Disaster Planning and Preparedness in the Hotel Industry

Disasters experienced by the hospitality industry have steadily increased over the past few decades, and the industry has emerged as one of the most vulnerable businesses to disasters and emergencies, with a wave of catastrophic events striking it in recent years. Disaster management has become a vital tool as key industry players seek ways to cope with these unexpected events. Disaster Planning and Preparedness in the Hotel Industry reveals that a majority of hotels are not financially capable to prepare and train personnel, and unable to afford financing activities or disaster and emergency preparedness plans and programs. Furthermore, it finds that although emergencies bring about trauma and hardship in hotels, they are at the same time establishing a re-engineered life cycle. The book goes on to suggest that for hotels to be well managed and adequately prepared for emergency, all stakeholders should be engaged in removing setbacks and barriers to effective disaster and emergency management and planning. It concludes that Jordanian hotel managers and stakeholders should establish a well detailed emergency planning and preparedness schedule and outline details of the collaborative management plan for emergency cases. By identifying major emergencies that have occurred in the hotel industry; investigating hotels preparation for emergencies in the past; and exploring how hotels manage and overcome such emergencies; this book will increase the awareness of emergency managers and scholars on how to read, manage, and overcome the impact of emergencies in the hospitality industry.