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