Internal Brand Management Framework in Tehran Hotels

Internal branding can be considered as an important human activity for gaining competitive advantages. Repeatable experiences in hotels depend heavily on the consistent behaviors of human resources. Developing a native model and repeatability of customer experience in hotels is a practical and yet fundamental need for internal branding. Since no attempt has been made to introduce the native brand management model in Tehran hotels, the research question of the current paper includes: what is the model for the internal brand management of hotels in Tehran? The present study seeks to introduce the model of internal brand management which hs been obtained by using related data of Tehran Hotels from the view of experts with managerial and supervisional experiences. This qualitative research has been done by using the grounded theory method and an encoded interview for 18 experts. The experts of this research have an experience of over 12 years management in Tehran hotels and they have higher education degree in management or marketing that has made the theoretical saturation possible through using snowball sampling. Therefore, after the coding of the texts, 535 open code, 18 sub-categories and 6 main categories have been identified. Results indicated that recruitment and training are the most important causal factors, manager behaviors and brand-oriented incentives are the most important strategic factors, and the consequences of employees and guests are the most important consequence factors. The manager as a fundamental element, and at the role of the brand translator, model and teacher makes possible the achievement of the internal brand.
The obtained model can be tested and revised in other service sectors, but it is recommended that these types of studies with emphasis on this field also be carried out in the other parts of Iran’s tourism industry.