Public relations in hotel businesses: A practical study in five star hotel businesses in Azerbaijan

In the globalizing and rapidly developing world to acquire positive image of hotel businesses and their sustainability, the implementation of effective advertising policies, the provision of information between local and foreign customers and the establishment of accurate messages disseminated to the stakeholders by hotel businesses are very important public relations actions.Public relations connect hotel businesses with their customers, help them foster customer loyalty, and repeat business. In other words, public relations covering many process-related activities improve the functionality of business enterprises. Because of this, hotel businesses implement public relations and understand the importance of this specific marketing practice for their success.This study was conducted in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan Republic.At the scope of the study 10 five star hotels were analyzed in Baku and public relations actions implemented by these hotels were studied. Findings of the surveys with department managers who are responsible for public relations actions in hotels were analyzed and compared with the existing literature. Main purpose of the study is to show importance and implementation of public relation actions at the concerned hotels. To this extent, the primary data on public relations activities was collected through in-depth interviews with the key personnel of 10 five star hotels in Baku. Semi-structured interviews with managers who are responsible for public relations were analyzed through content analysis and compared with the literature review findings. Despite the fact that public relation actions are not sufficiently implemented at the selected hotels of Baku, the development of tourism with the help of state support andthe increasing tourism investment are expected to lead into hotel establishments to improve their marketing efforts including public relations.Key words: marketing, tourism, public relations, communication, communication means.