•A comprehensive review of the impact of COVID-19 on China’s hotel industry.•A COVID-19 management framework which addresses the anti-pandemic phases, principles, and strategies.•And four Post-COVID-19 strategies including multi-business and multi-channels, product design and investment preference, digital and intelligent transformation, and market reshuffle. This exploratory study reviews the overall impacts of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on China’s hotel industry. A COVID-19 management framework is proposed to address the anti-pandemic phases, principles, and strategies. This study also suggests that COVID-19 will significantly and permanently affect four major aspects of China’s hotel industry—multi-business and multi-channels, product design and investment preference, digital and intelligent transformation, and market reshuffle.