The role of business model innovation in the hospitality industry during the COVID-19 crisis

The hospitality industry worldwide is among the hardest-hit industries from the COVID-19 lockdowns. Initial theoretical and practical observations in the hospitality industry indicate that business model innovation (BMI) might be a solution to recover from and successfully cope with the COVID-19 crisis. Interestingly, some firms in the hospitality industry already started tosuccessfully adapt their business models. This study exploresthe why and how of these successful recovery attempts through BMI byconducting a multiple case study of six hospitality firms in Austria.We rely on interview data from managers together with one of their main stammgastsfor each case, which we triangulate with secondary data for the analysis. Findings show that BMI is applied during and after the crisis to create new revenue streams and secure a higher level of liquidity, with an important role of stammgasts.

Autor:

Breier, Matthias & Kallmuenzer, Andreas & Clauß, Thomas & Gast, Johanna & Kraus, Sascha & Tiberius, Victor