1 trillion in profit on travel and tourism is projected should the coronavirus continues, and this is just for a several months projection (Becker,2020). According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, Asia could be the worst hit by the effects of the Coronavirus on global tourism. If and when the outbreak is over, it could still take a year or so before the industry can recover. Unfortunately, some if not most of the tourism related businesses may have been liquidated by then. 2019 was a good year for the Philippines in terms of Tourism. In the first three quarters alone, it has received more than six million foreign tourists. In 2018, more than twelve percent of the economy was accounted from Tourism. Needless to say, it plays a very important role in the Philippine economy. The first confirmation of the novel Coronavirus infection was on late January 2020. On the second week of March 2020, a Community Quarantine (CQ) was imposed in Metro-Manila, and then it became an Extended Community Quarantine (ECQ), and recently a lockdown even in some of the provinces. Checkpoints with military personnel has been in place to ensure strict social distancing measure. Travel bans followed which greatly affected the airport travel industry and hotel industry. Most if not all malls and shopping centers in Metro Manila, became like ghost towns due to the dire social distancing measures enforced receiving a whopping upset to the country's 16.7 trillion-peso economy (Venzon, 2020). 2|Page According to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, the tourism industry, is expected to witness a major impact as the country closed its borders with China and other countries due to the coronavirus infection. While the big leagues of the tourism industry e.g. Airlines, Mega Hotels and Casinos, may survive post-coronavirus, the question is, how about the small players such as Small Private Resorts. Loss of sales and reopening maybe a huge challenge for this industry, given that they have invested a significant capital but did not account for emergency funds for pandemics such as this. DISCUSSIONS RESEARCH PURPOSE The purpose of this Market Research is to find out the impact of the coronavirus on small private resorts, specifically to learn: 1. What are the negative impacts of the coronavirus on small private resorts? 2. What are the positive impacts of the coronavirus on small private resorts? 3. What outlooks do small private resorts have post-coronavirus? RESEARCH DELIMITATION Due to the extended community quarantine (ECQ), only one small private resort company was reached out for this Market Research. The name of the resort is Corben’s Place and is located within the boundaries of Marikina City and San Mateo, Rizal. Corben’s Place is fairly new to the Market. It only opened its doors early in 2019. The type of ownership Corben’s Place has is sole-proprietorship and belongs to the short-term rental industry. Furthermore, the survey focused only on the clients who booked on the official opening of Corben’s Place which was in October 2019. 3|Page METHODOLOGY USED This Market Research used a quasi-quantitative and qualitative approach. For the quantitative side, a Likert-scale type survey questionnaire was utilized (see Figure 1.0). For the qualitative side, a structured interview method was conducted (see questions at page 5). Quantitative Method Through email, a survey questionnaire was sent to 112 previous clients who rented Corben’s Place from October 2019 – March 9, 2020. From the 112, only 95 was able to send back a completed survey. Figure 1.0: Survey Questionnaire 4|Page Qualitative Method The core Marketing team was interviewed for this Market Research. They are the following: The Finance and Administrative Manager (FAM) – This is a cross-over between the financial aspect and administrative aspect of the business, as the FAM also oversee the Marketing Department The Social Media Manager (SSM) – This person oversees what is posted on Social Media such as Facebook. SSM also produces publicity campaigns, marketing materials, articles, photos, etc. He also advised the management as to which audience or market to target and amenities to improve or add in the resort. The Marketing Officer (MO) – The Marketing Officer physically interacts with the clients pre, during and post booking. He is basically the face of the resort and handles complaints, issues and other concerns of the client. The OJTs for Sales and Marketing – OJTs assist the SSM and MO These are the questions asked during the interview: 1. What are the negative impacts of the coronavirus to the business? How do you deal with these negative impacts? 2. What are the positive impacts of the coronavirus to the business? How do you reinforce these positive impacts? 3. What do you think is the outlook for the resort post-coronavirus? 5|Page RESULTS AND INTERPRETATIONS Quantitative Method The age group was divided into four (4) categories (Kasasa, 2019): 1944 – 1964 Baby Boomer 1965 – 1979 Gen X 1980 – 1994 Millennial 1995 – 2015 Gen Z Based on the survey from bookings made from October 2019 to March 9, 2020, around 57.89% belonged to the Millennial Group, 22.10% belonged to the Gen z group and 12.65% belonged to the Gen X group. No bookings made by the Baby Boomer group. Following are the results based on the survey conducted: 1. At an average of 4.89, previous 95 clients strongly agree that Corben’s Place is clean, safe, memorable, enjoyable and recommendable. 2. At an average of 4.92, previous 95 clients strongly agree that Corben’s Place staff are polite, helpful, clean and trustworthy. 3. At an average of 4.10, previous 95 clients indicated that they are still looking forward to rebook with Corben’s Place. 4. At an average of 4.13, previous 95 clients are still optimistic that Corben’s Place remains safe after the lockdown. 