GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper was to assess the effect of COVID-19 on guests’ patronage in hospitality industries. Expost-facto research design was adopted for the study. The design was considered suitable because the phenomena for design studies had already occurred. The research was conducted in Victoria Island, Lagos State, Nigeria.The population of the study comprised of management staff, members of the board of directors, the managing director, functional managers, and supervisors in hospitality industries in Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria. A strategic random sampling technique was used to select 3 hotels in Victoria Island, Lagos State for the study. 30 respondents were randomly selected from each of the hotels for the study, giving a total of 90 respondents as the sample size. The main instrument used in this study was a questionnaire titled "Covid-19 and Guests’ Patronage in Hospitality Industry Questionnaire" (CGPHIQ). A letter of introduction was written by the researcher to the management of the three hotels for permission to conduct the research in their organization and also for assistance and understanding. When permission to conduct the research was granted, the questionnaire was issued to the respondents and retrieved six days later from each respondent. The data was analyzed using appropriate statistical techniques such as descriptive statistics to answer the research questions, while independent t-test analysis was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 alpha levels. The findings of the study revealed that the different categories of hospitality industry were affected by the pandemic, including accommodation and lodging, entertainment, travel and tourism, and food and beverages. Finally, the study concluded that there is significant effect of COVID-19 pandemic on the extent of patronage in the hospitality industries in Victoria Island, Lagos State. One of the recommendations made in the study was that since pre-paid rates are unlikely to be booked with the present levels of market uncertainty, it is highly recommended to remove the non-cancellable fees. Promoting flexi-rates and allowing guests to move a booking to a new date is another key strategy to promote hotel business in compensation for emergency cancellations.

KEYWORDS: COVID-19, Patronage and Hospitality industries