The impact of COVID-19 outbreak on hotels' value compared to previous diseases: the role of ALFO strategy

Abstract

By using the Event Study Method (ESM), this paper aims to examine the effect of new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) disease (COVID-19) outbreak on the market performance of the hotel industry in the U.S. We also compare the impact of COVID-19 outbreak with three previous diseases outbreaks. The results show that there is a negative influence of the diseases outbreaks on stock returns of hotels in the U.S. However, the impact of COVID-19 is incomparably higher in magnitude compared to previous diseases. Furthermore, given the importance of following flexible corporate strategies to adapt to new and unpredicted situations, it is found that the ALFO (assets-light, fee-orientated) strategy acts as a mitigator for the predicted market value drop due to the pandemic.