5. At an average of 3.31, previous 95 clients are leaning towards undecided whether they are canceling their vacation this year. 6. At an average of 2.17, previous 95 clients are not canceling their vacation plans next year. 6|Page Structured Interview Negative Impacts of the coronavirus Not being able to physically go the office which has been the routine High level of stress due to refund and cancellation request Worrying about staff welfare especially who are living in the resort Dealing with the Negative Impacts of the Coronavirus Work from home using the company laptop and mobile phones to get updated with what’s happening Working together with the SMM and MO to try and get the clients to rebook on a later date instead of cancellation Videocall at least 2 times a week and call or text everyone in the team to get update on their situations, ensuring they have enough food and that they are healthy and well Positive Impacts of the Coronavirus The company get to review their existing policies and procedures, Business Continuity Plan (BCP), and other company processes More room to improve Social Media presence and perhaps rebranding the resort based on the recent survey Reevaluate the staff’s readiness to battle stress and anxiety when dealing with crisis Reinforcing the Positive Impacts of the Coronavirus The resort is drafting a new short-term lease agreement for future bookings based on the issues presented during the ECQ/Lockdown 7|Page As part of their BCP, the resort has been remarketed (for the time being) as a transient home for front-liners/soldiers. Soldiers can stay at the resort, use the rooms, toilets and baths, and pay on daily-basis fixed rental fee. This way, the resort can still have a gainful income to pay for the employees who had been affected by the ECQ/Lockdown The core Marketing team also posted publicity materials on social media regarding the company’s effort to give back to the community. This way, previous and potential clients can have a positive recall when they hear or see Corben’s Place (which garnered 2,300 likes and 15 shares) The core Marketing team also posted publicity materials on the chemicals and disinfectants used by Corben’s Place, to assure previous and potential clients of the safety and cleanliness of the resort Overall, during the coronavirus ECQ/Lockdown, Corben’s Place has had 19,549 positive reach to potential clients who are looking forward to book in May – December 2020 Based on the recent survey, the core Marketing team is thinking of rebranding its image. Since 2019, the resorts image has been family-friendly. Perhaps, a trial rebranding that caters to groups of young professionals to millennials would be a nice experiment after the coronavirus ECQ/Lockdown Due to the coronavirus ECQ/Lockdown, the management team has identified the weaknesses of the employees in dealing with the stress and anxiety during crisis situations like this. The management is working on connecting with people who are able to train its staff most probably after the ECQ/Lockdown 8|Page CONCLUSION / RECOMMENDATIONS While negative impacts of the coronavirus on small private resorts have been discussed in this market research, the positive impacts have also been highlighted. Previously, Corben’s Place was fully booked from March 2020 to April 2020. But, when the coronavirus hit and ECQ imposed, bookings from the second week of March 2020 to April 2020 was requested to be either cancelled or rebooked to a later date. With the collaborative effort of the core Marketing team, around 90% of the cancellation requests has been turned into rebooking for a later date. This effort has saved the resort a lot, especially financial and administrative woes. Additionally, due to the persistent publicity maneuvers of the core Marketing team, there had been numerous booking request made for the months of May 2020 thru December 2020. These probably are the key activities that could make small private resorts stay in the game and have a positive outlook post-coronavirus. Feasibly, the most important points highlighted in this study in order for a small private resort to rebound from this crisis or pandemic situations are: Social Media Presence – Whether you are posting a relief effort, a previous event, or anything that gives your clients an update is important. Don’t lose your social media presence. You should always communicate to them that you are still existing and ready to welcome as soon as the dust settles. This is what’s Corben’s Place has been doing since the ECQ/Lockdown. Rebranding – The resort’s image is intended to connect the company with their clients, so if you reposition your resort to target a completely new customer profile -whether through age group, amenities or promotion -- your resort’s image will need to follow suit. Since Corben’s Place is a young company and that the coronavirus has 9|Page revealed a lot of things to think about, it might be a good time to contemplate on rebranding and up to what level, whether a partial or total rebrand – demographics can be a huge factor. The core Marketing team of Corben’s Place is looking into this albeit a partial and trial basis in the near future. Flexibility – As it is an opportune time to reevaluate every company’s BCP (Business Continuity Plan), it is commendable that the management was able to come up with temporary remarketing Corben’s Place as a transient place. It gave them a steady income at least to survive the ECQ/Lockdown It is recommended that Market Research such as this should be done on a wider scale, perhaps it should include the entire MSMEs per se of private resorts in Metro Manila and in the nearby provinces such as Rizal. A Market Research that will endeavor to draw out or establish best practices and lessons learned to strengthen these businesses in dealing with the negative impacts of crisis situations and pandemic in the future. Perhaps, Business Continuity Plans (BCPs) should be revisited with a sense of urgency this time. Otherwise, MSMEs of this nature may be the first ones to be annihilated postcrisis. REFERENCES Becker, E. (2020). How hard will the coronavirus hit the travel industry? Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/2020/04/how-coronavirus-is-impacting-thetravel-industry/ Ekstein, N. (2020). The Coronavirus’s Effect on Tourism Will Carry Into 2021, Experts Say. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-13/coronaviruss-effect-on-tourism-will-carry-into-2021-experts-say Kasasa (2019). Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, and Gen Z Explained. Retrieved from https://www.kasasa.com/articles/generations/gen-x-gen-y-gen-z Venzon, C. (2020). Manila lockdown cripples’ businesses big and small. Retrieved from https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coronavirus/Manila-lockdown-cripples-businesses-bigand-small 10 | P a g e