Abstract:
The research aimed 1) to study the characteristics of entrepreneurs and the marketing mix (7Ps) that influenced towards the competitive advantage, and 2) to study the characteristics of entrepreneurs of the marketing mix (7Ps) and the competitive advantage influenced the assessment of the impact of the small and medium hotel and accommodation businesses under the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. This research was a mix method between the quantitative and qualitative research. For the quantitative research, the sample consisted of 360 entrepreneurs, business owners and executives or decision-making person operating small and mediumsized accommodation businesses in Pattaya City, Chonburi Province. The questionnaires were developed from literature reviews as a data collection tool. The statistical analysis was average, frequency, percentage, standard deviation and variance, and analyzing data by Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with the statistical significance level of 0.05. The results showed that entrepreneurs had an overall high level of opinion on characteristics of entrepreneurs. The overall level of marketing mix opinion was at a highest level. The level of opinion on competitive advantage was the highest. The hypothesis test results showed that the models developed were consistent with empirical data and that all variables could together explain the variability of business impact assessment by 63.9%. Moreover, the characteristics of entrepreneurs of the marketing mix (7Ps) and the competitive advantage had an influence on the evaluation of the impact assessment of the hotel and accommodation businesses under the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in Pattaya, Chonburi province with a statistical significance. The researcher then conducted a qualitative study to listen to the views of hotel and accommodation users and to confirm the results of the quantitative research through in-depth interviews. The sample group was 12 tourists who had used or experienced using medium or small accommodation/hotels in the Pattaya City area. Furthermore, during the interview of key informants revealed that the approach to assessing the impact of the hotel and accommodation businesses under the COVID-19 pandemic crisis should consist of understanding of entrepreneurs who can assess the characteristics of existing entrepreneurs as an internal factor, and understand the market mix which was external and internal factors supporting the competitive advantage of the business. Lastly, the assessment of the hotel's competitive advantage was all interrelated.