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Top1. Introduction
The coronavirus (COVID-19) is one of the deadliest pandemics of the 20th century. As it was first detected in Wuhan, China (Huang et al.,2020) , reported by WHO, currently infected more than 81,278,115 people and fatalities over1,774,390 worldwide (Till December 2020) and the digit are growing fast as second and third waves are going on in different countries (Johns Hopkins University,2020). To hold the number of spreading, though Wuhan was put into lockdown global air transportation had already carried the virus to most of the regions and, by mid-March, it had speeded through community transmission and reached over 200 countries (ECDC, 2020). All this fast-growing infection ultimately left WHO no choice but declare the virus a pandemic.
As the real number of cases still unknown due to lack of testing facilities in most countries and doctors and scientists are still working on a vaccine to prevent the disease. Though a Covid vaccine developed by Pfizer/BioNtech has been approved in the UK and the first doses have been already given to a 90-year-old patient on December 8 (Gallagher, 2020) still, most countries looking for alternative options, like lockdown (home quarantine), social distancing, the closing of schools/universities and non-essential businesses/workplaces, call off or postponing events like conferences and tradeshows, concerts and festivals, political meetings, elections, and sports, that means bans on social gatherings (Gӧssling et al., 2020) . As international air travel rapidly slowing down due to the crisis, and travel bans imposed by many countries, closing borders, or announcing quarantine periods, international and domestic tourism and hotel business dropped quickly a period of weeks. According to UNWTO (2020), in comparison with 2019, international tourist arrivals will be down by 20% to 30% in 2020. (Figure 1)
With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, almost all of the hotels, motels, and resorts are mostly vacant. Hotel owners and managers observed that demand for their rooms unexpectedly evaporates. Travel, tourism, hotel industry operation is facing more immense challenges. As aviation, tourism and the hotel industry are interrelated, with the breakdown of the prior two, luxury chain hotels have been facing the worst situation. Travel restrictions and cancellations of flight have led the occupancy rates of these luxury hotels to decline by shocking amounts (Hasan, 2020). Due to occupancy deterioration and preference for hotel services are sudden, many hotel owners and operators faced a challenging decision of whether to go on in operation during the pandemic or not. As there is an economical issue as well as a contractual one, therefore it is advisable to remain open(Neuman, 2020) .
Figure 1: 2020 Forecast- International tourist arrivals, the world (% change). Source: (UNWTO)
Five Star Alliance (2020) currently has more than 4,400 luxury four and five star hotels ready for booking. In Bangladesh, there are almost 50 luxury hotels with four to five-star hotels. Among these hotels, a large portion of thousands of individuals who are directly or indirectly involved in the hospitality and tourism industry, are in the danger of losing their employments.
This study contributes to practical implications by recommending luxury hotels about how to shape up in the future and play a vital role in rebuilding the world’s economy after the COVID-19 pandemic. Other than that, what lessons hoteliers can learn from this pandemic is also highlighted here.
The following research question may arise in this regard: