Intercultural Communication in Hotel Management: A Case Study of the Iberostar Chain in Mallorca

This bachelor's thesis examines intercultural communication in the context of hotel management, with a focus on internal processes and team cooperation in an international working environment. The aim of the thesis is to define and evaluate the role of intercultural communication in the internal processes of hotel management and its significance for the functioning of work teams in an international environment. The thesis includes the identification of key communicative factors influencing employee cooperation and an assessment of their impacts on work organisation and human resource management. The thesis is conducted as a qualitative case study of the Iberostar hotel chain at Playa de Muro in Mallorca. The primary data collection method consisted of fifteen semi-structured interviews with both employees and management representatives. The thesis draws on the scholarly concepts of Hofstede's model of cultural dimensions, Hall's theory of high- and low-context communication, and the concept of cultural intelligence as defined by Earley and Ang. The research identified three main categories of communication barriers: linguistic, cultural-communicative, and organizational. The findings indicate that management's approach to cultural diversity is predominantly reactive and unsystematic, with employees' cultural intelligence developing organically through work experience rather than through a managed process. Based on these findings, practical recommendations are formulated for human resource management and the development of communication competencies in multicultural hotel environments.