This is part of a case series. The Royal Savoy Hotel in Lausanne (Switzerland) was enjoying a successful relaunch and looking forward to further success when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The hospitality industry fared badly during the pandemic with hotels being closed more than they were opened. When the Royal Savoy finally opened in July 2021, it faced various staffing challenges that the General Manager, Alain Kropf, and his Heads of Department team had to deal with. The case follows Kropf during the pandemic, illustrating how a leader acts ethically under crisis and becomes resilient in the face of ever-changing circumstances that have hit the hospitality sector particularly strongly. The case looks at how Kropf and his team reopened the hotel and managed the various challenges they faced, including a near 100% turnover in the leadership team across six months, and how Kropf used this to an advantage in resetting his own leadership but also how the hotel should be managed. The case focuses on Kropf as he built psychological safety and showed authentic leadership.
