Antecedents of Travel Advisories on Performance of the Hotel Industry in Kenya: A Case of Five-Star Hotels in Nairobi County

Purpose: The general objective of this study was to examine the antecedents of travel advisories on the performance of the hotel industry in Kenya by focusing on five-star hotels in Nairobi County. The specific objectives that guided the study were to examine the effect of political instability advisory, pandemic advisory and terrorism advisory on the performance of five-star hotels in Nairobi County. Methodology: The explanatory research design was employed in this study. The population of this study were the managers of five-star hotels in Nairobi County and were 426 in total. A stratified sample technique was employed in the study, while Simple Random Sampling (SRS) was used to select samples from each study stratum. The Yamane formula was applied is selecting 206 respondents who made the sample size of the study. The study used primary data that was gathered using self-administered and structured questionnaires. These questionnaires were pilot tested for reliability, and were distributed electronically for data collection. Descriptive and inferential analyses were applied during analysis and both tables and figures were used to display the findings. Findings: The results of the study showed that guest safety was a significant element for guests when choosing a destination to visit. Correlation analysis revealed that there existed a significant and negative statistical association between political instability advisory and hotel performance. The regression coefficients showed that a unit increase in political instability advisory provided resulted in a 37.7% decrease in performance of five-star hotels in Nairobi County. The outcome of the study indicated that hotels observed precipitous declines in occupancy rates during the COVID-19 pandemic. Correlation analysis showed that there existed a significant and negative statistical association between pandemic advisory and hotel performance. Regression coefficients indicated that a unit increase in pandemic advisory provided resulted in a 57.7% decrease in performance of five-star hotels in Nairobi County. The findings of the study revealed that a lack the resources had turned the attention of terrorists to target luxury hotels. Correlation analysis demonstrated that there existed a significant and negative statistical association between terrorism advisory and hotel performance. The study concludes that political incidents had a serious effect on the hotels’ performance compared to natural disasters since guest safety was a significant element when choosing a destination to visit. Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy and Practice: The study recommends the managers of five-star hotels in Nairobi County use available media both digital and traditional to provide factual information to their potential guests during times of political unrest. They need to create flexible corporate policies that would allow them to face new circumstances.