Managing Hospitality Internship Practices: A Conceptual Framework

By challenging the existing paradigms governing hospitality internship practices over the last two decades the paper presents some innovative ideas, in the form of a framework, as to how the practice can be enhanced for the benefit of all stakeholders involved. The framework, which lay its foundation in Kolb's (1984) theory of experiential learning, covers the fundamentals of designing, monitoring, and evaluating students' internship practices, as well as providing an exploration of the theory and rationale of internships as effective educational practices. The proposed framework is of value and has practical implications both for academic scholars, who wish to further investigate the issue, and industry practitioners, since it can serve as a guide for the provision of a pedagogically sound internship experience to the next generation of hospitality professionals.