THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS ACTIVITIES IN THE EGYPTIAN HOTELS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

Abstract

In the light of the increasing international interest of public relations (PR) in the hospitality industry, this research was conducted with the aim of studying the effectiveness of public relations department in the Egyptian hotels. For this purpose, an empirical study has been conducted on a sample of five-star and four-star hotel employees at Greater Cairo to identify the activities and the tools used by this department. The study also assessed the effectiveness of these activities and the importance of these tools. This study employed in-depth interviews with PR practitioners at hotels as the data collection instrument. Twenty two interviews were conducted with a convenience sample from the five and four-star hotels in Greater Cairo. The findings of the study showed that public relations departments at the Egyptian hotels are very effective in forming the hotels' image, reputation and competitive advantages.