The complexity of the tourism and hospitality industries and their employment
structures and labor market characteristics make the management of people difficult and
different from many other industries. A growing number of studies confirmed the
importance of internal marketing in the hotel and hospitality industry. For example, Lo,
Stalcup and Lee (2010) conducted a study on Chinese hotels and stated that in order to
build good relations with customers, hotel operators must address employee’s needs firstly.
Castellanos-Verdugo and Veerapermal (2009) suggest that a wide range of measures
should be used by hotel managers in order to develop and maintain employee – customer
relationship quality. Additionally, Turkoz and Akyol (2008) find a positive relationship
between internal marketing and the dimensions of hotel performance, which indicated that
a high level of internal marketing leads to a higher level of hotel performance, and a low
level of internal marketing produces a lower level of hotel performance.